Five worthy reads is a regular column on five noteworthy items we’ve discovered while researching trending and timeless topics. This week, we discuss the merits of going hybrid in this era of distributed workforces and remote working culture.
While it has become imperative for organizations to implement remote work policies, the question of cloud adoption has become almost unavoidable. But a complete shift to a multi-cloud environment is neither practical nor a one-size fits all decision, given that many organizations do not have the technological bandwidth or budget to migrate their operations completely to the cloud.
Organizations today are no longer forced to approach this is as a to-adopt or not-to-adopt decisions but are in the favorable position of being able to cherry-pick the business verticals that require a cloud boost while running the others on-premises. This is where a hybrid infrastructure becomes a savior by giving organizations the freedom to effortlessly scale their IT infrastructure to support the growing demand for cloud-based applications and data processing, while also supporting their on-premises architectures.
A recent survey by Xerox suggests that 82 per cent of the respondents are expecting their workforce to return to offices in the next 12 to 18 months. Furthermore, companies are also investing in technologies to support hybrid remote and in-office arrangements. This indicates that cloud migration is not a one-off process, but that organizations are gradually shifting towards a work culture that fosters collaboration and productivity, both online and offline.
Here are five insightful reads that discuss the benefits of businesses going hybrid:
1. How COVID-19 accelerated the move to hybrid cloud
Going hybrid is more of an overall IT strategy revamp than a reactive measure. While this ongoing crisis is making more businesses evaluate the cloud option, it is also prompting more long-term changes that address the need and opportunity to run their IT more efficiently, and to strike the right balance between cloud and on-premises deployments to ensure remote work agility and cost optimization.
2. The Cloud Is The Backbone Of Remote Work
With the need for remote work expanding security perimeters beyond traditional firewalls, even businesses that were functioning with completely on-site workforces are taking their cybersecurity requirements to the cloud. While not all business verticals and industries can go entirely to the cloud, scaling up to provide proper support for remote employees with a foolproof hybrid strategy is now crucial.
3. Hybrid Cloud: Solving Database Headaches As Remote Working Becomes The Norm
Implementing a foolproof hybrid cloud strategy involves evaluating a workload’s performance on-premise to ensure it’s ready to migrate to the cloud, optimizing performance, and finalizing on the cloud provider to scale up and to set the appropriate monitoring and testing measures of the databases for in-the-cloud and on-premises deployment. However, the biggest challenge comes after the implementation process; it’s vital to ensure the new cloud-based databases function as well as those still on-premises.
4. Rapidly Scaling IT Infrastructure For Remote Workers
A shift to working remotely involves a swift scaling on different levels, which puts a lot of pressure on IT teams. This includes scaling on cloud solutions, VPNs, and hardware, which raises concerns about flexibility and security. A hybrid strategy can come in handy by helping organizations set up a shared responsibility model with their cloud providers that keeps their data secure on both ends.
5. Why cloud tech is vital for firms in enabling WFH
Cloud adoption has always been an enterprise-level discussion until now. But the sheer number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and their contributions to the global economy, have put them in a position where evaluating reasons for shifting to remote work is vital. With the cost optimization a large concern for SMBs, the best way to enable remote access and monitoring is to strategically scale up to the cloud.
The bottom line is, a hybrid infrastructure has the capability to foster innovation by enabling a collaborative work culture while setting the required technological bandwidth to support the remote workforce.
Migrating systems to an efficient hybrid cloud will never be a simple process. The current market scenario demands a swift response and solid business continuity to sustain operations to fit prevailing market conditions, and therefore, business requirements.
However, IT teams will have to take stock of their infrastructure, operational challenges, and workflow patterns to effectively revamp their culture through the adoption of technologies that streamline their cloud journey. By doing so, organizations can ensure seamless business continuity during unprecedented times, enhanced collaboration, and workforce productivity.
