COVID-19 has become a powerful catalyst for rapid cloud migration

The post-pandemic world is a cloud-first world. The future of cloud workloads continues to be directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to IT decision makers from North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. LogicMonitor’s study Cloud 2025: The future of workloads in a cloud-first, post-COVID-19 world, conducted from May to June of this year, noted that while “the full picture is still evolving,” COVID-19 “has become a powerful catalyst for cloud migration.” 

LogicMonitor wanted to poll experts’ opinions of IT automation, cloud migration, and “business continuity in the face of unexpected crises.”

The report revealed 87% of those IT decision makers cite the coronavirus as the reason cloud migration will be accelerated. Nearly three-quarters of respondents believe that within the next five years, 95% of workloads will be in the cloud, with variations from respondents in different parts of the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, 37% of respondents said 95% of workloads will reach the cloud by 2020, compared to 35% of US/Canada, and 30% of UK respondents.

SEE: Coronavirus: Critical IT policies and tools every business needs (TechRepublic Premium)

Pre-pandemic estimates reconsidered

The study marks a dramatic shift from a 2017 study, when LogicMonitor conducted a similar survey and only 13% of all respondents were cynical and stated they did not think the shift to cloud migration would ever happen; 62% thought it would that five or more years for 95% of workloads to run in the cloud. 

“Fast forward to today, and the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the importance of the cloud in large and small enterprises as a vital asset to business operations,” said Tej Redkar, chief product officer at LogicMonitor in a press release. “It is clear that organizations are hastening their cloud migration during the crisis, as the cloud is enabling them to operate remotely now while also serving as the foundation for digital transformation and ongoing innovation.”

The pandemic-caused shift to many organizations turning to remote work/working from home. Respondents were in sync with one another and said there would be a direct correlation between how smooth the transition to remote work goes and “much more cloud usage,” representing an increased efficiency. More automation and Internet of Things will be in the cloud and further confirms that “in a fully remote workforce scenario, there will be cost savings in office leases.”

Adjustments required 

For the new remote workforce era, this means:

1. Increased use of/investments in cloud technology;
2. Implement new collaboration tools, data-sharing and VPN access; and
3. Problem solving for limited access to servers.

On-prem or in cloud?

Prior to the coronavirus, 35% of workloads “resided on-premises” (on-prem), but respondents believe by 2025 only 22% will remain on-prem, a drop of 13%, making the switch from an on-prem infrastructure to more cloud-based infrastructure.

A significant predicted decline in on-prem workloads is anticipated by IT leaders in all three regions.

By 2025, IT decision makers in the US and Canada, or 22% percent of those polled, agree that on-prem workloads will drop to 22%; in the UK they expect 21%, and in Australia and New Zealand they believe it will be a decline to 24%. Only 2% think it’s never going to happen.

Public or private? Respondents believe workloads will remain evenly split between the two, even though more workloads overall will migrate to the cloud.

Pre-pandemic
35% on-prem
23% in public cloud
25% in private cloud
17% in a hybrid cloud

By 2025
22% on-prem
28% in public cloud
30% in private cloud
20% in a hybrid cloud

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