Report: CIOs Should Give Cloud Solutions More Consideration

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 03/16/15

Cloud solutions now represent a viable option for many IT projects, but few CIOs are giving them the consideration they may deserve, according to a new survey from Gartner.

Nine percent of CIOs surveyed said they do not even consider cloud solutions for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and 15 percent don't consider the cloud for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) projects. "While a larger percentage view cloud as something to consider on an exception basis, nearly half have quickly moved from viewing cloud as a concept to a viable option," according to a news release.

"The survey results show that, for most CIOs, public cloud is an option for projects, but only a first consideration for a small minority," said Dave Russell, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a prepared statement. "Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders have been more protective of their existing infrastructure and, in many cases, have been the biggest obstacle to cloud-based solutions, often resorting to cloudwashing as an excuse to not seriously pursue a true cloud-based solution. Instead, I&O leaders should institute a 'cloud-first' consideration for every project on an application-by-application basis."

"While the best solution for the business may indeed be an on-premises, noncloud deployment model, I&O teams need to include all options in order to make the best use of available resources and to ensure that service requirements are met," said Mike Chuba, research vice president at Gartner, in a prepared statement. "Rather than ignoring the cloud outright, or only reluctantly considering it, evaluating all implementation models at the outset of a project can help save time and produce better results."

Other key findings of the survey include:

• Mobile delivery and experience is now a top concern for system design, with a "significant" number of respondents reporting that mobile devices are a primary or secondary interface for IT investments, and I&O organizations should shift priorities and skillsets to reflect that. Seventy-one percent of CIOs surveyed said they felt an increasing need for services that are context-aware;
• Advanced analytics and IT business value metrics, increasingly seen as necessary, according to the survey, will require I&O leaders to lay an IT foundation for predictive analytics. Such efforts are "difficult but decreasing in cost thanks to parallel processing frameworks that can run analytics solutions," according to a news release.
• I&O teams should prepare for post-Nexus of Forces (mobile, social, cloud and information) applictions. Post-nexus technologies include the Internet-of-Things, human augmentation, 3D printing, thinking machines and robotics.

More than 2,800 CIOs were polled for the report, representing "$397 billion of IT spend and $202.5 billion of I&O spend," according to information released by Gartner.