Business needs are changing: IT must change as well, says VMware study

MANILA, Philippines - VMware Inc., a global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, has announced the results of the VMware Cloud Index, which shows that cloud adoption in the Asia-Pacific region continues to progress and accelerate business transformation.

Survey data show that emerging markets, including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, are increasing their adoption of cloud computing.

A majority of the respondents surveyed from emerging markets believe that cloud or “as-a-service” offerings are a top priority for their organization, and can significantly impact business transformation — with respondents putting cloud or “as-a-service” offerings ahead of revenue growth and market expansion, cost-cutting or improving margins.

In the Philippines and Thailand, 92 percent of the respondents believe their IT organizations must act quickly and cost-effectively provide cloud services to the business, or risk getting marginalized. This is reflected in the areas of storage and networking, where fast provisioning and zero downtime is a top priority.

“Business demands are driving the need for the evolution of IT. Many businesses are now embracing cloud computing, and are realizing the benefits it offers to business operations,” said Emmanuel Portugal, country manager for VMware Philippines.

“As businesses deal with rising customer expectations, while improving customer satisfaction levels as important growth drivers, IT efficiency and responsiveness is critical, or organizations may risk falling behind competitors,” Portugal said.

Flexibility and disaster recovery important for hybrid cloud in AsPac

Another need for companies today is to quickly respond to the requirements of the business. A shift to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) enables IT operators and distributed application developers to quickly provide new infrastructure without waiting to purchase, ship and install physical servers within their own data center.

However, it may take time and resources for organizations to gain the expertise, resources and investment to deploy and manage cloud infrastructure.

“Particularly in the Philippines, where business operations are often interrupted by unpredictable weather conditions, the need for flexibility and disaster recovery has led to companies exploring hybrid cloud options,” Portugal said.

Thirty-five percent of senior IT and business decision-makers surveyed in the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, and India said their companies would invest more time, money, and skills around hybrid clouds in 2014.

Mature vs emerging markets

According to the survey, mature and emerging Asia-Pacific markets are aligned when it comes to a software-defined approach to IT, yet the markets differ in their perception of cloud’s relevance to their organizations.

Respondents in mature Asia-Pacific markets (27 percent) say that cloud is highly relevant to their organization, while the majority view in emerging markets (31 percent) sees cloud or “as-a-service” approaches as a top priority.

Sixty-five of the survey respondents agreed that if they do not improve their knowledge of cloud computing and the software-defined data center, IT operators may risk falling behind their peers professionally. Fifty-five percent in mature markets feel the same way.

“In this new era of cloud computing, organizations need to take a holistic approach to planning, building and operating their IT infrastructure,” Portugal said.

“VMware believes the software-defined data center will enable organizations to build infrastructure that is radically simpler and more efficient, while delivering agility and flexibility to support business growth,” Portugal added.