IT complexity is stifling UK innovation

The rise of cloud computing has placed IT into an era of transition, with organisations looking to embrace cloud and move away from the traditional approach. Many now find themselves in a state of Hybrid IT, running their business across a number of different IT platforms – whether that is private or public cloud, on premise servers, or data centre services. Unsurprisingly, compared to an approach in which infrastructure runs on a single platform, today’s so-called Hybrid IT estate is becoming increasingly complex, and defined as such by 100 per cent of UK respondents.

However, despite this complexity, hybrid IT is viewed positively by 92 per cent of organisations and has been identified as a critical component of their success, with 77 per cent of organisations stating that it was a necessary part of staying competitive within their industry. In fact, three quarters of respondents (75 per cent) claimed that the move to a Hybrid IT estate was a strategic choice, with 51 per cent citing it specifically as their stepping stone to cloud. Those who have adopted a Hybrid IT approach have experienced a number of rewards – with over half (53 per cent) pointing to an increase in business agility while improvements in customers service and the speed of product developments have been noted by 39 and 37 per cent respectively.

New IT, Old Challenges

However, the research also revealed a darker side of Hybrid IT. As increasing numbers of businesses turn to this approach, the perennial issue of IT complexity is once again rearing its head; nearly half (47 per cent) of the UK IT decision makers rate their current IT estate as either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ complex.

Furthermore, 69 per cent of organisations say they are now running more complex IT systems than before. This complexity is adding significant cost to the running of IT estates, with nearly a third of UK organisations (31 per cent) having seen an increase in operating costs thanks to Hybrid IT, adding an average of ?251,868 every year.

Most worryingly, over half (53 per cent) of IT decision makers claimed that the complexity of their Hybrid IT estate is hindering innovation in their organisation. Add to this the fact that half of organisations (50 per cent) claim they do not have the skill sets needed to manage a complex Hybrid IT environment and we are left with a real cause for concern.

The research also found matters of IT security were considered as the biggest concern, with 38 per cent of organisations lacking the necessary skills to deal with security issues. Integration and interoperability was also a crucial concern: 27 per cent of organisations felt they struggled to integrate private cloud environments into their IT estate. Similarly, 22 per cent of respondents admit to difficulties in managing different IT systems across separate business departments.

Commenting on the findings, Keith Tilley, Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Customer Services Management at Sungard Availability Services, said: “Cloud computing may seem to be the natural way forward for enterprise IT but it is not simply a case of turning off legacy system and pushing old processes into new environments. Most organisations in the UK have legacy applications -many running some of their most critical applications-, and as such, Hybrid IT is a necessary transition in the adoption of cloud services. It is very promising that organisations recognise the strategic value of Hybrid IT, but it equally disturbing that half our respondents feel unable to cope with the level of complexity it has added to their business.”