2nd Watch: 70% of IT Execs Are Struggling With Public Cloud Workloads

While many IT departments use cloud solutions to better manage their resources, public cloud workload management provider 2nd Watch recently found that most IT directors and executives still find it difficult to control public cloud workloads.

A new 2nd Watch survey on public cloud workload management solutions revealed 70 percent of respondents said controlling these workloads is difficult.

The survey, which included responses from 500 IT directors and executives, also showed 30 percent of respondents in that group said it is extremely difficult to manage public cloud workloads, while the remainder said it is no more difficult to manage these workloads than it is to manage their internal systems.

“We discovered from the survey that many organizations encounter operational challenges after migrating applications to the cloud with their existing tools and service providers,” Joel Rosenberger, 2nd Watch’s executive vice president of managed services, said in a prepared statement. “There’s a perception that managing IT workloads in the cloud is a snap, but clearly that’s not the case.”

Other survey results included:

• 62 percent of respondents said their companies use commercial tools to manage cloud-based workloads and resources, and 20 percent of respondents said they are evaluating these tools.
• Among respondents who said their companies use commercial tools to manage cloud-based workloads and resources, 50 percent said these tools are provided by cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google, while 30 percent said they use tools provided by legacy software vendors such as CA Technologies (CA), BMC Software and IBM (IBM).
• Companies are primarily using commercial tools to manage cloud-based workloads and resources to monitor and improve end user performance (45 percent) or monitor and improve end user security (32 percent).
• 55 percent said they are getting the return on investment (ROI) that they expected from cloud management tools and services.
• Most companies are using outside service firms to help migrate and/or manage their public cloud workloads (45 percent) or are evaluating such providers today (39 percent).

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“In speaking with our customers, we see that companies are now looking externally for help with integrating processes and tools to manage workloads in the cloud to ensure operational excellence,” Rosenberger added.

How can organizations better manage their public cloud workloads?

2nd Watch co-founder Jeff Aden pointed out many organizations are using old techniques and tools to manage their public cloud workloads, but numerous alternatives are available.

Aden recommended that organizations leverage managed services providers (MSPs) and other third-party options to better control their public cloud workloads.

“[Organizations] should engage with cloud-native consulting, implementation and management companies. These companies are made of experts that have transitioned from legacy technologies to new tools and skills that match the latest products,” he told Talkin’ Cloud. “Additionally, organizations can think in large-scale terms, meaning, ‘What tool would I need if 60 percent of my workloads were in the public cloud?’ The answer is probably not an on-premise tool with traditional pricing structures.”

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