How hybrid IT services are crucial for digital transformation

Hybrid IT has become the pervasive IT infrastructure model for organisations in Asia Pacific as a vast majority of organisations are taking transformative steps to match workloads to their best execution venue across a blend of in-house and third-party services.

This was the key take away from the research CenturyLink conducted for the Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Readiness Report 2016, which surveyed 600 decision-makers across 6 markets in September.

The report found that 73% of organisations are aware of the hybrid IT deployment model, and 75% of them already outsource at least one or more data centre, network, security or applications service to third-party managed service providers. In addition, 84% of organisations cite security as the key driver to consider managed service providers.

IT infrastructure is playing an increasingly pivotal role in business success, yet it is also increasingly expected to deliver more for less. This makes it more difficult for IT teams to balance development projects with day-to-day operations. A hybrid IT approach can free up resources for organisations to spend more time on innovation.

In many cases, an organisation’s IT team might spend 75% or more of their time and resources on maintenance and infrastructure, leaving less than a quarter of the allocated budget for innovation. Because of this uneven budget allocation, even a relatively small percentage reduction in infrastructure costs can make a dramatic increase in resources available for innovation.

Service delivery improvements involving data centres and networks are key drivers for executives to outsource IT services. Today’s increasingly complex IT environments demand heightened expertise and management capabilities to ensure continual improvements in service delivery to customers.

Digital disruption is changing the way CEOs approach business today globally. In particular, IT departments are experiencing tremendous change as organisations turn IT into a driving force for all aspects of the business, including the customer experience.

As more organisations turn to a blend of in-house and third-party IT services, it is important for business leaders to address concerns on security. They need to carefully assess their technology partners to ensure that security capabilities are well embedded in all of their offerings — managed hosting, managed services, network solutions, colocation and cloud. Only then will they be able to help IT transform into a secure hub for innovation.

A hybrid IT model requires strategic alignment between internal and external IT professionals to match business applications to their best execution venue. This approach to rapidly provide IT services while enabling risk mitigation is appealing to security-conscious executives.

Ajay Sunder, Vice President – Telecoms, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, describes the transformation journey from traditional IT to hybrid IT as "the new normal" for enterprises across Asia–Pacific, as "a result of organisational priorities as they keep up with business growth momentum."

Noting that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy, Sunder says that as technology diversifies at a rapid pace, IT leaders should focus on what will work best for the organisation. This, he said, will require technology partners that can provide services that will give them greater visibility and control while enabling them to transform their business in this digital economy.

Hybrid IT environments deliver the speed, predictability and flexibility of workloads that organisations need. By optimising IT infrastructure, businesses can also improve the IT team’s ability to innovate and develop systems to help grow the business.