Up until recently, cloud-first not only meant cloud-only, but also public cloud-only. As "as-a-service" took over, server rooms were being transformed into extra meeting spaces. Fast forward to today, where we know that while public cloud providers can meet some of your IT requirements, they’re not ideal for all of them. 

Here are five of the main reasons most companies never migrate their entire IT estate into the public cloud

1. Up to 70% of applications and data need to stay on-premises for a range of reasons including data gravity, latency, IP protection, performance and app entanglement¹. This means that some IT needs to remain on-premises.
2. Two-thirds of companies see security and data compliance as a barrier to public cloud adoption². 
3. Cloud migration skills are scarce, with 39% of CIOs saying this is stalling their cloud strategies³, sometimes by two years or more⁴. 
4. Technically, public cloud doesn’t always deliver. Most CIOs have noticed latency and speed issues when using cloud applications⁵.
5. Despite expectations, public cloud costs can skyrocket. Up to 30% of cloud spend is wasted⁶ and cloud spend is typically 24% over budget⁶.
   
   

Here’s a bonus point: 

• A particularly nasty type of bill shock can happen when companies need to move their data out of the public cloud. A report last year showed that unbudgeted data egress costs added around $30 million a year to NASA’s $65m-per-year AWS bill.
  

Public cloud fills a need, especially in this connected, remote-working world. But it’s a mistake to believe that it can replace the on-premises data centre.

In fact, it turns out that in a majority of cases, those companies that unintentionally ended up with a hybrid cloud configuration found themselves well positioned for business growth, availability, reliability, flexibility, scalability, security and compliance. Rather than being a half-measure, hybrid cloud is the solution that allows businesses the most flexibility.

With the benefits of a consciously hybrid approach in mind, many IT leaders are wondering how to achieve the optimal balance. The first step is ensuring that the data centre is future fit, as apps and services are either migrated back to on-premises, or new systems are developed for an efficient hybrid environment.

HPE GreenLake delivers on-premises workloads using a pay-per-use model*. At its core are all the benefits of on-premises IT infrastructure, partnered with cloud-like consumption-based pricing. It’s an approach that gives you all the speed and flexibility benefits of the cloud experience, while also ensuring you maintain control over your data and key apps – all for a predictable monthly fee that means you may never need to lay out capital for your IT infrastructure again. 

Find out more about running your business on HPE GreenLake with ITEC Group.

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