The research, which surveyed IT leaders in 100 mid-market and large UK organisations, found that 70 per cent had experienced some level of failure, preventing them from achieving their business goals. 67 per cent have sought advice from external consultants and 61 per cent from their key suppliers.
Phil Bindley, CTO at The Bunker said: “Our research shows that most organisations are looking to external sources for guidance on how to design, deploy and integrate a range of services into a hybrid infrastructure. However, too often the confidence in these sources is misplaced. When you look at the significance of technology to business success and indeed growing regulatory demands on organisations from sources like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this is a real weakness in strategy.”
Deploying a mixture of in-house and outsourced IT infrastructure using the cloud is seen as the ideal model for IT service delivery according to 55 per cent of respondents in the research, so it is inevitable that suppliers will form a key part of any future IT delivery strategy. Taking a hybrid approach to IT is the most effective way of getting the best return on investment, but only if it is done carefully, working with partners with the right skills and experience. Proper due-diligence on accreditations including information security management (ISO 27001), business continuity management (ISO 22301) and payment security standards (PCI DSS v3.1), when appropriate, as well as seeing evidence of migration and integration experience are essential.
Bindley continued: “Cloud is complex, especially when it comes to hybrid because different cloud providers will potentially need to integrate their services with other providers as well as legacy systems to ensure a seamless experience for end users. Many IT leaders are challenged because they lack previous experience in bringing the cloud into their organisation and there are many providers that are poor when it comes to effective delivery. This makes doing due-diligence on a potential supplier’s accreditations, choice of partners and experience all the more important.”
