The Power Of Partnership to Optimize Cloud Computing

In today's digital landscape, organizations are increasingly turning to cloud computing to drive innovation, agility, and scalability.

To harness the full potential of the cloud, businesses need a trusted partner with deep expertise and a robust cloud platform. Cloudreach, an Atos company, and Microsoft Azure have joined forces to deliver a powerful partnership that empowers organizations to optimize their 'Return on Cloud.'

We are living in an increasingly data driven and multi-cloud world with around 100 zettabytes – or half of the world’s data – anticipated to be processed, stored and managed in the cloud by 2025. And when we consider corporate data, the rate of change moves faster still, with 50% of data already in the cloud, an increase from 30% in 2015 (Sifted 2022). Putting this into context, Gartner predicts Global Cloud Revenue of $474 Billion this year, an increase from $408 Billion in 2021 with more information on evolving cloud trends, notably the rise of the Cloud Native Enterprise available here. 

With cloud now increasingly recognised as a platform for digital change, IT infrastructure has rapidly become a powerful driver of innovation, agility and differentiation, with faster, streamlined, more efficient processes, embedded security by design and scalable resources. Indeed, the cloud is not a singular or static entity but a fluid collection of technologies, connections, platforms, and services, with multiple distinct data sources and interactions (Eaves 2022). The power of partnership and ecosystem collaboration has emerged as a key industry trend to manage this, with the relationship between Cloudreach and Microsoft Azure a timely exemplar of how to optimize your ‘Return on Cloud’. 

Indeed, making the very best of your cloud migration, modernization and day to day operations has become a key focus area from enterprise to SMB with many organizations currently reflecting on what has worked well and what can be improved upon post the huge acceleration in cloud uptake that occurred at the heart of the pandemic. Many benefits have been achieved, with the latest IDC European Cloud ‘FutureScape’ research study (2022) finding ‘Higher business and IT productivity’ to be the leading business outcome of organisations moving to the public cloud at 34%.

This is underpinned by the increased agility and flexibility that an elastic computing infrastructure enables, allowing growth and shrinkage to fit traffic patterns in near to real-time, reducing project delivery overheads and with positive implications for sustainability too, notably the capacity to reduce consumption. And for other organisations, still considering and orchestrating their first steps in cloud, navigating the choices available and ensuring personalised ‘best fit’ is a leading priority. Putting this into context, just 20% of organisations plan to retain their applications ‘as is’ in their on-premises environment (IDC Futurescape 22). 

Negating Leading Cloud Challenges

Managing the fluidity of cloud infrastructures, across technologies, connections, platforms, services and data sources can be a challenge, especially ensuring that all work together effectively. This starts at the point of cloud migration planning, with Cloudreach finding the 3 biggest threats to be assessment fatigue, analysis paralysis and fear of the unknown. Other barriers include data being too distributed or siloed and wrangling disparate sources, and taking too long to either move critical data or analyse it (WANdisco 2022) reducing the capacity to truly enable data-driven decision making to the right people at the right time. This makes technology integration and 360 degree infrastructure visibility critical priorities, especially with just 16% of organisations having invested in observability to optimise cloud operations (IDC 2021). This research also identifies the following core reasons for cloud migration failures:

●      28% Performance and Reliability Issues

●      22% Lack of Standards

●      26% Lack of User Experience

●      20% Skills Shortage

●      25% Lack of Integration

Additionally, the scale, scope and sophistication of cybersecurity threats has reached new levels with rising risks including ransomware and phishing, bad actor collaboration, nation state attacks, evolving ways of working including Bring Your Own Device and misinformation. From a cloud perspective this necessitates segmented business applications, centrally managed security deployments and the application of Zero Trust principles, as I previously discussed here. Indeed, we are seeing the rise of a Cybercrime Economy, with the cost barriers of entry significantly reduced – remarkably, the asking price of a ransomware kit now starts at $66 with a Denial of Service attack starting from around $311 (Microsoft Research 2021).

Retaining compliance, notably across geographical boundaries, providing comprehensive measurement and monitoring of successful app deliveries and addressing talent gaps are also key challenges – with new Cloudreach/IDC research identifying that more than 70% of organizations now have a cloud skills gap. High levels of cloud waste (Flexera 2022) are additional concerns with Statista finding organizations globally wasting approximately 30% of their cloud spending. Finally, and expanding the theme of complexity which has come to the fore, the use of multiple technologies, techniques and vendors within organisations, coupled with the adoption of multiple security tools, can actually result in data noise and decision paralysis, adding to the already high workloads of operational teams. How can we do things differently and optimise cloud’s full potential? 

