IBM study proves cloud as the dominant IT architecture for business in UAE

IBM found there has been a drastic need for using the cloud for business in the United Arab Emirates as none of the respondents in the UAE reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, down from 43 percent in 2019 – establishing hybrid cloud as the winning IT architecture of the future.

IBM released the findings of a global cloud transformation study conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) in collaboration with Oxford Economics, which polled nearly 7,200 C-suite executives from 28 industries and 47 countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

“The rapid acceleration in the adoption of new technologies has led the UAE’s strong response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hossam Seif El-Din, General Manager of IBM in the Middle East, and Pakistan.

He added: ‘It is evident now that cloud is at the core of the UAE’s organizations’ journeys to unlock digital reinvention, and today’s findings prove that hybrid cloud is the IT architecture of choice for businesses in the UAE.”

The findings show that the cloud market has transitioned to a hybrid, multi-cloud era, with concerns about vendor lock-in, security, compliance, and interoperability still looming large.

Cyber threats are at an all-time high 

Data security being embedded throughout the cloud architecture is important or extremely important, in most cases, to successful digital initiatives, according to the study, which found that infrastructure complexity is creating cracked doors that cybercriminals are exploiting. In the UAE, 80 percent of respondents said data security being embedded throughout the cloud architecture is important or extremely important, in most cases, to successful digital initiatives. While strengthening cybersecurity and lowering security risks are among the top business and IT investments for 54 percent of respondents in the UAE.

Companies are denouncing vendor lock-in

According to the report, 71 percent of UAE respondents believe that having entirely portable workloads with no vendor lock-in is critical or highly critical to the success of their digital endeavors. Vendor lock-in is a significant barrier to increasing business performance in most or all aspects of the UAE’s cloud estate, according to approximately 64 percent of respondents.

Public cloud adoption is evolving towards industry clouds

According to the research, public cloud adoption is shifting toward specialized clouds capable of higher compliance and data security levels, with roughly 56 percent of UAE respondents noting industry-related regulatory compliance as a barrier to their cloud estate’s business success.

According to the report, businesses must evaluate how they use the cloud in terms of acceptance, velocity, migration, speed, and cost savings. Other suggestions are as follows:

• Focus on security and privacy – Determine the location of your important workloads and who and what has access to them. Test on a regular basis to ensure that security controls and privacy regulations are followed and that improperly configured assets and software vulnerabilities are remedied quickly.
• Ask which workloads should move to the cloud – perform an inventory of the IT environment to identify which workloads and applications will provide the most value in the cloud and which should be kept on-premises.
• Make data work for you – To identify where and how to deploy workloads in the appropriate place for the right purpose, use AI-driven technologies and best practices to assess workloads. 
• Set a tactical approach – Identify technology trade-offs, such as the optimal method to modernize certain applications and manage critical challenges such as security, governance, and disaster recovery.
• Determine the right team — Assemble a multidisciplinary team to rethink how your company provides value for its consumers.