Why Hybrid IT solutions create

Hyb

rid

IT.

#hybridhorrors

Now is the era of the CIO.

Led by significant advances in technology – centered on cloud computing – corporate IT is experiencing a renaissance, with the CIO and their team central to effecting organizational transformation. These renaissance men and women know that the always-on nature of today’s world requires systems that are not just available, but inspirational. Pragmatism and compromise is out; innovation and expanded horizons are in.

Business models are no longer constrained by IT, but by the limits of an organization’s imagination and appetite for risk. Companies such as Uber and Airbnb prove, on a daily basis, that success isn’t grounded in the tried and tested methods of old, but comes through unique models.

Now a weapon of growth, IT investment is vital. Get it right and you add a competitive edge to your business that can enable it to thrive in even the most competitive markets. In order to meet the demands of modern businesses, it is understandable that IT has become more sophisticated. However, it seems that far from revitalising their organizations, continuous investment in new IT solutions – including cloud computing – has had the opposite of its intended effect. Many organizations across the world confess that the complexity of their IT estate is now hindering their ability to innovate. Relapse, not revival, is their experience.

With the now seemingly insatiable digital expectations of customers and employees, organizations must address this terrifying admission. For competitive edge, they must do it quickly.

Keith TilleyExecutive Vice President, Global Sales and Customer Services Management, Sungard Availability Services®

IT Nightmare: Navigating the Potential Horrors of Hybrid IT

#HybridHor

rors

32

Executive Summary Look to any success story in modern IT and it’s likely you will find cloud computing somewhere in the mix. Indeed, last year, nearly three quarters of all organizations across the world have at least one cloud service within their computing infrastructure. 1

However, with many committed to running mission-critical processes across their pre-existing legacy infrastructure, a ‘rip and replace’ route into the cloud is not a viable solution. Instead cloud adoption has generally been built as an extension, replacing end-of-life solutions and expanding the infrastructure with new services. The same research also found that despite such widespread adoption, as many as 56 percent of decision-makers still consider themselves to be in the ‘investigation phase’ of deployment, looking to better understand how cloud can be integrated into their business models.

Organizations are now building, against a long-term strategy, increasingly sophisticated estates using a variety of traditional on-premise solutions alongside external services, including public and private cloud, co-location, or managed hosting services. This is Hybrid IT.2

Our research* shows this approach in action across a number of leading markets across the world (including the US, UK, France, Ireland and Sweden). While 45 percent of respondents noted that Hybrid IT was a part of their evolution towards the cloud, similar numbers – 38 percent and 33 percent – felt their key drivers to Hybrid IT were to gain a competitive advantage and keep up with changing workforce demands.

What we can see is that the adoption of Hybrid IT is viewed as essential; taking an average of 28 percent of the IT department’s overall budget. IT leaders clearly do not think their organisation can retain their market position without it – in fact, 73 percent claimed that operating a Hybrid IT estate was a necessary part of staying competitive within their industry. The move has not been taken lightly – 73 percent of respondents labeled it a strategic – and thus vital choice.

However, despite its importance, each region has found the path to developing a functional Hybrid IT model can be fraught with peril. Akin to Jekyll and Hyde, Hybrid IT can have a dark side as well as its benefits, and if an organization is not careful, they can quickly find themselves in its clutches…

*Research was conducted by Vanson Bourne, on behalf of Sungard Availability Services, to investigate the level of Hybrid IT adoption across five countries across the world, and whether this adoption had benefited the organization. 700 interviews were conducted online and over the telephone between September and November 2015, including 200 from the US, 150 from the UK, 150 from France and 100 each from Sweden and Ireland. The research questioned IT decision makers in businesses of over 500 employees across a variety of sectors, including financial services, professional services and retail.1 http://www.idgenterprise.com/resource/research/2015-cloud-computing-study/2 ‘Hybrid IT environment’ – the combination of internal and external IT services. It can mean a mix of legacy environments and cloud platforms.

Natu

re is a

life

long

str

uggl

e be

twee

n go

od a

nd e

vil, l

ight

and

dar

kness.

Now, to

my

horr

or, I find

tha

tte

chno

logy

can

be

just t

he sam

e.

