Monthly Archives: September 2022

The integration of FinTech continues to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their consumers. What started as a viable solution to eliminating the need to carry physical currency has now become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Basically, FinTech is a catch-all term used to describe software, mobile applications and other integrated technologies that improve and automate traditional forms of finance for businesses and their consumers. The financial infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) focuses on enabling FinTech companies to quickly facilitate highly secure transactions among an internal network while improving user experience. The complex (yet efficient) solution helps streamline fiscal transactions while simultaneously eliminating unnecessary steps throughout the transaction process. Ultimately, making financial transactions more affordable and accessible.

The integration of FinTech continues to bolster unprecedented growth within the business sector. The industrys rapid growth can be attributed to a shift in consumers lifestyles towards more accessible and affordable solutions. As a result, FinTech has been able to solidify a prominent role within business operations, however, needs to remain vigilant in adapting infrastructures to satisfy ever-changing consumer and industry demands.

With this goal in mind, FinTech companies have begun to innovate new solutions which include embracing the cloud within its infrastructures. With new integration, companies will have to determine whether using fintech-cloud computing entities will ultimately be an asset in achieving longevity and lucrative business growth or not.

FinTech companies are rapidly turning to the cloud to provide businesses and consumers with effective solutions. According to a research study, 87% of enterprises plan to accelerate their cloud migration by 2025. So, why is cloud computing becoming imperative for FinTech companies to integrate?

1. Agility: For businesses to compete, they must stay ahead of the competitive curve by reacting quickly to market changes. Cloud services satisfy this need by enabling companies to accelerate its scaling process. Businesses can scale their capacity up or down quickly to meet customer demand in real-time. As a result, providing a more cost-efficient solution.

2. Competitive Advantage: Within the financial industrys competitive landscape, it can be quite difficult for smaller companies to gain significant market share. Likewise, larger corporations struggle to retain customers as internal legacy IT practices hinder reaction rate times to changing customer demands. The cloud provides both entities with a better way to compete by offering a quicker alternative to meeting customers demands.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience: Millennials and Gen Z have transformed the banking industry by starting to view finances through the lens of technology. Cloud computing offers FinTech companies the opportunity to promote enhanced customer experience with consumer-centric web applications and improved efficiency metrics. Ultimately, providing the next generation of consumers with an accessible, agile and much more manageable solution that adheres to their technology-savvy lifestyle.

4. Cost-Effective: Businesses can incur significant infrastructure costs while developing and deploying FinTech products for a large customer base. Cloud adoption can help cut down costs by limiting usage, promoting elasticity of its products and adhering to an all-inclusive price.

5. Amplified Security Measures: With the ecosystem of hackers and cybercriminals continuing to evolve, companies must remain proactive in mitigating the potential risk of data breaches and cyberattacks. FinTech applications with weak security measures can compromise customer data and other private information. Consequently, leaving the door open to exploitation by malicious operators. Hybrid cloud architecture provides a more secure framework by allowing companies to build their own solutions in the cloud infrastructure they own, rather than in a shared environment within a shared network. As a result, they can be proactive and help eliminate potential data security risks.

Cloud computing integration continues to provide FinTech companies the opportunity to accelerate business growth. While there are a number of FinTech companies that have managed to achieve great success while using these infrastructures, other companies have failed.

Any company that invests in FinTech (or any other public cloud service) is susceptible to potential disadvantages. Its important that companies begin to identify these potential challenges and actively try to avoid them.

Here are potential limitations to consider:

1. Refusing to Use Existing Tools: Change is difficult to manage. Nevertheless, its important that companies continue to embrace new technology as they emerge. If FinTech companies refuse to build platforms using current technology, they run the risk of an influx of user discrepancies. On the contrary, if they decide to scale up, they run the risk of hindering the agility of the entire company. By using existing and open source technology, companies can proactively fix their problems and promote continuity in their infrastructures by eliminating outdated data, obscure patches and massive inefficiencies.

2. Ignoring Scope and Capacity: Using FinTech engineering requires an abundance of capacity planning to ensure an effective solution is created. Without planning, companies run the risk of creating infrastructures that cannot accommodate the volume of metrics used. This can result in killing dashboard performance and making troubleshooting issues impossible. Its important to plan at every stage regardless of what providers are used.

