More than 50 percent Forward-Looking Organizations Embrace Enterprise-Wide Cloud Strategy to Drive Digital Transformation – Infosys Research

Bengaluru – June 13, 2019: Infosys Knowledge Institute (IKI), a research arm of Infosys, today unveiled a global research on cloud adoption in enterprises. The research titled, ‘Navigate Your Digital Transformation with Cloud’ reveals how enterprises are adopting cloud programs and identifying current and future cloud initiatives, both from strategic and implementation perspectives.

For this research Infosys surveyed 876 executives representing both technology and business functions from organizations with over USD 1 billion in revenues across US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

Highlights of the survey:

To assess the intensity of cloud adoption, Infosys discovered four distinct segments which provide clues into enterprise cloud thinking and behavior –

1. Torchbearers (51 percent) – Have high adoption of cloud across functions, and seek to be fully integrated and a cloud-first organization

2. Pathfinders (19 percent) – Have moderate cloud adoption, and actively seek to derive more business value from the cloud

3. Defenders (19 percent) – Understand the importance of cloud, but have a siloed approach and unsure about how to derive business value from the cloud

4. Aspirants (11 percent) – Have low cloud adoption across functions, and mostly have a tactical approach towards the cloud

94 percent of enterprises surveyed had a stated enterprise-wide cloud strategy, validating the notion that the cloud is well‑entrenched in enterprises
49 percent of the respondents stated that the strategy is well-defined and followed diligently, while 45 percent stated it exists only as a guideline and business functions or regions have flexibility to develop their own
Cloud adoption is primarily being driven by emerging technologies (50 percent), competitive activity (49 percent) and reduction in overall IT costs by leveraging pay per use models (45 percent)
The most anticipated outcomes of cloud adoption are delivering an enhanced experience to customers and other stakeholders (52 percent) and standardizing and integrating the technology landscape across the enterprise (50 percent)
Among those enterprises that prefer private cloud, over 61 percent of enterprises have 25-50 percent of their workload on the private cloud, and 21 percent have over 50 percent of their workload on it. Similarly, among enterprises that prefer public cloud, 56 percent stating that they have 25-50 percent of their workload on this cloud model
With legacy systems still rampant in most enterprises, it’s no surprise that aligning legacy systems (59 percent) is stated as a top challenge
Following areas showed over 50 percent adoption of cloud initiatives
End User Productivity areas (61 percent) which include email, intranet, knowledge management
Business Support (59 percent) which include finance, HR, CRM
Core (55 percent) which include manufacturing, logistics
Manufacturing, Financial Services and Insurance, and Consumer Goods, Retail and Logistics industries are fast adopters of the cloud and have a high percentage of respondents who are Torchbearers and Pathfinders

The survey also highlighted that business leadership (50 percent) plays a significant role in defining key business outcomes from cloud transformation programs. IT leadership, on the other hand, is actively involved in conceiving technology design & strategy, vendor evaluation & selection, and to oversee cloud transformation programs.

Narsimha Rao Mannepalli, EVP and Head – Cloud & Infrastructure, Infosys, said, “Cloud initiatives have mushroomed across the enterprise as businesses recognize the inevitability of cloud computing in their quest for digital transformation. There are multiple challenges that will emerge, but investments in cloud transformation initiatives by enterprises have demonstrated long-term benefits as they aspire to win the digital race and achieve significant business performance improvements by building a robust Cloud ecosystem. The findings of this survey elucidate the multiple facets of Cloud implementation which will help enterprises derive their strategy and embark on a digital transformation journey with cloud at the core for optimum business benefits.”

For a full copy of the report, please visit: www.infosys.com/navigate-with-cloud

Methodology

Infosys commissioned independent market research company Feedback Business Consulting to undertake a study to understand drivers, usage patterns, benefits, challenges and outcomes expected from cloud-based initiatives adoption in enterprises. A total of 876 executives were surveyed from organizations with over USD 1 billion in revenues across the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The respondents were senior executives from seven industries involved in cloud initiatives, representing both technology and business functions.