Optimising Your Return on Cloud – Power of Partnership

Complexity brings with it many options and possibilities that are central to navigating, negating, or indeed enabling key business and societal changes that are happening around the world today. As multi and hybrid cloud environments continue to grow, looking externally to trusted experts can make a huge impact to your ‘Return on Cloud’. Indeed, some 60% of organizations will be using an external cloud provider’s managed services in 2022, that’s double the adoption of 30% in 2018 (Gartner). How can the power of dedicated partnership help? The relationship between Cloudreach and Microsoft Azure is a great example!

Cloudreach was honored in the UK among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. Their dedicated Azure Practice has hundreds of Azure experts ready to help leveraging the power of Microsoft platforms.

Microsoft Azure affords a flexible, open and enterprise-grade cloud computing platform that can catalyse business transformation. Azure tools and platforms help improve data visibility and control over your business with additional benefits for democratising access to data driven decision making. As one example, Microsoft Azure’s Machine Learning Experimental UI aligns with the growing trend of ‘tech on demand’ with a low-code interface and the capacity to reduce learning curves and democratise ML to more roles. And critically, security is embedded and accessible for organisations of any size, from the data centre environments themselves, to Monitoring and Reliability, Access Management and Deployment Automation.

Cloudreach, an Atos company, and the world’s leading independent multi-cloud services company, specialises in supporting organisations with cloud application development and cloud migration services. Cloudreach helps companies navigate their unique journeys to the public cloud to achieve their digital transformation goals and gain competitive advantage in their markets. This includes helping to develop the right strategy, guidelines, and tools and navigating cloud choices such as Lift and shift, Modernise for IaaS, Rearchitect and Refactor Applications and Retire and Replace with SaaS as key examples (IDC 2022).

About Cloudreach’s Microsoft Azure Practice

* Azure-Specific Solutions: our Azure solutions and deployment blueprints allow you to adopt Azure at speed.

* Dedicated Azure Strategy Team: our dedicated team of Azure strategists, many who are former enterprise CIOs and CTOs, have been through countless Azure transformations.

* Multi-Continent Azure Managed Services: we’re a market leader in 24/7 Azure Managed Services across 3 continents, with operations hubs in Europe, North America and Asia.

* Azure Cloud Billing Services: with 10+ years of cloud billing experience, you can put your confidence in Cloudreach to look after your Azure spend.

* Software and IP: through our market leading software and IP, we can get you to the Azure cloud faster and easier.

https://www.cloudreach.com/en/partners/azure-expert-msp/

Paysafe provides a great demonstration of this partnership in action, with Cloudreach supporting their migration to Microsoft Azure to better manage and automate compliance and security practices. Additionally, this case study of impact with a London Borough Council to deliver online citizen services, powered by the Azure Reference Architecture, has enabled the transformation to a 24x7 service model, which will increasingly benefit from a Pay-Per-Use Infrastructure when the migration to the cloud is fully actualised.

Underpinned by integrated cloud vision, strategy, principles, and goals and as a Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Services Provider, Cloudreach solutions are built specifically for the platform, following the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, so that Microsoft best practices can be fully leveraged at scale. And this starts from the very point of migration planning, where Cloudreach’s Maturity Assessment and automation-enhanced expertise underpinned by a ‘Smart Migration’ approach helps organisations to determine exactly where they are on their cloud journey and to plan and benchmark progress. This affords the incremental reduction of complexity, removal of uncertainty and the proactive identification of future cloud opportunities. More information on the cost of not moving to the cloud is available here alongside a free Cloud Maturity Assessment.

Final Thoughts

The time is now to deliver the promise of cloud and drive extraordinary value for customers and stakeholder partners – cloud represents a paradigm shift to move beyond migration to innovation as a core business outcome, integrated with the latest smart innovation enablers and enhancers including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Analytics, Low Code/No Code, Automation, Augmented and Virtual Reality, and interactive Design Thinking.

How organizations govern, operate and grow their cloud environments, processes, culture, skills and values, alongside prioritising security by design, will clearly determine their long-term success, with the power of partnership and external expertise becoming critical components in its optimisation. This includes the role of cloud in digital decarbonization which enhances efficiency, reduces costs and drives innovation – now that’s shared value business in action! And for further information on the relationship between Microsoft Azure and Cloudreach, more information is available here

About the Author

Prof. Sally Eaves is a highly experienced chief technology officer, professor in advanced technologies, and a Global Strategic Advisor on digital transformation specializing in the application of emergent technologies, notably AI, 5G, cloud, security, and IoT disciplines, for business and IT transformation, alongside social impact at scale.

An international keynote speaker and author, Sally was an inaugural recipient of the Frontier Technology and Social Impact award, presented at the United Nations, and has been described as the "torchbearer for ethical tech", founding Aspirational Futures to enhance inclusion, diversity, and belonging in the technology space and beyond. Sally is also the chair for the Global Cyber Trust at GFCYBER.