3. The Desire to Implement More than Required: Amid a fast-paced and competitive industry, FinTech engineers are constantly implementing new innovations to solidify their competitive advantage. Its important companies continue to innovate and improve their products; however, operations should not stray too far from their original scope of work. Businesses should work to eliminate unnecessary additions within their projects that could result in wasting a considerable amount of time and resources. Keep simple tasks simple.

4. Plan and Evaluate: Businesses need flexibility, independence and a cost structure to thrive. To achieve these marks, its necessary for companies to take the time to plan and evaluate each offering to determine which solution accommodates their business needs. Although switching providers might seem doable, doing so can result in a more complicated and expensive solution. Setting long-term objectives before deciding on a provider could make that eventual move simpler for your team.

The integration of FinTech and cloud computing services continues to impact the technology, finance and business sectors. The question of whether a FinTech-cloud computing structure is a more viable solution in businesses remains. By planning and evaluating each financial solution, businesses can determine which FinTech service is the most feasible for optimizing business objectives.

FinTech companies will always continue to provide safe and seamless solutions for their customers, however, its the companies who can capitalize on efficiency that will rise to the top. As FinTech and cloud integration continues to revolutionize customer-brand solutions, we will become closer to unveiling the future of FinTech and the lasting impacts it has on society.

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The Future of FinTech and the Cloud - DevOps.com

Key Market Dynamics:

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The cloud managed services market report is segmented by End-user (large enterprise and small and medium enterprise) and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

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Cloud Managed Services Market Scope

Report Coverage

Details

Page number

120

Base year

2021

Forecast period

2022-2026

Growth momentum & CAGR

Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.37%

Market growth 2022-2026

$ 52.62 billion

Market structure

Fragmented

YoY growth (%)

7.83

Regional analysis

North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa

Performing market contribution

North America at 36%

Key consumer countries

US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK

Competitive landscape

Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope

Companies profiled

Accenture Plc, ALE International, Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Atos SE, Capgemini Service SAS, Cisco Systems Inc., Cloudticity LLC, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., DXC Technology Co., Fujitsu Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Lumen Technologies Inc., NEC Corp., NTT DATA Corp., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, and Verizon Communications Inc.

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With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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USD 52.62 billion Growth in Cloud Managed Services Market Size with 36% of the Contribution from North America - Rising Adoption Of Cloud Computing...

When businesses rush to spend money on tools to manage and optimize their cloud infrastructure, they end up with roadblocks like limited visibility, tool sprawl and poor integration, which is counterproductive for automation. Hybrid and multicloud IT setups increase the complexities substantially.

To manage your IT environment securely, efficiently and economically, you need to provide your technicians with an advanced remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution that will replace multiple point tools and provide complete visibility into your hybrid IT infrastructure.

VSA is the most powerful RMM tool in the market to help your technicians discover existing and new devices on your Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform and push agents to virtual machines (VM) with a single click. The advantages to Azure Active Directory (AD) users are even more significant. Using VSA, technicians can remotely control and deploy policy-based user access privileges to enforce security policies across on-premises devices and VMs.

Cloud infrastructure management involves monitoring cloud-based virtual machines, SQL instances and cloud services, troubleshooting issues, managing cloud usage and costs, and optimizing the cloud for higher efficiency. The pandemic precipitated an acceleration in cloud adoption with many small businesses aggressively moving to cloud infrastructure services such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Microsoft Azure, commonly referred to as Azure, is a public cloud computing platform formally released by the tech giant in 2010. It provides a range of cloud computing services and supports several programming languages to help users test, build, deploy and manage cloud services and applications. Azure Active Directory (AD) gives users access to a host of external apps like Microsoft 365, Azure portal and several SaaS applications, plus internal resources developed by the company.

In an organization, users need access to information and tools to complete their work. However, giving everyone indiscriminate access strains the infrastructure and poses security risks. An active directory is a database of users and devices connected to a network and helps IT admins control access privileges for user and device groups.

VSA automates the process of discovery of all endpoints and network devices, including virtual hosts, VMs and cloud infrastructure for services such as Microsoft Azure.

