Staying ahead: business resilience in the hybrid cloud era

How prepared is your business to handle the unexpected? Recent events have shown how swiftly a crisis can disrupt customer service, revenue, and reputation. Whether it’s a cyber incident or a system outage, the ability to respond effectively and minimise damage is critical for maintaining trust and business continuity.

As organisations increasingly rely on interconnected digital systems, business resilience is essential. However, many businesses face technology constraints such as capacity limitations, latency and system uptime which impact their ability to recover from disruptions like data breaches, technology outages or natural disasters.

It’s no secret that cloud technology supports a more agile and responsive business environment. However, less well-known is the fact that hybrid infrastructure is emerging as the best approach in the business resilience game. It provides organisations with the flexibility and control they need to manage today’s challenges. According to IDC, 90% of enterprises are set to adopt multi or hybrid-cloud by the end of this year, underscoring its pivotal role in driving adaptability and long-term success.

Let’s take a closer look at the trends that are shaping hybrid infrastructure, and why it’s a powerful tool for business resilience.

The evolution of business resilience

Organisations can’t afford to go offline in today’s dynamic business environment. In a recent survey of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across Australia about business resilience¹, the research found that while the concept of business resilience has remained constant, the factors driving resilience have evolved.

Respondents said that the landscape has shifted from planning for disasters and business continuity to cyber-resilience and adaptability. In Australia, we’ve seen examples like the Brisbane floods and catastrophic bushfires that have taken entire data centres offline. Third-party risk is another good example. This has become much more of a focus for many organisations due to third-party applications impacting business operations.

As a result, the rise of cloud computing and advancements in virtualisation have revolutionised how businesses approach IT infrastructure. Enter hybrid cloud, which integrates on-premises, private cloud and public cloud resources into a unified infrastructure flexibility, scalability and cost efficiency.

In 2021, the global hybrid cloud market was valued at US$85 billion (AU$126.3 billion) and is expected to reach US$262 billion (AU$389.3 billion) in 2027. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest rate throughout this period, according to Statista.

Furthermore, hybrid cloud solutions blend the convenience of public cloud with the reliability of on-premises resources. This empowers organisations to tailor their infrastructure to meet critical needs while enhancing overall resilience and adaptability in an ever-changing landscape.

Factors driving the adoption of hybrid infrastructure

1. Tech modernisation and simplification

The majority of Australian CIOs plan to upgrade their infrastructure, according to the research from ADAPT. This is indicated by their spending intentions, with almost six in 10 CIOs planning to invest in modernising legacy infrastructure in the next financial year.

Organisations are therefore revisiting their foundational systems to achieve operational excellence. While a CIO faces challenges like legacy technology and excessive manual processes, a CFO struggles with gaining clear visibility into sunk costs from cloud and infrastructure investments. A hybrid cloud strategy done well, allows organisations to place workloads where they will deliver the most value.

2. Enhanced security and visibility

From a security point of view, resilience is about maintaining confidentiality and availability. However, as organisations adopt hybrid environments, they often face uncertainties such as the location of their servers or the activities of third parties within their ecosystems. This is why it’s important not to put all your resources in one place.

Hybrid cloud allows organisations to spread resources across multiple locations and even vendors (when also taking a multi-cloud approach). This strategic distribution enhances resilience against disruptions, including vendor-specific failures and helps ensure smooth operations during unforeseen challenges.

3. Simplified management

While hybrid infrastructure offers several benefits, it also presents risks that CIOs must navigate. For example, the complexity of managing hybrid environments could hinder an organisation’s ability to respond swiftly to disruptions. Organisations often have a primary platform and a secondary platform. Typically, the focus is on the primary platform, while the secondary ones might not be as secured or optimised.

Simplified management addresses this by streamlining the oversight and control of diverse environments, reducing the operational burden on IT teams. With the right solutions and partnerships, organisations maintain consistency in security, governance and compliance across their entire IT landscape. This not only simplifies management of hybrid infrastructure but ensures critical systems and data remain protected and available in the face of unforeseen challenges.

The path forward

Business resilience in hybrid infrastructure means harnessing the strengths of diverse environments to maintain continuous operations amidst challenges. To truly thrive in a hybrid environment, organisations must stay ahead of technology advancements and evolving threats. Now is the time for CIOs to enhance their organisation’s ability to respond to disruptions, protect critical data and optimise operations.

^{1. ADAPT 2024, The July 2024 Adapt Cloud and Infrastructure Edge Survey.}

*As an ICT leader for the past 20 years, Dan Cox has an international footprint managing the relationships between people and technology across Europe, the US and Australia. Dan joined Interactive in 2020 as General Manager, Cloud and later to the role of General Manager, Digital Transformation.

Top image credit: iStock.com/Just_Super