Is hybrid cloud the future of data warehouse modernization?
The need for digital transformation is compelling enterprises to move from traditional data warehouses to the cloud. Gartner estimates that the worldwide public cloud services market will increase by over 17 percent to $206 billion in 2019. IDC forecasts the global spending on cloud services and infrastructure to reach $210 billion in 2019. These estimates highlight the increasing adoption of intelligent cloud-based technologies.
However, not all businesses can move to the public cloud, which offers more of ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions. Enterprises invested in on-premise infrastructure and business models cannot simply discard their entire model and move to the cloud. Therefore, enterprises looking to combine the best of both worlds are adopting hybrid cloud, which is a combination of private, public, and on-premise, allowing more flexibility and data deployment options for enterprise workloads.
The hybrid cloud market is emerging. The RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud Report reveals that 84 percent of respondents have a multi-cloud strategy (vs. 81 percent in 2018), while 58 percent (up from 51 percent in 2018) enterprises have adopted a hybrid cloud strategy. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 90 percent of enterprises will adopt a hybrid cloud, which leverages the existing infrastructure investments and technologies and combines them with flexible and expandable cloud resources.
Realizing the trend, Microsoft has enabled cloud services like Azure to work with on-premise solutions for enterprises to transform ETL workloads from legacy data warehouses to the cloud.
Reasons for hybrid cloud adoption
The Cisco Global Cloud Index forecasts that by 2021, 94 percent of all workloads and compute instances will be processed in cloud data centers. While the reasons for cloud adoption may vary from business to business, the primary reasons are as follows:
Scalability: As enterprise data warehouses are exploding with massive volumes and variety of data, scalability and flexibility are becoming prime considerations while choosing a cloud infrastructure.
Cost efficiency: Artificial intelligence enables enterprises to process huge volumes of data in real-time, leading to a revolution in areas like predictive analytics, dynamic pricing, and intelligent chatbots. As AI matures, the implementation costs will decrease enabling enterprises to take advantage of AI and ML solutions even in the cloud.
Custom integrations: Enterprises can customize their solutions to integrate their legacy systems with third-party solutions. Though the solutions are targeted, they are not domain-specific, which gives developers open API access to customize to suit their requirement.
Data protection: Cloud providers take the security burden off the shoulders of IT departments by establishing rules, privileges, and providing role-based access across the organization to avoid confusion.
Securing the hybrid cloud
With more enterprises adopting hybrid cloud for flexibility and productivity, enterprise data is left at the hands of third-party cloud vendors. As traditional data security cannot protect data on the cloud, companies are leveraging the capabilities of cloud-based security solutions to gain visibility and control of their SaaS-driven work environments. Enterprises can lessen the risk of a data leak on the cloud by adopting some compliance measures like:
Security certifications
Cloud service providers are using Service Organization Control reports (i.e., ISAE 3402 reports) to certify their control environments. Many providers are also opting for security certifications from third parties like ISO/IEC 27001 to define their compliance strategy.
Security audits
Businesses can perform security audits before choosing a cloud provider to ensure that their security policies align with the organization goals, and confidential data is not at risk. Audits may involve remote testing, onsite visits, or third-party auditors.
Signing a contract with defined compliance
The cloud provider is responsible for managing the controls and implementing the security measures. Therefore, it is crucial for enterprises to define their privacy and compliance and read through the terms and conditions before signing the contract. Businesses need to ensure that all their security requirements are addressed and legally documented in the contractual agreement.
Combined with intelligent technologies and digital business services, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing can propel companies into a new dimension of competitiveness. At Impetus, we have the expertise to help you seamlessly transform your workloads to the cloud and achieve operational excellence with the right security, access, and governance controls. To know more about how we can help you transform your existing data warehouse, contact us.