IT professionals cannot manage what they cannot see. VSA offers comprehensive visibility into your IT environment for more efficient remote monitoring and management of your systems and networks. The easy-to-understand network topology map provides direct visibility, including a detailed breakdown of asset information, for all endpoints (agent and SNMP) on any network. The topology maps also include all virtual hosts and VMs and display the health status of all virtual elements on the network. With this sort of visibility, technicians can quickly detect issues and start the remediation process, which will ultimately reduce the mean time to resolution (MTTR) of IT incidents.

VSA enables multiple sets of policies to be applied automatically based on any set of groupings you want by customer, device type, user role or even location type and that can check that each device stays compliant with its assigned policies. This way, you can standardize and update all infrastructure under your care with confidence. Leverage powerful and flexible automation to keep up with multiple policies and update many devices by simply changing a policy once.

Kaseya VSA is a next-generation, unified RMM solution that maximizes IT operational efficiency with complete IT asset discovery, monitoring and management. It gives you the visibility and functionality you need to manage all of IT in a single UI. If your RMM cant manage your hybrid IT ecosystem, its time to upgrade. Request your demo today!

The post Azure: In the Clouds With VSA appeared first on Kaseya.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog - Kaseya authored by Kaseya. Read the original post at: https://www.kaseya.com/blog/2022/09/08/cloud-management/

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Azure: In the Clouds With VSA - Security Boulevard

Cloud News Mark Haranas September 08, 2022, 09:30 AM EDT

From AWS global CMO to a key AWS Marketplace leader, here are five Amazon Web Services executives who left the company this year.

5 AWS Executives Who Departed This Year

The worldwide leader in cloud computing has lost several key executives in 2022, including some to cloud rival Google Cloud.

Amazon Web Services has witnessed a transition in leadership over the past few years including its CEO Andy Jassy and worldwide channel chief Doug Yeum who both departed to join its parent company Amazon.

In 2022, AWS lost its global chief marketing officer, general manager of AWS Outposts and a key innovator for its popular AWS Marketplace.

[Related: Nutanix Execs Talk VMware-Broadcom, Layoffs As Stock Spikes]

AWS Hits $79 Billion Run Rate

Although the Seattle-based cloud giant lost some big executives in 2022, AWS sales growth continues to break records thanks to a break-neck innovation strategy and the ever-growing demand for cloud services.

In AWS recent second fiscal quarter, the company generated a record-breaking $19.74 billion in revenue, representing an increase of 33 percent year over year.

AWS also reporting operating income of $5.72 billion for its second quarter, up 36 percent year over year.

In terms of global cloud market share, AWS still remains the clearcut leader in cloud computing.

Enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services reached nearly $55 billion in the second quarter of 2022 with AWS being the worldwide leader by wining 34 percent share of the market during the quarter, according to data from IT research firm Synergy Research Group.

Microsoft Azures cloud market share stood at 21 percent share, while Google Cloud placed third with 10 percent share of the global cloud infrastructure services market, Synergy Research Group said.

CRN breaks down five big AWS executives who left the $79 billion cloud computing giant in 2022.

Mark Haranas is an assistant news editor and longtime journalist now covering cloud, multicloud, software, SaaS and channel partners at CRN. He speaks with world-renown CEOs and IT experts as well as covering breaking news and live events while also managing several CRN reporters. He can be reached at mharanas@thechannelcompany.com.

See the article here:

The 5 Biggest AWS Executive Departures In 2022 - CRN

The virtual reality (VR) market is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to become an important segment of the broader tech space as consumer and enterprise VR reaches an estimated $25 billion market size less than three years from now.

Two companies that have a good chance of successfully tapping into this growing market are Microsoft (MSFT 2.30%) and Apple (AAPL 1.88%). These tech giants are already knee-deep into VR and augmented reality (AR) in their own ways, and could end up benefiting from their early moves. Here's why.

Image source: Getty Images.

Like so many other tech companies right now, Microsoft has its own AR/VR headset. But unlike many of its peers, Microsoft's headset, called Hololens, is already being used for real-world applications.

Industrial manufacturers and healthcare companies have used Hololens to train employees, and so far Hololens already has 200 partner apps for the device, in addition to Microsoft's own apps.

