New technologies can drive efficiency and business performance to a new level. However, adoption is not always easy. New research from Fujitsu shows that organizations with a strategic approach to hybrid cloud adoption are more likely to have achieved accelerated digital transformation.
Nowadays almost all companies use some cloud-based business applications and realize the benefits of scalability, adaptability and cost. While a small minority adopt a “cloud-only” strategy, most benefit from cloud investments alongside their existing applications and infrastructure—a so-called “hybrid cloud” approach.
New technologies are becoming key trailblazers. They enable organizations to make the most of new opportunities and stay alert to potential threats. Fujitsu’s study shows that investing in a hybrid cloud environment should be the first step towards these opportunities. This will enable companies to seamlessly and at scale deploy advanced tools such as automation, edge computing, and artificial intelligence.
A third of the companies accelerated
The study identifies a small group of companies that have already leveraged their hybrid cloud infrastructures to build resiliency and accelerate their business transformation goals. Fujitsu names these hybrid cloud leaders, who make up a third (33%) of the sample. Leading companies are almost twice as confident they can use their hybrid infrastructure to embrace new technologies. They put new technologies at the heart of their hybrid cloud strategies: 75% say their hybrid cloud environment makes it easier to adopt new technologies, compared to just 38% of the rest of the companies surveyed – the followers.
The data suggests that some technologies, such as blockchain and edge computing, are easy to implement for all businesses. But executives find it easier than the rest to bring them in – and they excel at implementing technology across the board. This ease translates into results. About half (49%) of Leaders say their hybrid cloud approach has improved their product and service innovation over the past year, compared to 39% of Followers.
The cloud helps companies maximize value
Leading organizations are twice as confident they can modernize apps and workloads to optimize performance, twice as likely to build and deploy apps across environments as Followers, and have 50% more confidence in their infrastructure scalability.
Implemented as part of a coherent and comprehensive strategy, the cloud environment can increase the scope and impact of new technologies by allowing organizations to adapt and scale tools like AI to existing operations. This means they are more likely to be used by a wider range of teams and generate more value. Whether AI, machine learning, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or blockchain – in the end the technology must solve business challenges. For example, a pharmaceutical company can use AI machine learning to analyze its data and conduct clinical trials.
It helps companies to innovate
Organizations that leverage their hybrid cloud environment to more effectively leverage new technologies are better equipped to innovate. When we spoke to Tom Corridon, Vice President of Cloud and Infrastructure at Bridgestone Americas, he told us that a hybrid cloud environment has enabled new technologies to drive important transformations at his company. “When we get data from our tires via the Internet of Things, it eventually goes into an application called Tirematics, which is heavily into AI and machine learning,” he said. “That’s where complex proprietary algorithms live, making predictions for preventative maintenance based on miles driven and what we know about the tire and its location.”
The hybrid cloud can open the door to significant opportunities and help organizations achieve their strategic ambitions. Organizations that want to harness the power of new technologies should invest in their cloud environments first.
Would you like to know more? Read the full Unlocking the Secrets of Hybrid Cloud Leaders report and take your business to the next level.
- The author, Shunsuke Takagi, is Head of Global Hybrid IT Offerings at Fujitsu
- This promoted content was paid for by the party in question
