| | MAY 20218IN FOCUSCloud Still Critical for Businesses to Handle UncertaintiesBY CEO INSIGHTS TEAMBusiness agility has never been more important than now, and helping organizations achieve this is hybrid cloud. Though going digital was one among the many agendas of enterprises, it was almost just a thought for many of them. But then pandemic happened and enterprises had to rush to be digital entities. With no other option in hand but to push to adapt digital, hybrid cloud has become a friend in need.Many companies had embarked on digital transformation journeys before COVID-19, but the pandemic highlighted that most of them were not as agile as they had previously thought. The 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report stated that the pandemic laid bare deficiencies in businesses' cloud infrastructure, security and network architecture capabilities, hindering their ability to adapt and remain agile. It was all of a sudden that organizations had to permit their employees to work from home, which meant giving them access to needed infrastructure and networking solutions. Indeed the pandemic has forced a cultural mind shift.But despite the uncertainties, the pandemic has provided a significant opportunity to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. It is interesting to note that out of the 950 decision-makers in 13 countries across five regions including Singapore, Hong Kong, India in APAC, nearly 90 percent of APAC businesses (88.8 percent in India) agree that the pandemic has forced its business to rely on technology more than ever before. Indeed it has become the business lifeline.On the other hand, the benefits that hybrid cloud bring to the table is quite clear, with 60.3 percent of APAC organizations (53.8 percent in India) already using, or piloting hybrid cloud. There is no doubt about the fact that hybrid cloud is the future. The study found that a further 31.6 percent of APAC respondents (31.3 percent in India) plan to implement a hybrid solution within 12-24 months. This growing importance proves that hybrid cloud is now seen as critical to data-driven processes and real-time decisions, both now and in the future.Driving EfficienciesAmong the many things that the pandemic taught, running businesses in shoestring budget but keep the innovation and R&D wheel rolling is one important take. Hence many moved to hybrid cloud to increase cost efficiency and drive the organization's overall performance. NTT's report found that an improved speed of deployment of apps and services is the biggest driver (38.8 percent) of hybrid cloud adoption in APAC, especially given the shift to a distributed workforce model where businesses in this region now need to access data and applications in new, different and often complex ways.As mentioned in the report, according to APAC respondents, the second largest motivation for hybrid cloud adoption is an overall improvement of business agility (38.3 percent), followed by a more efficient total cost of IT operations (34.0 percent). Businesses, however, need to implement hybrid cloud in a way that THE NEXT BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS THE EXISTING SKILL GAP THAT PERSISTS ACROSS INDUSTRY
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