But the most notable use-case for Hololens thus far has been for the U.S. Army. Microsoft currently has a contract worth up to about $22 billion to deliver 120,000 Hololens units to the armed services division, and recently sent its first shipment of 5,000 to the Army.

Those devices are an adapted version of Hololens called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), and can tap into Microsoft's Azure cloud computing services to monitor and display specific sensor data.

Of course, Microsoft isn't only interested in deploying Hololens for the armed services, but this initial order does show that there are practical uses for the device and that Microsoft is already receiving potentially large contracts for its headset -- something most tech companies can't claim right now.

Not only that, but if Microsoft can showcase just how well its Azure cloud services pair with its headset, future uses of its Hololens could be a boon to the company's already successful cloud computing service.

Apple has already made some headway into the AR/VR space with the company's push to bring augmented reality apps into its App Store. Already, there are more than 14,000 AR apps that work on the company's mobile operating system -- and Apple is likely just getting started.

The company is reportedly working on an AR/VR headset that it's already shown to its board of directors. This indicates that Apple could be very close to launching the device, though it's still uncertain when it will do so.

Apple is especially adept at pairing software with hardware. And another indicator that it's close to launching a headset comes from the fact that leaked source code has shown that the tech giant is working on what it calls RealityOS, likely a reference to an AR/VR operating system.

If and when Apple debuts its headset, some analysts have estimated that the company could generate up to $18 billion in headset sales just five years after its launch.

Some of the latest estimates put the launch of Apple's AR/VR headset at the end of this year or next year, which means investors may not have to wait much longer to see Apple take this market head-on.

While there's a lot of potential for Microsoft and Apple to benefit from AR and VR, investors will likely have to be patient to experience it.

These segments of the tech world are just getting started, and it could be a few years before Microsoft and Apple see any direct benefit to their top and bottom lines.

Chris Neiger has positions in Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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2 Stocks to Invest in Virtual Reality - The Motley Fool

A Walmart employee loads up a robotic warehouse tool with an empty cart to be filled with a customer's online order at a Walmart micro-fulfillment center in Salem, Mass. on Jan. 8, 2020.

Boston Globe | Boston Globe | Getty Images

When the economy slows down, the classic response for consumer businesses is to cut back: slow hiring, maybe lay off workers, slash marketing, or even slow the pace of technology investment, delaying projects until after business has picked up again.

But that's not at all what America's troubled retail sector is doing this year.

With the S&P Retail Index down nearly 30% this year, most of the industry is boosting investment in capital spending by double digits, including industry leaders Walmart and Amazon.com. Among the top tier, only struggling clothier Gap and home-improvement chain Lowe's are cutting back significantly.At electronics retailer Best Buy, first-half profits fell by more than half but investment rose 37 percent.

"There is definitely concern and awareness about costs, but there is a prioritization happening," said Thomas O'Connor, vice president of supply chain-consumer retail research at consulting firm Gartner. "A lesson has been taken from the aftermath of the financial crisis," O'Connor said.

That lesson? Investments made by big-spending leaders like Walmart, Amazon and Home Depot are likely to result in taking customers from weaker rivals next year, when consumer discretionary cash flow is forecast to rebound from a year-long 2022 drought and revive shopping after spending on goods actually shrank early this year.

After the 2007-2009 downturn, 60 companies Gartner classified as "efficient growth companies" that invested through the crisis saw earnings double between 2009 and 2015, while other companies' profits barely changed, according to a 2019 report on 1,200 U.S. and European firms.

Companies have taken that data to heart, with a recent Gartner survey of finance executives across industries showing that investments in technology and workforce development are the last expenses companies plan to cut as the economy struggles to keep recent inflation from causing a new recession. Budgets for mergers, environmental sustainability plans and even product innovation are taking a back seat, the Gartner data shows.

Today, some retailers are improving how supply chains work between the stores and their suppliers. That's a focus at Home Depot, for example. Others, like Walmart, are driving to improve in-store operations so that shelves are restocked more quickly and fewer sales are lost.

The trend toward more investment has been building for a decade, but was catalyzed by the Covid pandemic, Progressive Policy Institute economist Michael Mandel said.

"Even before the pandemic, retailers were shifting from investments in structures to active investments in equipment, technology and software," Mandel said. "[Between 2010 and 2020], software investment in the retail sector rose by 123%, compared to a 16% gain in manufacturing."

