New Research Finds 86% Cos Increased Scope, Volume Of Cloud Initiatives Since 2020

A new research report has found has found that 86 per cent of companies’ report increasing the scope and volume of their cloud initiatives since 2020.

The report said a heavy adopters continue to fully achieve their outcomes more frequently, 47 per cent on average, than medium (36 per cent) or low adopters (21 per cent). It is understood from the findings that higher achievement levels also correlate with greater use of third-party managed services. Almost half (45 per cent) of companies fully achieve their outcomes are using managed services to a great degree.

“Companies have raced to cloud and they see clear value there, but may be encountering harder terrain than they expected. Getting the full value potential out of cloud requires a mindset shift — a focus on cloud as a continuous and constantly evolving journey, not a destination,” said Karthik Narain, global lead of Accenture Cloud First.

Moreover, the findings reveal that companies are investing more in the cloud, but nearly 68 per cent still consider their cloud journeys incomplete. Having picked the low-hanging fruit — i.e., with lifting and shifting an application from an on-premise host to a cloud service — they are now migrating more complex and business-critical systems but haven’t yet realised the full value of their investments.

The Accenture report also found that cloud environments are growing more complex. Businesses that consider their cloud journeys complete (32 per cent) are putting themselves at risk in a dynamic market environment as those that stand still get left behind.

To unlock further cloud value, companies must move more complex and business-critical systems, the report said.

When asked to identify the top barriers to achieving value from cloud investments, respondents cited “security and compliance risks” and "complexity of business and operational change," with 41 per cent of respondents placing them in their top three barriers overall. “Legacy application modernization" was close behind, with 39 per cent of respondents listing it in their top three barriers.