Hidden Horrors: Why Hybrid IT is Going Bump in the NightAs our global research has shown, there are recognizable benefits of Hybrid IT including; increased business agility (46 percent), improved customer service (41 percent) and faster product development (34 percent).

An incredible 94 percent of organizations believe they have seen a positive business impact following their adoption of Hybrid IT, demonstrating that the approach–even in its early stages–can offer a clear value for businesses.

The US offered the most positive view – with every single organization in the region claiming to have seen some form of benefit as a result of Hybrid IT. The rest of the world was not far behind, with an average of 92 percent of organization across the other regions stating the approach had aided their business. Both the US and the UK highlighted business agility as a key benefit, while scalability and cost reductions rang most pertinent for Ireland and France respectively.

However, lurking just beneath the surface, many admit to having witnessed a darker side to Hybrid IT. Mr. Hyde has well and truly reared his ugly face, with IT complexity being a complaint for over a quarter of organizations (28 percent).

Complexity hit the UK, Ireland, and the US the hardest, with 35, 32, and 30 percent of respondents respectively naming it as a negative business impact of Hybrid IT, compared to just 16 percent in France. Conversely, these French organizations are much more concerned by a reduction in business agility, with 23 percent naming that as their key impact (as opposed to just 11 percent in the UK) while Swedish organizations worry over the increasing cost of managing the IT environment (26 percent).

In the US, 62 percent of organizations couldn’t take the journey alone, being forced to bring in additional external support to run their Hybrid IT system. For the rest of the world, this percentage may drop to just less than half (49 percent) but it still demonstrates the challenge in implementing a Hybrid IT system. And the value of working with the right partner and skill-set to secure success.

The shadow of complexity looms larger than ever before. Our research found that nearly three-quarters (70 percent) of IT decision makers are running more complex IT systems than ever before. Perhaps most worryingly, just under half (49 percent) claimed that the complexity of their Hybrid IT estate is hindering innovation. It seems somewhat ironic that IT tools implemented to help improve business growth, agility, and innovation have left many organizations paralyzed instead.

techno

logy c

an

be jus

t the

same...

The complexity of my curious

condition continues

to baffle me.

Ashish Shete, Vice President of Products and Engineering – channel data management company Zyme: “Hybrid IT allows us to take full advantage of all the technological advances that are happening in the industry, but without requiring a full system overhaul. As with most IT investments, it is not without its difficulties–and we have worked hard to ensure our systems remain integrated across our various platforms.”

The industries struggling to innovate thanks to Hybrid IT

Public SectorManufacturingFinancial Services

58%

49%53%

55%43%

36%

Negative impacts of Hybrid IT

Adding complexity to the IT estate Increasing the cost of managing the IT environment Reducing the level of security Reducing the level of governance

28%25%21%18%

The Complexity Issue

of organizations feel their IT infrastructure is now more complex than it was in the past have confessed that they do not understand everything about their organization’s IT environment A third admit to struggling to run and maintain their Hybrid IT

70%

34%

33%

This lack of control has manifested itself in a number of other concerns: 72 percent of organizations have now placed the interoperability of platforms in their Hybrid IT estate firmly at the top of their agenda.

RetailBusiness and Professional ServicesIT

4 5

US – Increase in business agility (65%)

UK – Increase in business agility (53%)

Sweden – Speeding up cloud deployments (46%)

Ireland – Scalability improvement (32%)

France – Reducing the cost of managing the IT estate (44%)

Badreddine Laroussi, Group CIO - TDA Capital:

“As time goes on, IT will only continue

to get more complex because we’re buying technology for

everything. Any project or process in an organization now requires some level of IT

investment. Everything is computerised and the system is constantly expected to give more.”

The beginning was easy,

as beginnings so often are.

The shadow of chaos

and uncertainty amidst

a myriad of uncontrolled needs.

I rose! I soared! I roamed amidst the infinite cloud!

