Hybrid Hosting Gains Favor Among IT Leaders

A recent survey of 100 senior IT decision-makers in the UK, commissioned by Asanti—a leading colocation data center provider—indicates a significant shift towards hybrid hosting infrastructures, with 67% of respondents now favoring this model over a "cloud-first" strategy. This evolution reflects growing dissatisfaction with the challenges posed by exclusive public cloud adoption, leading 94% of businesses to reconsider their approach to IT infrastructure management.

The research highlights the hybrid hosting model, which blends public cloud services with on-premise resources, as an optimal solution. This approach marks a departure from the purely cloud-based strategies that have defined IT planning over the past decade. Stewart Laing, CEO of Asanti, notes, "With such a high percentage of organizations bringing applications back to on-premise or colocation data centers, you have to wonder—what exactly were cloud providers promising when they sold these packages? It’s clear now that defaulting to a cloud-first strategy may not be the best approach."

Key drivers for this strategic pivot include unexpected costs, security and compliance challenges, and prolonged migration times. Unexpected costs were a significant pain point, with 77% of respondents experiencing higher than anticipated operating expenses in the public cloud and 63% finding these costs even exceeded those of their previous non-cloud models. Security and compliance are also notable concerns, as 62% of organizations struggled to meet regulatory requirements, causing many to rethink their use of public cloud for critical and sensitive data.

Migration efforts have proven complicated, with 98% reporting issues during the move to public cloud, 57% experiencing longer than expected migration times, and subsequent disruptions in business operations. Performance issues are another area of concern; 44% needed to upskill staff to manage cloud environments, 38% faced performance degradation, and 31% encountered application compatibility challenges post-migration. Furthermore, 47% of businesses dealt with service downtime and interruptions during their transitions.

Given these complexities, a significant 91% are now repatriating some or all of their applications to on-premise or colocation data centers. The desire for greater control over infrastructure, better performance, less downtime, and reduced reliance on public cloud support are significant motivators for this migration. Over half of the surveyed organizations (52%) noted that integrating AI applications necessitates a return to on-premise or in-house IT infrastructure, ensuring stable and secure environments for sensitive workloads.

In summary, the survey underscores the monumental challenges faced by organizations adopting a cloud-first strategy and points towards hybrid hosting as a more balanced and effective approach, encouraging IT decision makers to align their infrastructure strategies with their specific business needs.

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