NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), a global, cloud-led, data-centric software company, today released the 2023 Cloud Complexity Report, a global survey exploring how technology decision makers are navigating cloud requirements coming from digital transformation and AI initiatives, and the complexity of multicloud environments. The report found that 98% of senior IT leaders have been affected by increasing cloud complexity in some capacity, relating to IT performance, cost optimisation and business growth.

“Our global research report highlights paradigm shifts in how technology leaders look at and manage their cloud initiatives,” said Puneet Gupta, Vice President and Managing Director, NetApp India/SAARC. “As cloud adoption accelerates and businesses innovate faster to compete, technology leaders are facing growing pressure to juggle multiple priorities at once – causing many to rethink how they manage efficiency and security in this new environment.”

“Our global survey data demonstrates the extreme complexity of modern IT environments, and the pressure technology executives are under to show measurable outcomes from cloud investments,” said Gabie Boko, Chief Marketing Officer, NetApp. “At NetApp, we've simplified the complex through our approach, which enables technology executives to increase the speed of innovation, lower costs and improve consistency, flexibility and agility across on-premises and cloud environments.”

Key findings from the report include:

Cloud Complexity Reaches a Tipping Point

Data complexity has reached a boiling point for companies globally, and tech executives are feeling the pressure to simplify to make it a business growth driver. This complexity is a result of both technical challenges like data mobility between clouds and organisational challenges like cost management, and the need for a clear cloud strategy.

Challenges vary market to market but are lower in India compared to most of the world. Top challenges globally include data mobility, vision for cloud strategy, security risks, and cost.

Leadership Want Cloud Results Now

Sustainability has become an unexpected cloud-driver, with nearly eight in ten tech executives citing ESG outcomes as critical to their cloud strategy. However, return on investment (ROI) is a concern among leadership, with 84% of tech executives saying their cloud strategy is already expected to show results across the organisation.

More than half of the respondents from India reported ESG and sustainability as driving forces in cloud strategy.

Tech Executives Consider AI as a Possible Solution

In the next year, over a third (37%) of tech executives report that half or more of their cloud deployments will be supported by AI-driven applications. Nearly half of tech executives at smaller companies – those with fewer than 250 employees – expect to reach the 50% mark in the next year, and 63% by 2030, while larger companies lag.

APAC is among the top three regions that plan to deploy AI-driven cloud applications in the next year. Scaling AI is the top priority for APAC, behind meeting regulatory compliance, as per the report findings.

As organisations increasingly move to multi-cloud environments, NetApp aims to alleviate efficiency bottlenecks by allowing IT leaders to manage their systems on one, streamlined user interface. By taking an evolved cloud approach, NetApp is leading the charge for next generation cloud management and storage – equipping teams with the tools necessary to stay abreast of the key trends outlined in the research report above (e.g., optimizing costs, assessing risks, and operating sustainably).

To learn more and access the full report and infographic, visit 2023 Cloud Complexity Report.

Methodology

NetApp partnered with Wakefield Research to conduct a quantitative research study during November 2022, among 1,300 tech and data executives at businesses in 9 markets: US, EMEA (France, Germany, Spain, the UK), and APAC (India, Japan, Singapore, and Australia/New Zealand). At the time of completion, all participants held positions that were classified as “director-level and above” and worked across IT, IT infrastructure, cloud infrastructure and data engineering departments.