Survey of international IT decision makers underlines that for Hybrid IT to be successful, businesses need to align their strategy and approach across both IT and business
Service Orchestration is the key to unlocking the true potential of complex Hybrid IT infrastructures, according to a recent survey commissioned by Fujitsu and undertaken by leading analyst firm, Forrester1. The newly published research findings reveal that successfully integrating, managing and optimizing Hybrid IT infrastructures means that enterprises are empowered to deliver real business value through their, which also leads to deliver greater flexibility and agility.
To transform their organizations, businesses have recognized the need for flexible and agile digital technologies, and are deploying increasingly complex Hybrid IT infrastructures. However, while Hybrid IT environments accelerate the deployment of digital technologies, enable organizations to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and help meet the rapidly evolving needs of their customers, they also bring new complexities and challenges. In particular, businesses have concerns about security (44 percent) and privacy (43 percent) in addition to apprehension over the increased difficulty of managing compliance, usage, and costs across multiple IT environments (40 percent).
These complexities have the potential to outweigh the benefits of digitalization – however businesses recognize that all technology systems, processes and different silos of information must be coordinated and aligned with their business goals. Only then can they achieve the true digitalization that enables them to extract insight from data, and to deliver value for customers. In fact, 69 percent of respondents stated that developing a comprehensive IT strategy that integrates and aligns all deployed technologies is a critical or high priority.
By seamlessly coordinating disparate business systems and services into a more unified management structure, effective service orchestration is at the heart of unleashing the benefits of businesses’ technology. The starting point for businesses is to aggregate and coordinate diverse platforms for increased speed, control and agility. Further extending this approach to supplier management, security compliance and the supply chain businesses will deliver a truly efficient environment. Survey respondents acknowledge the value of this enhanced coordination, with over 70 percent stating that service orchestration is a top or important priority.
Conway Kosi, Head of Managed Infrastructure Services at Fujitsu in EMEIA, comments: “It is one thing to deploy cloud based infrastructure alongside legacy systems to create a Hybrid IT landscape. But to transcend technology and reach the higher state of delivering real business value, enterprises must take charge and actively coordinate these complex blended environments. By partnering with experienced service partners such as Fujitsu, organizations can co-create seamless technology environments that are fully aligned with their business needs, allowing them to not only maximize their technology investment but also enabling them to attain their full business potential.”
The Forrester survey also revealed that, for respondents, the most important advantages of implementing a service orchestration solution were the management of multiple applications and workloads (44 percent). Two in five (42 percent) selected a good user experience, including default views and dashboards and the ability to monitor service-level performance (for example, availability, scaling events, alerts, automatic provisions, and updates). The ease of porting applications across different hybrid clouds was seen as a benefit by 40 percent.
According to the Forrester Consulting study, the opportunity for businesses lies in connecting legacy infrastructure with new, cloud-based environments in alignment with strategic business goals. IT service orchestration can meet this need, but managing that orchestration is complex: 41 percent of respondents cited keeping up with the rate of technology change as a key challenge, while for one in three (33 percent), finding staff with the right skills was problematic. For almost one in three (32 percent), balancing the differing priorities between IT and the business was perceived as an issue.
As a result, enterprises are turning to third parties to help them strike the right balance between agility and control. When selecting a partner to assist, one in three (33 percent) look for expertise in technologies such as as-a-service delivery, mobile and big data. 31 percent look for integration with both cloud and legacy systems, while 28 percent look for rapid solution deployment. The ability to work with business and IT leaders was highlighted by more than a quarter (27 percent) and the same number selected customer service as a priority.
