The Cloud: Is Hybrid the Answer?

[Michael_Bird]

The Cloud has become a backbone of the world economy over the last decade, powering everything from streaming services to mobile banking. It’s a fantastic resource, but as time goes on the limits of the Cloud are becoming clearer, from over-reliance issues to incompatibility with legacy hardware.

This week - part 2 of a 2 part special - we’re taking a look at how organisations can leverage the power and flexibility of the Cloud, whilst also tackling some of its challenges and drawbacks. We'll be examining how skills gaps are pushing on-premise and Cloud computing ideologies further apart, and attempts to bring them back together. We'll also be looking at hybrid cloud models, which make the best possible use of Cloud-like user experiences with the benefits of on-premise computing.We’re speaking with HPE Chief Technologists Russell MacDonald and Adrian Lovell around digital transformation and the effects of the Cloud vs on-premises debate on the world of FinTech.

We’re also talking with Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum about cloud adoption in the UK, and Adriaan Bekker, Technical Director at Softwerx Ltd about the challenges of cloud migration and digital transformation.

High Street Banking for the 21st Century - Can on-prem architecture compete?

The Cloud has been a game changer for FinTech. It’s allowed a stream of new, cloud-native banks to spring up with apps which are quicker, more responsive, and often more reliable than the offerings from traditional banks, who are having to lean on legacy architecture.

Adrian Lovell is an HPE Chief Technologist who specialises in FinTech. He notes that many banks are finding it impossible to transition to the Cloud, but instead are forming new, Cloud-native or cloud-like banking strands to compete, whilst retaining the security and data ownership of their old systems.

Bridging the Chasm - how do we pull together skillsets from traditional IT and agile, iterative Cloud design?

IT specialists and digital transformation don’t always go hand in hand. The idea that software can be built iteratively and changed rapidly often doesn’t sit well with those who deal in on-premise architecture. Likewise, on-premise computing is struggling to appear as attractive to young professionals as the fast-paced, start-up like world of Cloud-native design. So how can we bring the two worlds together? We hear from HPE Chief Technologist Russell MacDonald and Softwerx Ltd Technical Director Adriaan Bekker about the ways in which on-premise computing can benefit from Cloud-like development approaches, and visa versa.

Consciously Hybrid - The Best of Both Worlds?

One increasingly popular option is to go down the hybrid route, where organisations carefully plan out their compute, data and storage needs and requirements to transition to the cloud where appropriate. It sounds obvious, but in many cases organisations have found themselves going down this route by accident and without a plan when an envisaged Cloud migration or digital transformation goes wrong. Could the answer be to accept the limitations and benefits of both, and plan for it from the start?

The Cloud Industry Forum CEO Alex Hilton and HPE Chief Technologist Russell MacDonald give their thoughts.

Key takeaways:

• The Cloud is the perfect solution for 99% of business needs. But forgetting the 1% can be costly: capital expenditure, compatibility, and data legislation need to be considered.
• There’s often no reason why Cloud and on-premise can’t work in harmony, so long as they are part of a well planned and executed strategy.
• People are at the heart of any solution. A skills gap is forming between digital transformation and on-premise IT, and that gap needs to be closed to enable the two disciplines to work together and learn from each other.

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Links and resources:

The Cloud Industry Forum

Cloud Expo Europe - Cloud Industry Forum Research Report

Consciously Hybrid - HPE

Cloud Service Legal Issues - EM Law

Softwerx Ltd

Adrian Lovell - LinkedIn

Russell MacDonald - LinkedIn

Alex Hilton - LinkedIn

Adriaan Bekker - LinkedIn

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Michael Bird
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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