The ‘Cloud-First’ Mandate (and Buzzword) Morphs

Pushed by COVID-19, organizations in 2020 had to make cloud their primary method for delivering technology to employees. Many of them opted for public cloud. But that could change in 2021 as organizations move from “cloud-first” to “cloud smart,” Deepak Patil, senior vice president and general manager of Dell Technologies Cloud, tells Channel Futures.

“While ‘cloud-first’ mandates have existed for years, the rush to digitally transform in 2020 led some companies to quickly move workloads to public clouds that may be better suited elsewhere,” Patil says.

Spreading workloads across those public clouds created complexity and inefficiency, he notes. That’s because each cloud comes with its own management tools, security protocols and service-level agreements. But, similar to the earlier point about cloud-switching, 2021 may stand out as the year organizations take their cloud sprawl into account and, with the help of channel partners, rejigger their architectures.

“When your clouds are aligned to your business, business outcomes – not compatibility limitations – drive workload placement,” Patil says. “This is the shift to a ‘cloud-smart’ approach, and channel partners will be on the front lines of this transition.”