IT professionals are opting for cloud-native technologies -- which suggests partners should be pitching cloud-native offerings to customers, according to a new report.
The Global Perception Study, from Cloud Foundry Foundation, was culled from 601 IT decision makers in The United States, China, and Europe. Admittedly, it's a bit self-serving since Cloud Foundry promotes cloud-native offerings.
Still, the findings are nonetheless interesting for partners that are trying to see inside the minds of their IT Pro customers. The data shows insiders are increasingly adopting a combination of Platform as a Service (PaaS), containers, and serverless options.
“In this multi-platform world, it should come as no surprise that, as they become more comfortable with these tools, IT decision makers are searching for a suite of technologies to work together. They want technologies that integrate with their current solutions in order to address their needs today—but are flexible enough to address their needs in the future,” said Abby Kearns, Executive Director, Cloud Foundry Foundation.
Indeed, various technologies are being used side by side more often.
- 77 percent of respondents are using or looking at using PaaS;
- 72 percent are using or evaluating containers;
- 46 percent are using or evaluating serverless computing.
- More than a third of those who responded to the study are using a combination of all three technologies.
More than half of IT decision makers say their companies use a mix of building new cloud-native applications and refactoring existing applications. The study also shows that for companies choosing to develop new or refactor existing applications, containers appear to be the main route.
Serverless computing is trending upward as well, according to the data, with a minority of respondents not using serverless and 10 percent more companies evaluating the option than in 2017.
Meanwhile, PaaS is becoming an increasingly popular option and companies are increasingly developing new cloud-native applications. The study’s authors posit that the two upsurges are happening in tandem. Indeed, they say that 62 percent of IT decision makers report their companies save more than $100,000 by using a PaaS.
Flexibility and interoperability are key factors for IT decision makers who ranked “Integration with existing tools” and “Flexibility to work with new tools” in the top five attributes in a platform, alongside Security, Support, and Price, the study shows.
Overall, the Foundation’s various reports indicate that IT professionals are embracing cloud technologies. In 2016, many reported a lack of clarity around IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS, and most were still evaluating the technologies. But by the latter part of the following year, they had selected and deployed a number of cloud solutions. Today, 20 percent of IT decision makers report primarily building new cloud-native applications, up five percentage points from last year, while 13 percent say they are primarily refactoring, a drop of 11 points.