At Walmart, money is pouring into initiatives including VizPick, an augmented-reality system linked to worker cell phones that lets associates restock shelves faster. The company boosted capital spending 50% to $7.5 billion in the first half of its fiscal year, which ends in January.Its capital spending budget this year is expected to rise 26 percent to $16.5 billion, CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said.

"The pandemic obviously changed the entire retail environment," Sundaram said, forcing Walmart and others to be efficient in their back offices and embrace online channels and in-store pickup options even more. "It made Walmart and all the other retailers improve their supply chains. You see more automation, less manual picking [in warehouses] and more robots."

Last week, Amazon announced its latest warehouse robotics acquisition, Belgian firm Cloostermans, which offers technology to help move and stack heavy palettes and goods, as well as package products together for delivery.

Home Depot's campaign to revamp its supply chain has been underway for several years, O'Connor said. Its One Supply chain effort is actually hurting profits for now, according to the company's financial disclosures, but it's central to both operating efficiency and a key strategic goal creating deeper ties to professional contractors, who spend far more than the do-it-yourselfers who have been Home Depot's bread and butter.

"To serve our pros, it's really about removing friction through a multitude of enhanced product offerings and capabilities," executive vice president Hector Padilla told analysts on Home Depot's second-quarter call. "These new supply chain assets allow us to do that at a different level."

Some broadline retailers are more focused on refreshing an aging store brand. At Kohl's, the highlight of this year's capital spending budget is an expansion of the firm's relationship with Sephora, which is adding mini-stores within 400 Kohl's stores this year. The partnership helps the middle-market retailer add an element of flair to its otherwise stodgy image, which contributed to its relatively weak sales growth in the first half of the year, said Landon Luxembourg, a retailing expert at consulting firm Third Bridge. First-half investment more than doubled this year at Kohl's.

Roughly $220 million of the increase in Kohl's spending was related to investment in beauty inventory to support the 400 Sephora shops opening in 2022, according to chief financial officer Jill Timm said. "We'll continue that into next year. We're looking forward to working with Sephora on that solution to all of our stores," she told analysts on the company's most recent earnings call in mid-August.

Target is spending $5 billion this year as it adds 30 stores and upgrades another 200, bringing its tally of stores renovated since 2017 to more than half of the chain. It also is expanding its own beauty partnership first unveiled in 2020, with Ulta Beauty, adding 200 in-store Ulta centers en route to having 800.

And the biggest spender of all is Amazon.com, which had over $60 billion in capital expenditures in 2021. While Amazon's reported capital spending numbers include its cloud computing division, it spent nearly $31 billion on property and equipment in the first half of the year up from an already record breaking 2021 even though the investment made the company's free cash flow turn negative.

That is enough to make even Amazon tap the brakes a little bit, with chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky telling investors Amazon is shifting more of its investment dollars to the cloud computing division. This year, it estimates roughly 40% of spending will support warehouses and transportation capacity, down from last year's combined 55%. It also plans to spend less on worldwide stores "to better align with customer demand," Olsavksy told analysts after its most recent earnings already a much smaller budget item on a percentage basis.

At Gap which has seen its shares declined by nearly 50% this year executives defended their cuts in capital spending, saying they need to defend profits this year and hope to rebound in 2023.

"We also believe there's an opportunity to slow down more meaningfully the pace of our technology and digital platform investments to better optimize our operating profits," chief financial officer Katrina O'Connell told analysts after its most recent earnings.

And Lowe's deflected an analyst's question about spending cuts, saying it could continue to take market share from smaller competitors. Lowe's has been the better stock market performer compared to Home Depot over the past one-year and year-to-date periods, though both have seen sizable declines in 2022.

"Home improvement is a $900 billion marketplace," Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison said, without mentioning Home Depot. "And I think it's easy to just focus on the two largest players and determine the overall market share gain just based on that, but this is a really fragmented marketplace."

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Where Walmart, Amazon and Target are spending billions in a slowing economy - CNBC

In the beginning, cloud computing was just a utility -- commonly known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

But issues with primitive public cloud platforms (mainly revolving around security, compliance and customizability) has since caused many businesses to opt for the hybrid cloud model: a combination of the public and private cloud models, which gives organizations the best of both worlds and makes for an efficient cloud strategy. (Also read: Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud: How to Choose.)

