Mixed or “hybrid” clouds are now the order of the day, according to IBM research, but IT departments will have to adapt their systems to suit.

The global study on cloud transformation shows a “drastic shift” in business needs, says IBM, as only 3 per cent of organisations reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, down from 29 per cent in 2019.

The study questioned 7,200 C-suite executives across 28 industries and 47 countries, including more than 200 in the UK. As it's clear that the hybrid, multi-cloud era is here, concerns around vendor lock-ins, security, compliance and interoperability remain paramount, said IBM.

Despite cyber threats being at an all-time high, and infrastructure complexity leaving openings, more than a third of respondents did not say improving security was among their largest business and IT investment priorities.

But at the same time, 80 per cent said data security being embedded throughout the cloud architecture is “important” or “extremely important” for successful digital initiatives. It is cloud customers, not their cloud providers, that are responsible for cloud data security.

Almost 80 per cent said workloads being completely portable, with no vendor lock-ins, is important or extremely important to the success of their business. But nearly 70 per cent said vendor lock-ins are a “significant obstacle” to improving business performance in most or all parts of their cloud estate.

And nearly 70 per cent in the government and financial services sectors cited industry-related regulatory compliance as an “obstacle” to the business performance of their clouds.

Mark Cox, public cloud director for IBM UK and Ireland, said: “The message from decision-makers is clear, they want to be able to use a mix of different cloud solutions to meet different needs, and they want to do so securely - without being locked into a single provider.

“An open hybrid cloud model is the best design to address these needs and will be the foundational architecture driving the next wave of transformation and innovation across sectors,” said Cox.

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