Introducing the Good Side and the Dark Side

$ 29,858

$ 5,474

$ 30,938

$ 19,855

Average rise per month: 31% =

Average rise per month: 33% =

Average rise per month: 53% =

Average rise per month: 46% =

$5,589Average rise per month: 21% =

Part of this increase in costs has come from the need to keep all services and solutions within the IT estate integrated, with over a quarter (26 percent) rating interoperability a key challenge. Overall, 49 percent of businesses across the US, UK, France, Sweden and Ireland are now being forced to pay more in order to ensure their environments become, or simply remain, integrated.

With so many challenges creeping in, it is unsurprising that nearly half of organizations (41 percent) claim they do not have the skill sets needed to manage a complex Hybrid IT environment. When coupled with the importance placed on Hybrid IT–73 percent of organizations named Hybrid IT a necessary part of remaining competitive–we are left with a dual personality issue, a Jekyll and ‘Hybrid’ if you will.

Delving into regional differences, the US is revealed to struggle the most with its current skills set when it comes to managing Hybrid IT. Over half (51 percent) rated security skills as particularly lacking, leaving it particularly open and vulnerable to the latest cyber security threats, contrasting with the global average of 37 percent. Managing a number of different IT systems across separate business departments was also highlighted as a missing skill for almost double the amount of US organizations compared to those in the UK (42 percent and 22 percent respectively). This echoes back to the greater reliance expressed by US firms upon a partner–or partners–to help them through managing their Hybrid IT environment. However, this challenge also reflects strongly in a desire to nail these issues, with 89 percent of US organizations stating that they are willing to invest to ensure they have the correct skills set within their business to successfully run a Hybrid IT estate.

Alongside complexity, our data revealed that increased costs (25 percent) and a reduction in the level of governance (18 percent) and security (21 percent) have left some organizations counting the financial impact of running a Hybrid IT estate. Money is fast becoming a factor–half have seen their operating costs rise thanks to Hybrid IT, adding an average of $275,778 to their bills each year. The rise in costs has hit the US the hardest, with 53 percent of organizations seeing a spending increase of around $30,938 per month, equivalent to another $371,255 per year.

Outside of the US, we can see that while the French market has seen the biggest rise in costs–with 46 percent reporting an increase–it is the UK which is facing the biggest bill, with the 31 percent who reported an increase in costs now paying an extra $358,299 each year.

6 7

France 43%

Sweden 21%Ireland 33%

Percentage of organizations now paying more to ensure their IT estate remains/becomes integrated

United Kingdom 55%United States 70%

Despite its perils, the value of Hybrid IT is not in doubt. Although struggling with the approach, over two thirds (67 percent) of organizations believe the cost and complexity of Hybrid IT will be worth it in the long run.

37%Security

issues

28%Managing

different IT systems across

separate business departments

27%Integrating/maintaining public cloud

environments

21%Maintaining

legacy systems

Top four missing skill sets for managing Hybrid IT environments

Sweden $1,588,863

Ireland $1,037,049France $1,063,936

United Kingdom $10,918,471United States $2,271,267Average Yearly Spend on Hybrid IT:

Roy Gray, IT Infrastructure - NHS Trust Moorfields:

“With a Managed Services

Provider looking after

our infrastructure, my

team has more time to concentrate

on internal projects. Allowing a third party to take

responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of

our system has enabled us to be far more flexible in

how we run our IT estate. Strategically, it has been

very good for us.”

Tackling the Frankenstein of IT – How to Build on Multiple Platforms In spite of its trials and tribulations, the appetite for a well-run Hybrid IT environment is undiminished: 65 percent believe they will always operate a Hybrid IT estate in some form. And while there may be no silver bullet or wooden stake in the fight to get it right, there are a number of signs to look out for which will help indicate the future success–or indeed failure–of a Hybrid IT implementation.

Good OmensThree Signs your Hybrid IT Implementation is on the Right Track

2. You have brought in alliesAs we’ve seen, the skills needed to fully maintain a Hybrid IT infrastructure are in short supply, particularly in the US. You can’t bluff your way to success, you need someone you can consult or rely on to help you design, implement and maintain your system so you don’t end up with a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ of technologies. Arm yourself with the knowledge of your application requirements–availability, security and performance being key factors. Identify the areas where reinforcements are needed, (our respondents placed security; managing IT systems across separate departments; and public and private cloud integration/maintenance at 37, 28, 27 and 27 percent respectively). No one knows your business as well as you do; share that knowledge to help any allies give you valuable advice.