However, is hybrid cloud as good as it seems?

Let's find out. But first,

Before we can examine the pros and cons of the hybrid cloud model, we need to know what we're talking about.

In general, hybrid cloud can be defined as a combination of public and private cloud infrastructures.

More specifically, the hybrid cloud model is a cloud solution that meets both of the following criteria:

As cloud computing technology has evolved, the hybrid cloud concept has extended. It now covers multiple heterogeneous on-premise infrastructures -- like private cloud, servers, containers and virtualized infrastructure -- and also includes multiple public clouds from various cloud providers. Moreover, these diverse cloud components are not in silos; they are well-connected and integrated to deliver seamless processing power. A proper hybrid cloud integration also makes it easier to manage and monitor the entire cloud infrastructure, allowing smooth portability for both data and applications.

In short, with hybrid cloud, the name says it all: It's truly hybrid in nature and spans multiple dimensions. (Also read: 3 Key Aspects of Effective Hybrid Cloud Management.)

First, the hybrid cloud optimizes the workload in both the private and public cloud infrastructures it comprises. It balances cost, security, speed, availability, and scalability efficiently.

Other major advantages of hybrid cloud include:

The hybrid cloud helps the enterprise optimize capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX).

Infrastructure cost is one of the biggest challenges in any enterprise; and hybrid cloud helps pacify this by bringing a balanced combination of public and private resources. This allows organizations to make a proper plan for workload distribution.

A combination of public and private cloud brings the best combination of security solutions.

That's because the public cloud, by nature, is configured with automated and highly efficient security systems. This reduces error, as human intervention is minimized, and is more cost-effective than traditional cloud security measures. At the same time, the private cloud provides more customized security to protect organizations' sensitive data.

Bringing these benefits together, hybrid cloud gives the enterprise the most bang for its buck in terms of security. (Also read: Cloud Security 101.)

The hybrid model can help the enterprise overcome availability issues.

Public cloud services rarely fail -- but if/when they do, it can be detrimental to client organizations. Private cloud and local data centers can provide the backup for public cloud downtime, but to really ensure airtight availability, organizations distribute their workload between the public and private clouds (i.e., the hybrid cloud). Ideally, store your critical data in the private cloud and/or your local data center so service continuity can be maintained even if there is any downtime in the public cloud infrastructure.

The above factors can also apply to latency; using the hybrid cloud model can help reduce the time it takes for data to travel.

In today's competitive business environment, scaling up to catch the growing market demand is the key to success. And the hybrid cloud is the perfect solution

The private cloud does not scale up quickly, but public cloud infrastructure is highly scalable. Since it combines the two models, hybrid cloud allows the enterprise to scale up the public part of its cloud infrastructure whenever necessary and in a cost-effective way.

Hybrid cloud solutions are easy to manage because they provide efficient and reliable management solutions for the infrastructure as a whole.

Public cloud solutions also provide lots of automation (sometimes AI-based), which is very helpful for managing the infrastructure.

Because the hybrid model is highly cost-effective, organizations can experiment with it without having to invest upfront.

This creates a great opportunity to innovate and grow: With a hybrid cloud, you can take calculated risks, test new ideas and implement them. (Also read: Experts Share the Top Cloud Computing Trends to Watch for.)

Along with great promises, hybrid model brings some challenges. Some key drawbacks to this model include:

There's no denying it: Hybrid cloud implementation is a complex task.

A proper migration strategy and planning are very important. Organizations should run a pilot project before migrating their workload into the hybrid cloud because, sometimes, the distribution of workload distribution between public and private clouds may go wrong, which can have a negative impact on the business.

While the hybrid model can be a cost-effective way to improve security, it can also be a serious concern if not designed properly.

The hybrid cloud has a public cloud component, which comes with unique risks that differ from the on-premise setup. (Also read: Is Your Organization Aware of These 6 Key Public Cloud Risks?)

If proper security tools and technologies are not implemented, data can be at risk with the hybrid cloud model. To protect it, organizations must ensure their entire public/private setup is protected from intrusions.

