A new online cloud usage survey conducted by Denodo,
the leader in data virtualization, finds that organizations are eager
to adopt cloud based architectures in an effort to support their digital
transformation efforts, drive efficiencies and strengthen customer
satisfaction. According to the study, the vast majority of those polled
(76%) acknowledge using cloud with almost half stating they use Amazon
AWS (47%), followed by Microsoft Azure (20%), and Google Cloud Platform
(13%). Half of respondents are implementing a virtual private cloud,
with cloud provider preferences closely aligned with those stated above.
Surveying 109 executives and IT professionals
from a diverse group of technical backgrounds, the frequency with which
organizations implement use cases varies widely but is generally
consistent between the two most utilized cloud platforms; AWS and Azure.
Participants cited using cloud analytics most frequently for both AWS
(49%) and Azure (59%). "Cloud storage" was the second-most frequent use
case on AWS (45%), whereas "cloud data warehouse" was the second most
frequent use case on Azure (41%). Rounding out the top three use cases
was "cloud data warehouse" on AWS (40%), and "cloud storage" along with
"hybrid integration" on Azure (29% for each use case). Interestingly,
"cloud CRM" was an unpopular use case among both AWS and Azure platforms
as only a mere 5 percent said they use the cloud for this purpose.
Almost half of all respondents (45%) are
leveraging a hybrid cloud model, while 40 percent leverage private
cloud/on-prem hybrid, 36 percent leverage public cloud/on-prem hybrid,
followed by 23 percent who use a private cloud/public cloud hybrid.
One-third of those surveyed acknowledged storing sensitive data in the
public cloud, and about the same proportion use cloud security services
to protect their data in the cloud. More than half (56%) of survey
participants are planning a cloud initiative for 2018.
As organizations move to deploy cloud
technology at rapid-fire speed, adopting this approach is not without
challenges. With a mix of on-premises and cloud-based data sources, many
businesses are turning to data virtualization (DV) solutions to take
advantage of the agility and flexibility that the cloud provides, and to
ensure business professionals can apply the data found in these growing
mixed environments. DV is a real-time, agile, data integration
methodology that provides a logical view of all enterprise data without
having to replicate information into a physical repository, which costs
time, money, and resources. More specifically, data virtualization is
being used to support:
-
Cloud Modernization: Data virtualization facilitates the transition
from legacy, typically monolithic applications and application suites
deployed on-premises, to specialized SaaS applications in the cloud.
- Cloud Analytics: Data virtualization enables analytics in the
cloud by facilitating the movement of data from on-premises operational
systems to an analytics platform, and by providing seamless access to
all data.
- Hybrid Data Fabric: Data virtualization provides a hybrid data
fabric by seamlessly integrating data across applications on-premises
and in the cloud.
"While transitioning to cloud can be
disruptive, data virtualization can help minimize the impact on business
by isolating the changes," said Ravi Shankar, CMO, Denodo. "Without a
proper hybrid integration layer, cloud apps and databases can become
siloed. Data virtualization can open these silos and allow users to
access all their data and take advantage of cloud modernization,
analytics, and hybrid data fabric."
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full report