3. You know when you’ve wonWhether your demons have been vanquished means frequently and thoroughly benchmarking your measure of success.

Ensure you have reviewed a comparison of the lifecycle costs of the technology/application against the expected ROI before embarking on any IT investment project. These include everything from management and licensing to infrastructure, people and processes. Once it’s complete, check back in at regular intervals to ensure your system is as efficient and effective as it can be: business agility (46 percent), improved customer service (41 percent) and accelerated cloud deployments (37 percent) were the top results for Hybrid IT winners.

1. You have planned your attackYou’ve already cast a light into the dark shadowy corners of your data centers and now have a clear understanding of each application and services’ importance to your business. Everything from Test & Dev environments through to customer facing service portals need to be addressed and categorized. How important is uptime, availability or security to your applications? Not all apps are equal in their requirements and a successful Hybrid IT strategy can recognize this.

Prioritize that which offers a commercial differentiation and be among the 73 percent of organizations who seek competitive advantage via Hybrid IT. Everything, unless it’s easier and cheaper to do it yourself, can be outsourced.

This new side of me is capable of unimaginable things.

of organizations agreed that having support from a partner ensured that their Hybrid IT implementations were a success.

67%

of organizations feel the cost and complexity of Hybrid IT will be worth it in the long run.

67%

74 percent of organizations are willing to invest to ensure they have the right skills to successfully run a Hybrid IT estate.

74%

8 9

Dark HarbingerThree Signs your Hybrid IT Implementation is Destined to Fail 3. You are starting to lose controlControl is vital to the smooth running of any IT system and

Hybrid IT is no exception. However, with so many moving parts and multiple platforms, it is easy to lose grip. This is where the CIO needs to lead the charge and help the organization to tame the beast and regain any control lost.CIOs need to find a balance between having strong and robust governance in place, without making it so strict that you reduce the opportunity to drive the innovation you know can be delivered by your systems. Setting parameters based on cost control is a good starting point. After that, understand how your organization will be affected by third-party developments: where do you sit in the supply chain?Finally, benchmark your providers against their competitors each year and let them know you’re doing it. This should help keep performance, and costs, and SLAs at optimal levels.

1. You view the cloud as a silver bulletA common problem: thinking the cloud is an answer for everything is one of the costliest mistakes you can make. Much like Jekyll’s elixir, cloud computing is being brought into IT infrastructures with the hope of benefitting businesses, improving productivity and acting as a driving factor in opening new revenue streams. The brew, however, has proved too heady a mixture for many businesses according to this research. Although considered a gateway to innovation, it is ironic to see that harnessing new technologies like cloud computing are a leading cause in the increasing levels of complexity which are now preventing many organizations from innovating.

Cloud is great for short sprint projects, new applications and developments, but not all applications are suited to the cloud and running too many clouds that don’t interact delivers major problems. As truly interconnected hybrid clouds are developed this may ease this issue but the nature of many organizations'’ IT will be to remain hybrid (65 percent), which means cloud will only ever combat part of the monster.

I should have realized the

true nature of any hybrid.

It is a beast with two

natures. And it must be tamed.

OF RESPONDENTS

ADMITTED THEY DID

NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND

EVERYTHING ABOUT

THEIR ORGANIZATION'S

IT ENVIRONMENT.

34%

2. You leave yourself with no escape

Rushing to drink the cloud elixir can

give you a hangover–

we already know that! Less well-known is that this rush

can often leave organizations trapped,

with many failing

to plan an escape route.

Know your exit routes. Without an exit strat

egy, organizations

can end up locked in and at the mercy of whichever cloud

providers they have chosen. What happens if your

provider

wants to raise the costs? Or it suffers freque

nt outages? Or is

revealed to be in breach of data sove

reignty laws? CIOs must

make sure their organization is protecte

d and that doesn’t just

mean adding another cloud supplier to

the heap.

10 11

OF ORGANIZATIONS

HAVE STRUGGLED

TO IMPLEMENT

THEIR HYBRID

IT ESTATE.’

32%

OF ORGANIZATIONS ARE

RECONSIDERING THEIR

APPROACH TO HYBRID IT

IN SOME WAY.