Again, while the hybrid cloud can also be a great tool to reduce network latency, it can also increase it if not done properly.

Transferring data to the public cloud can be an issue if your internet is slow. To avoid this, implement a backup plan to overcome latency-related issues.

Hybrid cloud management is another critical challenge.

The most important factor is to ensure consistency in multiple areas like infrastructure, operations, resources, and security. So, organizations should look for an experienced and trusted cloud partner for hybrid cloud deployment. Any management failure can cause severe damage to the business.

For a cloud strategy to succeed, an organization must consider two truths:

That's why hybrid cloud is an ideal fit: The most critical factor is proper workload management. The failure of the hybrid model is mostly caused due to poor workload planning and improper management. Enterprises should know that public cloud migration is not a simple lift and shift process. The hybrid cloud implementation journey should start when an organization is cloud matured and planning for work-load optimization.

For a cloud strategy to succeed, an organization must consider two truths:

That's why hybrid cloud is an ideal fit: it allows you to keep the public cloud's scalability and growth potential while housing your most sensitive data on-premise.

However, keep in mind that poor workload planning and improper management can cause even the best hybrid cloud strategies to fail. Public cloud migration is not a simple lift-and-shift process; your hybrid cloud implementation journey should start when an organization is cloud-mature and planning for workload optimization.

See the article here:

Hybrid Cloud: Benefits and Barriers - Techopedia

The shift to remote and hybrid work has compelled CIOs and tech leaders to make their legacy systems effective in a new world of work. Many companies are considering shifting their operations to the cloud but often have concerns about what it means for their bottom line. Mo Hafez, senior solutions engineer, Expereo, discusses the advantages of cloud systems and how to overcome the roadblocks to the cloud shift.

As the pandemic revealed, enterprise IT leaders could no longer rest on their laurels of running networks successfully through legacy systems. In fact, the shift to remote and hybrid work has been a real eye-opener for many companies that used to rely on running legacy systems. Today, many companies no longer have this option and are making the shift to the cloud. What success can they look forward to as a result of this shift? And what kind of impact does this shift have on their bottom line?

First, let us take a deep dive into legacy systems, outdated computing software, and/or hardware that are still in use. Legacy systems may be more of a liability than an asset. In fact, they are quite vulnerable from a security perspective. The software has to be constantly updated, and the racks they are sitting onthe bare metalscan often fail or have other issues. In short, it is a lot of work for an internal IT department to manage and maintain legacy systems.

As for efficiency, legacy systems can serve as an impediment since their obsolete hardware or software can slow productivity. Today, we want to get things done faster, cheaper, and better. As noted above, legacy systems fail when it comes to faster and better, and they do not deliver on being cheaper as they require costly system upgrades.

Consider the software as a serviceSaaS, more specifically, as an alternative. The enterprise pays a subscription for the service to be maintained. Vulnerabilities are routinely patched by experts, and the software is consistently upgraded and tested, with high availability and redundancy built-in to the service. Simply put, you do not have to worry about maintaining it just use it.

Yet with all the benefits that the cloud brings to the table, why do some enterprises hesitate to make the shift? Security is the biggest concern. Enterprises that own their hardware and software in their own data center run their network over an MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) network a private connection physically linking data centers and branch offices, considered reliable and secure but expensive, especially on a global scale. Because MPLS is essentially an enclosed system, it is inherently secure and reliable.

However, enterprises still have a need to go out to the Internet. As companies adopt more and more cloud services and applications, they will want their branches to be able to access these cloud services, which means they will need the Internet. As a result, there are more attack vectors, so security becomes an issue.

See More: How SD-WAN Is Simplifying and Accelerating Multi-Cloud Adoption

Despite pushback, our times dictate that companies make the shift to the cloud. So some organizations will stick with MPLS and then get an Internet circuit, so their branches can connect to the cloud service. While MPLS is secure, it is very costly. But there is a smarter alternative with SD-WAN, a technology that allows users to secure cloud-based, Layer 3 services in a scalable, manageable, and data-visible way.

SD-WAN allows you to eliminate MPLS (or simply downgrade it to save money) and use Layer 3 services not just to connect to the cloud but also to have your sites talk to each other securely. It also provides full visibility over the traffic you can see what kind of traffic is going from branch to branch because SD-WAN gives you metadata about what is going across your network over Layer 3. Plus, you can utilize cloud services and connect all your sites securely and cost-effectively.

