THE FUTURE OF CLOUD: Insights from the Front Line EBOOK

Transcription

1 THE FUTURE OF CLOUD: Insights from the Front Line EBOOK

2 Introduction In the past three years, private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative reality for nearly half of large enterprises, stated Gartner, the leading technology research firm, in an October 2013 report. This sounded right based on experiences we have had here at NuoDB. We took the opportunity a year later to do our own research study and see if Gartner was onto something. We found that of course they were. Cloud Expo and AWS re:invent are major industry events that attract crowds of decidedly cloudsavvy attendees. NuoDB sponsored at both events in November 2014 and conducted a 10-question survey regarding attendees cloud plans at both conferences. The results of more than 200 completed surveys are presented in this paper. Take a look at the findings that follow to see how your plans for the cloud compare to your peers. 1

3 Methodology Through a short set of multiple-choice questions, we gleaned insights into attendees use of clouds, both public and private, as well as gauging past, present and future plans for cloud computing overall. Given that these surveys were conducted at bedrock cloud-oriented events, it s no surprise that 60% of respondents have been using some form of cloud computing for 3 or more years. However we had a few surprises in the data too. Do these statistics align with where your company is going with cloud? We d love to know. Contact us at media@nuodb.com. 60% of respondents have been using some form of cloud computing for 3 or more years. 2

4 What types of organizations provided responses? Who Are They? As any celebrity or successful businessperson will tell you, remember who you re talking to. In reading the results of this survey, we advise the same. The respondents were all interested enough, or involved enough, in cloud computing that they were attending a cloud-specific event. Application vendor [13%] Cloud Provider [9%] Consultancy [8%] This elevated interest likely skewed the results somewhat toward organizations with more understanding of the many benefits of the cloud. However when we compared these numbers with other industry surveys, they were not far off. End-user company (including enterprise) [30%] Independent software vendor (ISV) [12%] SaaS vendor [19%] Other [9%] 3

5 To set a baseline understanding of survey demographics, we asked how long the respondent s organization has been using cloud computing. A mere 4% had no current cloud plans, while 60% had been active in the cloud for three or more years. Of that 60%, half had been using the cloud for more than five years. See figure 1 to the right. Then, Figure 2 explains the top reasons for moving (or planning to move) to the cloud. The cloud has long been touted for its cost savings benefits you will use (and pay for) what you need only when you need it. However participants said that cost savings and total cost of ownership came in second with 22% citing it as the #1 reason for moving to the cloud while 30% said on-demand scalability was their driver. Next, let s take a look at what s being moved. How long have you been using cloud computing? Figure 1: The majority of respondents had been using the cloud for three or more years. What is the primary reason your company is moving/ has moved to the cloud? Figure 2: Cost efficiency came in second place as the #1 reason for moving to the cloud, beaten out by on-demand scalability. 4

6 Do you plan to move third-party applications to the cloud? What s Going To The Cloud? We asked attendees for what purposes are/will you be using the cloud. As figures 3 and 4 document, end user companies (such as medium to large enterprises), technology vendors, and consultancies have varying plans about what types of applications they are deploying in the cloud. Figure 3: Tech vendors have disproportionately moved internally developed applications to the cloud. Not surprisingly, we see that technology vendors are in the vanguard of leveraging the cloud across all types of applications and usage. About 60% have already moved an in-house application to the cloud; over 50% have third party apps deployed in the cloud and 60% have moved at least some IT systems. 5

7 End user companies (including large enterprises) are lagging somewhat behind with many still in the planning stages for making the move. 40% have moved an IT system or application to the cloud; only 35% have moved an in-house app and barely 30% of the end users surveyed have moved a third-party application. Do you plan to move in-house applications to the cloud? This would indicate Gartner s prediction about 2017 being the year where cloud is fully actualized in the enterprise is well on its way becoming an accurate prophecy. Figure 4: Consulting organizations are the least likely to move in-house applications such as ERP, CRM, HR, analytic software, etc. to the cloud. 6

8 What type of cloud does your company currently use? (Multiple responses allowed) Figure 5: This documents that most companies of any size are primarily using a mix of both public and hybrid clouds. the cloud? Do you plan to move IT systems to the cloud? Where Is It Going? In our experience talking to companies from startups to global conglomerates, we have heard that the majority are using private cloud first and a mix of public/private, or hybrid, cloud secondly. Since approximately half of this data came from respondents attending Amazon s AWS re:invent conference, the clear leader in public cloud, our experience was not born out in this survey. We found that the largest percent of small/medium businesses, mid-market companies and large enterprises are currently making extensive use of public cloud, as shown in figure 5. At least 50% of all companies, regardless of size, are using public cloud and about 25% use hybrid. Greatest use of private cloud (about 35%) was shared by large enterprises and mid-markets just slightly less at 32%. Figure 6: IT systems are the most predominant application that organizations have moved to the cloud. 7

