C-suite executives overwhelmingly say that hybrid cloud solutions are facilitating innovation and helping them to more readily meet customer expectations, according to a report released this week by IBM.

IBM released its study, “Tailoring hybrid cloud: Designing the right mix for innovation, efficiency and growth,“ on Thursday, that finds companies who embrace cloud are able to expand into new industries (76 percent), create new revenue sources (71 percent) and create new business models (69 percent).

Its findings echo results from a survey IBM released earlier this year that showed 26 percent of respondents said they are gaining a competitive advantage through hybrid cloud. 

IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) surveyed more than 1,000 C-suite executives across 18 industries on their cloud initiatives. It found that nearly half of workloads – 45 percent – are expected to remain on-premises with dedicated servers.

“Enterprises are moving to the cloud, especially hybrid cloud, faster than anyone expected to support their digital transformation, drive business model innovation and fuel growth,” Marie Wieck, IBM said in a statement. “As clients continue to reap the benefits of integrating their on-premises infrastructure with the cloud, we see them increasing their investments in new workloads on public clouds. Successful clients have integrated plans to place workloads where they fit best, and IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy provides this on-ramp for flexibility and growth.”

Even though in some ways hybrid cloud deployments give organizations the best of both worlds, security is still holding many companies back from fully embracing cloud. The study shows that the top three challenges to cloud adoption are perceived security or compliance risks and requirements (47 percent), cost structure: CapEx versus OpEx considerations (41 percent), and increased risk of operational disruption due to new cloud-based solution (38 percent).

In order for businesses to “drive sustainable competitive advantage through cloud adoption” IBM says they must combine insights from business and IT during each stage of cloud adoption, and establish strict control policies internally and externally – ensuring that providers will adhere to the same standards an organization would impose on-premises.