88%

Badreddine Laroussi, Group CIO - TDA Capital:

“The whole point of moving to a Hybrid

IT approach is to increase business agility.

Technology is changing all the time, with new applications and services appearing on a weekly

basis–organization’s need an approach that can take advantage of this. Of course, this requires

careful planning: which applications would suit a cloud environment and which would be better

elsewhere? Do you have the skill sets needed to make a success of this approach?”

Conclusion Whether it is a natural evolution from an on-premise system or a stop-gap on the journey to a cloud-first IT system, Hybrid IT requires a well-considered and comprehensive roadmap. Building a Hybrid IT environment with ad hoc purchases, while trying to keep numerous disparate applications integrated, is an IT nightmare waiting to happen.

Hybrid IT is here to stay, either as more organizations begin on their transformational journey towards a more modern IT environment, or take this approach long term (29 percent of organizations state that they have no plans to move away from the approach)–and there is no doubt that it can offer real value for a business. Crucial to today’s modern business mind-set, Hybrid IT has a tangible impact on the flexibility and agility of any organization. It also represents the foreseeable future of enterprise IT, helping take organizations into the brave new world of mobility, cloud and big data analytics.

But it can come at a price. With platforms, services, and applications often supplied by different providers Hybrid IT can seem a risky strategy. It goes beyond the usual skill sets of many organizations and leaves them dangerously unable to maintain control–in fact 89 percent of IT departments lack at least one of the skill sets needed to manage a Hybrid IT environment.

Bringing in the right expertise is fundamental. Although having those specialists in-house might be the preferred option, the wide range of platforms and technologies which comprise a Hybrid IT estate make this an expensive and near-impossible option. In this instance, a Managed Services partner–whether used just to advise or to offer full infrastructure support–can be an essential.

Hybrid IT is a heady potion to imbibe and one with myriad positive outcomes, but an elixir conducive to the life of your business depends on establishing the ingredients you need before you take that first sip.

Learn from my misfortu

nes.

Resist the tem

ptation to tra

vel alone.

Find a few true souls you can

trust to help you tackle the

demons of Hybrid IT.

“Three quarters of organizations identified Hybrid IT as a strategic choice.”

Organizations are re-thinking their use of Hybrid IT in the following ways:

48%Greater

integration between IT

solutions

40%Increased

use of Hybrid cloud

services

30%Using less

on-premise/physical

infrastructure environments

30%Using less legacy

technology

12 13

Ireland 37%

France 9%United States 20%

United Kingdom 39%Sweden 53%

Many organizations have no plans to move away from a Hybrid IT approach; percentage of organizations, by region, planning to continue using Hybrid IT:

Top reason for rethinking use of / approach to Hybrid IT by region:

• US: Increased use of hybrid cloud services 61%• UK: Greater integration between IT 47%• Sweden: Using less on-premise/physical infrastructure environments 47%• Ireland: Using less on-premise/physical infrastructure environments 44%• France: Greater integration between IT 43%

14 15

NOTES: NOTES:

North America Office680 E. Swedesford RoadWayne, PA 19087

EMEA Head OfficeUnit B Heathrow Corporate Park, Green Lane, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW4 6ER, United Kingdom

North America +1 484 582 2000 www.sungardas.com

United Kingdom +44 (0)800 143 413 www.sungardas.co.uk

Belgium +32 (0)2 513 3618 www.sungardas.be

France +33 (0)1 64 80 61 61 www.sungardas.fr

India +91 20 673 10 400 www.sungardas.in

Ireland +353 (0)1 467 3650 www.sungardas.ie

Luxembourg +352 357305-1 www.sungardas.lu

Sweden +46 (0)8 666 32 00 www.sungardas.se

linkedin.com/company/sungard-availability-services

Twitter.com/SungardAS

facebook.com/SungardAS

blog.sungardas.com

youtube.com/user/SungardAS

Connect with us

Sungard Availability Services® is a trademark or registered trademark of Sungard Data Systems or its affiliate, used under license. The Sungard Availability Services logo by itself is a trademark or registered trademark of Sungard Availability Services Capital, Inc. or its affiliate. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.