Migrating, Managing, and More

Real IT Pros. Real Advice.

About this IDG study

Cloud technologies are reshaping expectations for IT pros
and the businesses they manage. IDG Research Services,
in conjunction with Microsoft, recently surveyed 55 IT pros
who have deployed enterprise business applications to a
public or hybrid cloud. All respondents are deeply involved
in the purchase or implementation of third-party cloud
solutions. This includes strategic planning, solution mapping
and recommendation, and vendor selection. A wide array
of industries was represented, from manufacturing and
education to healthcare, professional services, government,
and many more.
This report is designed to help IT pros to learn from peers who
are dealing with similar challenges and opportunities. Through
it we share perspectives on how to use cloud computing to
improve business performance and position for the future.

Business applications
Mobility
are taking center stage
One of the keys to cloud success is determining the optimal
platform and priorities for running business applications.
Once considered optional, these applications are now central
to infrastructure decisions and achieving company goals.
The need for real-time engagement and analytics surfaced
throughout the research. Of survey respondents considering
or planning application deployments to a public or hybrid cloud,
42% have identified business data as their first priority. Of those
who have piloted or deployed business applications in their
enterprise, 60% have focused first on collaboration/conferencing
solutions, followed by email/messaging at 58% and data
management at 45%.

IT pros are emphasizing

productivity and
anywhere access in their
business application
deployments. This is a
direct reflection of how
cloud technologies are
continuing to accelerate
decision-making,
customer responsiveness,
and the ability to work
seamlessly across devices.

Learn about running your business apps on Azure

Get started

Key benefits driving the

transition to the cloud
It is no longer a question of whether or not businesses are moving their
applications to cloud technologies, but how fast IT can manage the
transition. In business applications as elsewhere, IT pros are relying
upon cloud technologies to deliver more for less.

Of respondents surveyed:
85% consider scalability and cost-effectiveness key benefits of
driving enterprise business applications to the cloud
82% cite improved efficiency via less time spent on maintenance
as very important
80% believe flexibility and user experience are critical

Competitive pressures will motivate IT pros to not only deploy allnew and imminently scalable infrastructure but also to integrate
cloud technologies on top of their existing environment. Fortunately,
the payoffs are worth it. In the words of Natalya Yezhkova, IDC
Research Director, Storage Systems, End users often cite the agility
of IT infrastructure and economic reasons as drivers for cloud
adoption, but we also expect that the proliferation of next generation
applications born and run in the cloud will fuel its further growth.
4

Hybrid, private,
or on-premises
Trend alert: the overall proportion of
on-premise workload is likely to decline fast.
A key challenge for IT pros is positioning
their teams to recognize these benefits
in a model best suited to their needs.

Closing skill gaps

Cloud technologies, while designed to be straightforward,
nonetheless require dedicated technical expertise. According to
the study, 60% of organizations are currently encountering skill
gaps when deploying business applications to a public or hybrid
cloud. An equivalent percentage has noted difficulties integrating
with on-premise infrastructure. For IT pros implementing these
technologies, such widely acknowledged gaps cannot be closed
quickly enough.

Barriers that survey respondents noted about overcoming skill gaps

55% think overcoming cultural resistance is a significant challenge
53% believe creating cloud governance policies and procedures
is critical
Other top concerns include maintaining compliance, identifying best
practices, and providing sufficient vendor support

Many of these results are unsurprising given the rapid acceleration

of cloud technologies relative to the training and skills development
needed to manage them. We see this as an opportunity to help IT
pros and their teams outperform.
Learn about training and certification for Microsoft Azure

Get started

Identifying best
practices
IDG also asked IT pros for advice on cloud computing. Their answers
underscore the importance of well-considered strategies, tactics,
and culture.
Among respondents:
80% think clear decision-making policies and stakeholder
accountability are critical to success
76% believe that streamlining and automating migration processes,
as well as building pre-deployment dev-test environments, are
very important

Digitization and transformation to virtualized, on-demand providerbased services are driving very rapid internal IT change, notes Robert
Mahowald, Program Vice President for IDCs SaaS and Cloud Software
research practice. IT buyers are shifting steadily toward cloud-also
and cloud-first strategies, and nearly all are reconsidering their IT best
practices to embrace hybrid cloud construction and operations, secure
data management, end-to-end governance, updated IT skills, and improved
multivendor sourcing.
Sign up and deploy your first solution in under 5 minutes

Get a free Azure account

Rating performance
IT Pros have concerns
As clear as the path to business application advantages may be,
the IDG survey indicated substantial work remains.
Rationale for these low numbers may stem from inherent tension
between teams driving and managing innovation, as well as from
pressure to deliver results faster than ever before. Until these
issues are resolved, IT pros and their counterparts will fall short
of the cloud benefits theyre chasing.

How IT Pros rate their organizations

cloud proficiency

49%

15%

rate their organization as

very good in building out
test/dev environments.

of surveyed organizations
have assembled clear
decision-making
policies and stakeholder
accountability

36%
think their organization
has a cloud-friendly
culture

Is your company in
position to benefit
from the cloud?
Trends in business applications reflect the positive macro
environment for cloud technologies. In fact, over the next five
years, public cloud services are expected to grow at a 19.4%
annual rate, from nearly $70 billion in 2015 to more than
$141 billion in 2019. Thats nearly six times the growth rate
of total enterprise IT spending and a central reason total cloud
investments are forecast to double over the same period.
In fact, IDC predicts that by 2020, cloud technologies will cease
being referred to as public or private and will instead be the
universal standard for how infrastructure is provisioned.

Learn how to use Azure for dev-test

Watch a free webinar

Microsoft uses the latest Intel Cloud Technologies

to deliver performance and reliability that can handle
your data-demanding and transaction-intensive
business applications.

Getting started
At Microsoft, we help IT pros recognize and achieve the best of what
cloud technologies have to offer. Relentless customer focus and the
power of Microsoft Azure are at the core of this mission. As you advance
your own cloud strategy, you may find the following especially valuable:
If youre ready to get started today, we have a global
Azure sales team ready to assist you

Contact us

With Microsoft Azure Virtual

Machines we could develop
and test using IaaS instead
of investing in servers at
our hosting providers. The
time savings throughout
the process was enormous.
Andreas Hgberg, Director, Telenor Group

Telenor in action
Learn how Telenor modernized shared
infrastructure by using Microsoft Azure to
create dev-test environments in real time

10