Public and private clouds have been at the forefront of digital transformation, but a hybrid cloud approach is emerging as a powerful solution that combines the best of both worlds. By seamlessly integrating on-premises infrastructure with public and private clouds, organizations can achieve a flexible, scalable and efficient IT environment. Gartner predicted that 90% of enterprises will adopt a hybrid infrastructure management strategy by 2024. In this blog, we will delve into the exciting world of hybrid cloud and explore the emerging trends that are reshaping its adoption, implementation and management. 

GenAI in the hybrid cloud environment is a burgeoning trend, emphasizing the fusion of AI model generation and deployment across both private and public clouds. By 2026, more than 80% of enterprises will have used generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) application programming interfaces (APIs) or models, and/or deployed GenAI-enabled applications in production environments. This integration enables businesses to leverage AI capabilities while maintaining control over sensitive data on-premises and capitalizing on the scalability of public cloud services. As organizations seek to harness AI's power more efficiently, GenAI facilitates seamless, flexible deployment options, optimizing computational resources and enhancing data privacy and compliance. 

Sustainability

Sustainability in hybrid cloud involves leveraging the benefits of hybrid cloud architecture while minimizing its impact on the environment. Hybrid cloud allows for resource optimization, allocating workloads between on-premises infrastructure and public cloud services. According to a Gartner report, by 2025, 50% of CIOs will have performance metrics tied to the sustainability of the IT organization leading to increased focus on sustainable practices within these hybrid environments. Consolidating data centers by migrating workloads to cloud can lead to significant energy savings. Cloud service providers are adhering to recognized environmental certifications and standards, such as ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Hybrid cloud has also been utilized in creating various sustainable solutions across different industries. These include smart grid management, intelligent transportation systems to reduce traffic congestion and fuel consumption, energy management systems and building automation systems with cloud-based analytics platforms, precision agriculture and many more. 

Rising advent of industry clouds

Industry clouds are specialized cloud computing solutions catering to unique needs and requirements of specific industries. These solutions often include industry-specific applications, data analytics tools, compliance frameworks, security measures and integration capabilities. Industry-specific clouds are designed to adhere to the regulatory standards and compliance frameworks that are relevant to the respective industry, such as HIPAA in healthcare or PCI DSS in finance. Gartner expects that by 2027, more than 70% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023. This trend is expected to accelerate as organizations realize the benefits of leveraging industry-specific cloud solutions for improved efficiency, innovation and competitive advantage. 

Data ecosystems

Data ecosystems unify data management and associated use cases with streamlined delivery and easy integration within a holistic management framework. Data ecosystems provide a cohesive data management environment that supports all data and analytics workloads. They are a rapidly evolving landscapes within the cloud sector, integrating diverse data sources, analytics tools and storage solutions to facilitate seamless information exchange and insight generation. A pivotal trend in this area is the surge in data democratization, enabling wider access to data across organizations. 90% of data professionals are prioritizing data democratization within their companies, reflecting a significant shift towards making data more accessible across roles and departments. This democratization is crucial for fostering innovation and optimizing decision-making processes. 

Innovation at the edge

Service providers are optimizing cloud-native technologies for edge networks and smaller devices, eventually creating connected software in refrigerators, servers in shopping malls or cameras on street corners easier with public cloud. Gartner estimates that up to 75% of enterprise-generated data would be processed at the edge, reducing the need for data transmission to centralized data centers by 2025. These emerging capabilities will help businesses use more local data to build AI-powered experiences. Moreover, 5G, LTE, low-power wireless technologies and software-defined networking are contributing to the emergence of edge-to-cloud networks. As connected software runs in more places via workload affinity, edge will help firms meet sustainability goals and government requirements via smart city applications. 

Hybrid FinOps 

Hybrid FinOps combines financial management principles with cloud management practices to ensure that organizations effectively allocate, track and optimize spending across both on-premises and various cloud platforms in a hybrid setup. A McKinsey report says that organizations that use FinOps effectively can reduce cloud costs by as much as 20 to 30 percent. Forecasting future costs based on usage trends is also an important aspect of Hybrid FinOps. Hybrid FinOps often relies on specialized cloud management tools that provide insights into spending, resource usage and performance. Automation can help in rightsizing resources and applying cost-saving measures and continuous monitoring ensures organization optimization.

Open-source clouds for specific use cases

By embracing an open, hybrid cloud architecture, organizations can achieve standardization in development, operations and security across their entire infrastructure, from private data centers to public clouds and even the edges of the network. Notably, open-source solutions come with added benefits, such as democratizing cloud application development, elevating cloud proficiency, greater control over enterprise cloud solutions, better interoperability among applications and enabling scaling and application deployment across multiple clouds for enhanced consistency and efficiency. 

Sovereign cloud 

Governments are increasingly concerned about the storage and processing of sensitive data outside their jurisdiction and want to reduce dependence on foreign cloud providers and minimize the risk of their data being subject to foreign laws or regulations that may compromise national interests. Sovereign clouds allow them to maintain control over their data, ensuring compliance with local regulations and protecting national security interests by providing an added layer of security and privacy, addressing concerns about unauthorized access, data breaches and surveillance by foreign entities. They support the development of local industries, encourage innovation and provide a platform for public services and government operations, fostering economic growth and digital sovereignty. European enterprises are increasingly embracing sovereign cloud, with 37% already invested and 44% planning to invest in the next two years.

Retooling cloud strategies for cloud deployments

As organizations embrace hybrid cloud architectures, it becomes crucial to retool their cloud strategies to effectively design, build and optimize distributed, hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. We see an exponential rise in the role of automation, infrastructure as code and continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Moreover, there is a trend towards adopting a DevOps culture and implementing DevOps practices to streamline development, deployment and operations in hybrid cloud setups to gain insights into performance, cost and security metrics to drive continuous improvement.

Finding unified solutions for security and compliance

While cloud computing offers unprecedented security opportunities, it also introduces new risks to data and systems that were previously protected on-premises. As hybrid cloud adoption becomes more prevalent, organizations face the challenge of unifying security practices across diverse cloud and on-premises environments. Gartner predicts spending on data privacy and cloud security are projected to record the highest growth rates in 2024, with each segment increasing more than 24% year-over-year. Through hybrid governance, organizations focus on maintaining consistent security, financial governance, predictability of demand and similar policies across their entire hybrid estate, spanning cloud, on-premises and edge locations. 

In conclusion, hybrid cloud is revolutionizing IT infrastructure, offering a balance between on-premises control and the scalability of public cloud services. It empowers businesses to optimize resource utilization, enhance security and drive operational efficiency. Integration of AI and ML technologies unlocks new opportunities for automation and data-driven decision-making. Moreover, hybrid cloud supports sustainability efforts, reducing energy consumption and promoting collaboration for building sustainable solutions. By embracing hybrid cloud, businesses can drive innovation, achieve operational excellence and thrive in the digital era.

For more information, please write to us at HCBU-PMG@hcltech.com.