As cloud computing rapidly evolves and picks up momentum in the private sector, decision-makers are increasingly turning to the hosted services to solve long-standing problems that have plagued them for years. In many cases, organizations are not only using the cloud for innovative storage environments, but are also migrating the office phone system and other mission-critical communication platforms off-site to reduce management complexities.
The ongoing adoption of advanced cloud services is not a new occurrence, as decision-makers have been slowly migrating to the cloud for several years now, according to a SYS-CON Media report. Yet organizations are not solely using a public or private cloud anymore. Instead, companies are embracing a hybrid model that enables decision-makers to outsource certain applications, while keeping others on-site.
Although some people will dismiss the hybrid cloud model as another form of cloudwashing – when vendors put the word "cloud" around the offerings to seem more appealing – pundits often disagree, SYS-CON Media said.
Why are organizations adopting the hybrid cloud?
A separate report by Gartner highlighted the growing hybrid cloud market, noting that the strategy enables decision-makers to keep more sensitive solutions on-site while migrating the business phone system and other technologies to an outsourced environment. The hybrid model, in other words, is here to stay.
"While the cloud market matures, IT organizations must adopt a hybrid IT strategy that not only builds internal clouds to house critical IT services and compete with public [cloud service providers], but also utilizes the external cloud to house non-critical IT services and data, augment internal capacity and increase IT agility," said Chris Howard, managing vice president at Gartner.
A separate report by ABI Research noted that many companies are beginning to adopt the cloud PBX system, which enables organizations to support access to crucial communication tools from multiple platforms, including smartphones and tablets. In fact, the analyst firm said more than 40 percent of enterprise communication users will be migrated to the cloud by 2016.
ABI Research senior analyst Subha Rama said the cloud-based phone system market is estimated to grow by more than 21 percent through 2016, generating approximately $8 billion in revenue.
In addition to the promise of improving flexibility, many organizations are adopting a hosted phone system thanks to the technology's inherent disaster recovery capabilities. Because the service is not managed on-site, any internal emergency will not have a direct impact on communications, allowing businesses of all sizes to continue operating at a functional level.
As cloud computing services continue to rapidly gain momentum, firms will likely implement hybrid cloud technologies that keep sensitive assets on-site, yet allow decision-makers to outsource their business phone service. In doing so, the private sector will become increasingly flexible by supporting remote working habits and reducing the complexities associated with maintaining an advanced telephone system on-site.