How To Overcome Hybrid Cloud Migration Roadblocks

How To Overcome Hybrid Cloud Migration Roadblocks

Hybrid cloud data services and analytics is becoming a new enterprise standard as much of the global workforce has switched to a hybrid way of working. To implement hybrid data strategies, IT leaders need tactics to overcome internal and external hurdles.

About the report

The Cloudera Enterprise Data Maturity Report is a global survey of 3,150 business and IT decision makers assessing organizations’ maturity when it comes to their current capabilities and handling of data and analytics. Organizations were evaluated based on their current use of data and analytics, parties championing the use of data and the extent to which data is used across processes, the presence of enterprise data strategies, and the extent to which capabilities relating to an Enterprise Data Cloud have been achieved. 

Drawing from the results of our “Cloudera Enterprise Data Maturity Report: Identifying the Impact of an Enterprise Data Strategy” survey, this series of 5 blog posts explores different ways in which a holistic, integrated enterprise data strategy enables businesses to realize desired outcomes, be it revenue, resilience or culture. 

In our previous blog post, we explored how the importance of having an enterprise data strategy and the positive impact it will deliver to organizations.

As much of the global workforce in the service economy has switched to hybrid work-from-home (WFH) and office schedules in the post-pandemic world, enterprises have followed suit with their data strategies. Hybrid cloud data services and analytics, where a mix of on-premise, public cloud, or multi-cloud approaches work in synergy, is becoming a new enterprise standard.

In a survey of over 3,000 IT and senior business leaders, we discovered 40% of organizations are currently running hybrid but mostly on-premises, and 36% of respondents expect to shift to hybrid multi-cloud in the next 18 months. 

It’s no coincidence that as one form of work has shifted, a corresponding data management strategy has moved in lock-step. Accessing and managing data from multiple sources and locations is more important than ever and gives organizations the control and flexibility of utilizing a hybrid workforce while still running business as usual.

But just as WFH has created challenges of its own, so has this trend of data migration. To implement their hybrid data strategies, IT leaders need tactics all their own to overcome internal and external hurdles. 

Tactic 1: Maintain performance standards while keeping up with the pace

In the survey, 60% of senior decision makers report that their organization has not completely achieved maintaining performance measurement standards for applying data services to their operations at speed. With 63% of those same respondents stating that the speed of data capture was crucial to their business efforts, this dissonance is an obvious problem. 

Developing standards and confirming the veracity of organizational data streams is key to completing any data migration and ensuring a smooth transition to a hybrid approach that meets modern velocity demands. 

Tactic 2: Aim for enterprise-wide standards for security, back-up, and disaster recovery  

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of senior decision makers surveyed said their organizations had not completely achieved sufficient security standards for their data operations. Only 39% of survey takers reported having peace of mind when it came to security, back-up, and disaster recovery.  

Don’t let the work of building hybrid cloud infrastructure go to waste by not ensuring its stability and security. Hybridized workforces mean additional cybersecurity threats, which require a corresponding extra effort in diligence and the appropriate proactive countermeasures.

Tactic 3: Get everyone on board

Getting sign-off on the mechanisms for moving to a hybrid data cloud strategy is one necessary step. But a coherent enterprise-scale data strategy (of which hybrid is a crucial component) can ensure the organizational patience and resources necessary for completing objectives. 

Only 35% of IT leaders surveyed agreed that they regularly align business division/department priorities with the whole organization’s data roadmap. Understanding how hybrid cloud fits in, compliments, and enhances a business’ overall data strategy — and inevitably it’s revenue goals — will work wonders on senior management always looking to better understand the short and long term cost benefit analysis of any strategic decisions. 

And just 34% agreed that they “routinely and formally evaluate and optimize processes to refine new business models that emerge from data and analytics.” So there’s clearly a large disconnect between data efforts and the kind of tangible results that support strategies in full. With all the stakeholders on board, there’s no limit to where the hybrid cloud might take your business.

This post represents a snapshot of the findings from our latest report: Cloudera Enterprise Data Maturity Report: Impact of Enterprise Data Strategies on Business Outcomes. To find out more, click here.

In the next blog in the series, we will explore how the 5Vs of data is critical to maintaining quality and consistency through the data lifecycle.

Sudhir Menon
Chief Product Officer, Cloudera
More by this author

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Links are not permitted in comments.