Although the COVID-19 pandemic altered many paradigms of conducting business in new ways, increasingly organisations ranked business growth and transformation as the top drivers for cloud adoption. A EY-Nasscom survey reveals that:
While private cloud is the most preferred option, there is an increased openness to adopt hybrid and public cloud models with 68 percent of the small enterprises preferring public cloud owing to its cost advantages
Owing to the pandemic and rising dependencies on remote working, healthcare, and digital payments, 78 percent ITes companies and 53 percenthealthcare and BFSI companies reported a steep spike in cloud adoption
84 percent of large enterprises report adopting Software-as-a-service (SAAS)
Driven by the pandemic, one in two companies has accelerated its cloud journey
92 percent of small enterprises and 80 percent of medium enterprises are faced with gaps in how they manage security related risks
ITes organizations lead cloud adoption followed by healthcare and BFSI sectors
The survey reveals that four in every five enterprises are bullish about their cloud budgets next year. It depicts how cloud has emerged as the primary driver of business growth amidst uncertainty.
As per the survey, while 67 percent of the large enterprises accelerated cloud adoption, 39 percent of medium-sized companies and 38 percent of small companies embarked on their cloud journey. However, 92 percent of small enterprises and 80 percent of medium enterprises faced gaps in how they manage security related risks.
Key factors driving cloud adoption
The key factors driving cloud adoption among Indian enterprises are based on the responses from 504 C-suite executives. In addition to remote working, the other top reasons for increased cloud adoption are changes in product/service delivery, new channels for connecting/reaching customers, changes in organizational processes and maintaining a competitive edge.
Cloud also played an integral role in helping enterprises to sustain despite lockdown scenarios and IT infrastructure inconsistencies, enabling them to innovate faster thereby enhancing speed to market, agility, and responsiveness.
To address the acute shortage of digital talent, organizations focused on new talent acquisition efforts (73 percent) as well as embarked on automation initiatives (66 percent) to augment the skill gap.
Benefits of cloud adoption
The survey also throws light on the core benefits of cloud adoption like the amount of flexibility it offers when it comes to different aspects of cost, allowing organizations to explore multiple strategic options. The different cloud models and cloud service options are not only offering organizations with alternatives to implement cloud in different ways but also enabling them to plan their technology budgets.
Nitin Bhatt, Technology Sector Leader, EY India said “Boards and CEOs are increasingly viewing cloud as a strategic imperative for growth and business transformation. They have realized that simply lifting and shifting workloads for cost reduction and resilience will not automatically transform their businesses and are therefore adopting cloud for benefits such as flexibility, agility, and innovation. They value being able to leverage data and AI on the cloud, enable richer insights and real-time decisions that improve performance and facilitate market differentiation in a secure and trusted environment. To realize transformational value from cloud investments, CEOs must ensure that their cloud strategy is embedded in their larger business strategy.”
Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, NASSCOM said, “With rapid digital acceleration and everything becoming on-demand and need-based, migration to cloud-based services is providing a significant competitive advantage for enterprises in the new normal. With increasing investments in building cloud infrastructure across industries, demand for a digitally skilled ecosystem has emerged as top CEO priority.”
Nitin Sawant, Leader, Cloud and Enterprise Architecture, EY India said “Cloud adoption in India would benefit from closer collaboration between hyperscalers and user organizations... Since talent shortage is a critical roadblock to scaling cloud, companies need to double down on their automation and reskilling efforts to accelerate their cloud journeys. Better management of cloud related business risks, especially those in the areas of security, privacy and compliance can go a long way in building trust between cloud ecosystem partners.”
