The accelerating global growth of private/hybrid cloud migration is leading more enterprises to adopt cloud management platforms (CMPs) to track and control their use of cloud resources, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud - Data Center Services and Solutions global report finds a growing number of enterprises are electing to migrate their IT infrastructure to private and hybrid clouds due to rising cost pressures. The technical debt imposed by aging systems, including the need for staff skilled in legacy technologies, increasingly is a cost that companies are not willing to bear.

"Enterprises around the world are moving to the cloud to lower their costs, but cloud computing has its own costs that need to be controlled," said Bernie Hoecker, ISG partner, Enterprise Cloud. "A good CMP is important to a successful cloud transformation."

Effective CMPs let administrators view all aspects of cloud use and cost on one screen and include cost-control features across both multi-cloud and on-premises environments, the report says. Large, multinational firms, in particular, are demanding customizable CMPs that can be integrated with large application monitoring and management platforms via APIs. Almost all of these platforms now include a strong cloud cost optimization module with metering, billing and accounting systems that track departmental responsibility, including chargeback and showback.

"CMPs from major vendors now include all the main features companies want, which can make it hard to distinguish among them," said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. "Advisory firms are helping clients choose the best solution."

Enterprises in industries including IT, retail, banking, telecommunications, media and entertainment have been adopting CMPs, the report says. North America, an early adopter of many advanced technologies, is the biggest market for the platforms. As with many emerging technologies, a shortage of talent and expertise is a major challenge for CMPs.

The report also examines the rising popularity of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) systems, which offer cloud-like economics for existing data centers.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud - Data Center Services and Solutions global report evaluates the capabilities of 28 providers across two quadrants: Hyperconverged Systems and Hybrid Cloud Management Platforms.

The report names HPE and VMware as Leaders in both quadrants. BMC, Cisco, Flexera, Morpheus Data, Nutanix and ServiceNow are named as Leaders in one quadrant each.

A customized version of the report is available from Morpheus Data.