9 What About The Database? NuoDB offers a distributed SQL database with on-demand performance, so of course we were particularly interested in exploring respondents thoughts about DBMS in the cloud. Since about half of all responses were gathered at the Amazon Web Services conference, there was a definite bias toward public cloud that we do not see in the general DBMS market. To that end, over half (56 percent) of all participants had already built a new database or migrated an existing database to a public cloud. Figure 6 also shows that the reminder of those surveyed were somewhat equally divided among having no plans to do so; planning to move a database but no timeline for it or planning to do so in the next year. EBOOK Does your company plan to build new or migrate existing applications database applications to the to the cloud? Figure 7: Many respondents have already deployed a database in a public cloud. 8

10 Clearly AWS has a loyal and active customer base. However as we dug further into the data, we discovered an interesting trend: Only 50% of organizations who have already deployed a database in the cloud use traditional databases such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2. Meanwhile, 76% of organizations who have either not yet deployed a cloud database or have no plans to do so use at least one traditional database a sharp contrast. In taking out the filter, we found that SQL Server led the pack with over 40% of those surveyed saying they use this Microsoft solution. Next came Oracle at 32%; Open Source came in roughly the same at 30%. The New SQL category, which includes NuoDB, ranked at 7%. What type of databases do you use? (Multiple responses allowed) Figure 8: Participants use a wide range of DBMS types. What type of databases do you use? (Multiple responses allowed) Figure 9: Organizations who have deployed a cloud database are less likely to use traditional databases than those who have not. 9

11 Do you consider cloud to be: Figure 10: Moving to the cloud is a top initiative among respondents. How Important Is All Of This Anyway? We asked respondents how they characterize their cloud activity. Figure 10 tells us that the cloud counts 60% labeled it as either a top three IT initiative or a top three business initiative. Only 16% said it was a point solution. This reinforces the general market belief that the cloud is a key enabler of business agility by putting data in the hands of employees no matter where they are or how much demand is being placed on the desired application. 60% consider cloud to be a top three business or IT initiative. 10

12 Who Are The Movers And Shakers? Given that a significant majority of respondents said cloud is a top initiative, we then asked them who is in charge of developing and leading your cloud strategy. The results were surprising. EBOOK Who within your company is the primary lead in developing a cloud strategy? End user companies and technology vendors were equally like (14%) to have a dedicated cloud strategy role. Clearly this indicates that the vast majority - 86% - did not have anyone carrying this responsibility. Among the 60% of respondents who named cloud as a top three initiative, one in ten had no cloud lead and only 13% had a dedicated cloud strategist. In those companies that do have a specific cloud owner for cloud strategy, the following titles prevail. Figure 11: CTOs and IT leaders are the most likely to be the primary lead on cloud strategy. 86% of respondents have no dedicated cloud strategy role. 11

13 Summary While there are numerous benefits to the cloud, our survey found that dynamic scalability is at the top of the list. A reliable means of overcoming scalability challenges without the big effort (and expense) associated with explicit partitioning, sharding, clustering or continually throwing larger machines at the problem, is the key driver for a move. Companies of all sizes want the simplicity and flexibility of the cloud. The inherent cost savings of the cloud run a close second as a driver. Making the move is among the most important initiatives for most of the 222 respondents to this survey. Cloud has advanced from the cautious consideration stage to the actively planning or already arrived stages. Let us know if you agree or disagree with the findings of this study. Reach us at media@nuodb. com. We want to hear from you. About NuoDB EBOOK NuoDB was launched in 2010 by industry-renowned database architect Jim Starkey and accomplished software CEO Barry Morris to deliver a webscale distributed database management system that is specifically designed for the cloud and the modern datacenter. Used by thousands of developers worldwide, NuoDB s customers include automotive aftermarket giant AutoZone, Europe s second largest ISV Dassault Systèmes, Zombie Studios and many other innovative organizations. NuoDB is cited for the second consecutive year on the industry s leading operational database management systems analysis. NuoDB is based in Cambridge, MA. For further information visit: nuodb.com. 215 First Street Cambridge, MA (617) NuoDB, Inc., all rights reserved. The following are trademarks of NuoDB, Inc.: NuoB, NewSQL Without Compromise, and Nuo. FOC EB