The trend of relocating IT resources to the cloud is both accelerating and broadening to include more traditionally on-premise IT functions. One important capability catching this wave is network management. Our worldwide survey of 633 IT and network managers delves into the reasons for this migration, as well as the pros and cons of outsourcing IT resources to managed service providers. Surprisingly, the survey found a remarkable consistency across industries, geographies, and staff sizes; large organizations are just as aggressively moving resources to the cloud, as small ones.

Users and networks are expected to grow more than IT resources to manage them

While IT managers anticipate that they’ll be asked to support ever-larger networks with more users, they foresee their IT budgets and staffs remaining the same or even decreasing over the next five years. The Cloud provides the means to scale up user support without increasing staff size. The other approach to doing more with less is to outsource IT functions to a managed service provider. Our survey found that over the next five years, 34% of IT staffs are planning to outsource their data center management, 35% will outsource their server management, and 26% plan to outsource their network management. Plans to outsource desktop computer management were lower at 19%.

Cloud Benefits

As the infographic shows, the main reasons to move to the cloud include: better access to shared resources from distributed offices, predictable budgeting, ease of implementation and management, better uptime and availability. Several respondents felt that moving to the cloud protected them from ransomware.

The Downside of the Cloud

Cost was often cited as a drawback to cloud deployments. While monthly or annual cloud subscription fees are easier to plan, the buyers feel the services are still too expensive. There are also concerns about the ultimate security and privacy in the cloud. Users are looking for more assurances on the cloud security front. Many of the IT managers who have avoided the cloud, have done so to maintain better flexibility and control. Several people noted that they’ve had trouble keeping up with bandwidth requirements as more applications and data are relocated to the Internet. 

Learn more about cloud solutions and see if cloud-managed networking is right for you.

This blog was originally authored by Robert Nilsson, Director of Vertical Solutions Marketing.