Extra tags: Data Centre
Rackspace Technology®, a leading end-to-end, multicloud technology solutions company, announced the Multicloud Annual Research Report 2022 that finds that Singapore organisations are becoming more comfortable with more sophisticated “Cloud 2.0” technologies, even as they confront difficulties in hiring and retaining IT talent.
Though cloud development remains a top priority for local organisations, with 60 per cent saying they do not expect to own a data centre in the next five years, a resounding 75 per cent of IT decision-makers in Singapore said a scarcity of talent is preventing the adoption of new cloud development methods.
The survey also finds local organisations’ top cloud priorities evolving, from “basics” such as agility (24%) and scalability (36%) and toward more sophisticated issues such as security (37%) and compliance (33%). Moreover, an increased appetite for risk among IT professionals can be seen in their enthusiasm for exploring edge technologies (41%) and containers (54%), while over half plan to invest in hyperscale providers.
“The cloud is no longer a shiny new object– it is a nearly universally accepted technology, and there is almost no organisation that is not currently in the process of transforming itself via the cloud,” said Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist, Rackspace Technology. “At the same time, there are a number of barriers standing in the way of that transformation, most notably a dearth of IT talent. More than ever, organisations will need to rely on external expertise to achieve their cloud goals, as they continue to shed legacy infrastructure and ask the cloud to do more.”
IT Talent is Hard to Find – and Keep
The survey underscores a growing talent dilemma for local IT leaders, with more than half (52%) of all respondents citing talent shortages as major business challenge, well ahead of concerns such as product shortages (36%) and wage growth (28%).
Companies are using a range of strategies to recruit fresh IT talent, including advertising training and development opportunities (43%), offering hybrid/flexible/work-from-home schedules (37%), and raising starting salaries (31%). Twenty-three per cent are going even farther, offering substantial starting wages or raises, while 16 per cent are offering sign-on retention agreements and 15% are offering signing bonuses.
The Cloud is Here to Stay – and It’s Growing
“We have seen an evolution in the cloud discussion, away from some of the table stakes topics such as agility and scalability, and toward more sophisticated uses of cloud, such as containers and edge, that is shaping the future,” added DeVerter. “Not only are people excited to close their data centres. They are also more apt to take on more risk than they had been in the recent past.”
“Through the adoption of cloud technology, organisations have benefited from improved customer experience, and they have recognised the value that cloud offers when it comes to innovation and staying ahead of competition, said Sandeep Bhargava, Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Japan at Rackspace Technology. To continue to effectively leverage the benefits of cloud technology, businesses can address the challenge of hiring and retaining the much-needed IT talent in the region by joining forces with external cloud solutions providers.”
According to the survey, the majority of local respondents uses multicloud, with majorities saying they are using either AWS, Azure and/or Google Cloud. In addition, 73% are already finding new uses for single tenant and/or private cloud infrastructure, while over half (56%) said they plan to run serverless applications. 28% say their applications currently run on serverless technology, including functions such as automating workflows, scaling IoT apps, enabling virtual assistants/chatbots, and running SaaS functions.
When asked how cloud is aiding innovation:
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50% say it is improving customer experience and ease of use
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45% say is enabling faster testing and deployment of new products and services
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43% say it is providing limitless compute and storage
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34% say it is enhancing personalised experiences for customers
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31% say it provides the ability to scale up and down on demand
Security Driving Need for Outside Expertise
Survey respondents cited security as the most important factor to consider when choosing a cloud environment (37%), ahead of scalability (36%), compliance (33%) and flexibility/agility. (24%). Security is also the leading reason companies use external partners. In addition, more than half of respondents (51%) cite security as their biggest barrier to using serverless.