SD-WAN secures traffic over internet transports via encrypted tunnels, managed and configured from anywhere in the world via a central orchestration platform, without physically having to be at each site. SD-WAN also facilitates high availability with multiple circuits for redundancy and scalability.

Cost savings are also inherent in SD-WANs value. When companies live and die by IT spend, it behooves them to spend on cloud services that help their enterprise do more with less than spend on legacy and connectivity. Further, the money saved from MPLS can be put toward more cloud and SaaS services that help streamline business processes, such as cloud-based Human Resources and Finance software. These new cloud applications help improve internal processes, are less error-prone, and are more reliable.

Another significant challenge you will face when transitioning to cloud-based systems and services is acclimating your employees and establishing proper best practices for secure usage. Expect your enterprise to have a long tail of adoption, especially for employees outside the IT side of the business, during this transition, and plan accordingly. Allow ample time for platform training and questions before fully switching to ensure that all employees are adequately prepared and equipped for success.

IT leaders must ensure that their team has, or develops, the skills needed to minimize the disruption during and after migrating to the cloud. According to Gartner, insufficient cloud IaaS skills could delay 50% of enterprise IT organizations cloud migration plans by at least two years. Whether this is proper security training or allowing extra bandwidth to coordinate with vendors, prepare talent so that they are equipped to handle changes occurring as a result of the transition to the cloud.

At the end of the day, when considering a move to the cloud, implementation is crucial it must be done right. Do you make the shift with internal IT staff or partner with a trusted provider, one that can easily manage the intricacies of the major shift to the cloud? While enterprises may opt to go with their internal staff, opting for a provider offers internal staff to focus on other business matters. These include the LAN or Local Area Network, IT business process, and supporting the enterprises employees to allow them to utilize software and technology efficiently.

Clearly, the shift to the cloud is a change for the better. It can save companies considerable time and money and boost productivity immediately and for years to come.

What steps have you taken to overcome the roadblocks to making the shift from legacy systems to the cloud? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Making the Shift From Legacy Systems to Cloud: Bottom Line Benefits - Spiceworks News and Insights

News Update

According to reports, The University of Delhi will plan to digitise 500 higher education institutions (HEIs) by the end of the next year and will use the AWS Cloud to facilitate the implementation of Samarth eGov, an open-source automation e-governance platform, across universities and HEIs in India.The declaration was made by the cloud computing giant on Friday.

More than 200 universities and HEIs in India have already adopted Samarth eGov, with over 40 central and state universities, and over a 100 colleges.

Samarth eGovs next phase of adoption is expected to reach more than 500 HEIs in the coming year.

Samarth eGov is developed as an open-source, highly flexible, interconnected, secure and scalable platform, delivered on a software-as-a-service model with a cloud-first approach on AWS, said Professor Sanjeev Singh, Joint Director, University of Delhi South Campus.

Furthermore, Singh added It can address the diverse and evolving demands of universities and higher education institutions across India, irrespective of the state they belong to or the language they choose to interface with.

In order to shift from paper-based and conventional third-party enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to a more secure, dependable, and scalable platform that standardises and automates digital processes and workflows, the suite offers universities and HEIs with an automation engine to do the same.

Samarth eGov uses AWS services to process over 7.6 million student applications for their admissions and also handle over 600,000 faculty and staff recruitment applications, and manage more than 7.5 million student records all across the country.

We congratulate the University of Delhi for embarking on and implementing Samarth eGov, a pioneering initiative in Indias higher education sector, and addressing common challenges faced by education institutions, said Rahul Sharma, Regional Head, Public SectorAISPL, AWS India and South Asia

The cloud company said Education institutions can also improve student outcomes by automating tasks like scheduling classes and freeing up teachers time to concentrate on instructional activities like creating customised lessons depending on students performance.

Samarth project aims at creating an Open Source, Open Standard enabled Robust, Secure, Scalable and Evolutionary Process Automation Engine for Universities and Higher Education Institutions. The project is being implemented by the University of Delhi (DU).

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Delhi University to use AWS Cloud to digitise 500 higher education institutions - Startup Story