VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure, has come out with the findings of its 4th annual VMware Cloud Index. The study was conducted by Forrester Research across 12 Asia Pacific countries. The study reveals that nearly 9 of every 10 (89 per cent) respondents in India believe that Cloud Computing, or ?as-a-service? approach, is relevant to their organization and nearly 8 of every 10 (79 per cent) respondents in India say they currently have a cloud-related initiative in place within the organization, or are planning to implement cloud, or ?as-a-service? approach, in the next 12 months.
An interesting trend according to the VMware Cloud Index 2013 is that Indian organizations are turning to IT to help them grow the business in the current economic environment. IT is seen as a change enabler and source of business value for organizations by 85 percent of the respondents. In terms of the top business priorities in India over the next 12 months, 87 per cent of IT decision makers said improving the quality and capabilities of their products and 85 per cent said addressing the rising expectations of customers and improving customer satisfaction.
The study also shows that the current perception of IT remains positive in India with 63 percent of respondents noting that the perceived credibility, influence and power of the CIO in their organization is increasing. ?Business priorities are clearly shifting at a time when optimism is slowly returning to the Indian economy. Business leaders recognize and expect IT to deliver much more ROI; they want the agility and flexibility to adapt to the dynamics of the marketplace while continuing to lower operating costs,? said T Srinivasan, managing director, VMware India and SAARC.
?Our customers have been on a journey towards IT?as-a-Service and VMware has been at the forefront of assisting companies through the phases of IT transformation to realize the business benefits of virtualization in the mobile cloud era in India. We remain committed to evolving the software-defined data center architecture to address IT?s critical needs – enabling businesses to build infrastructure that is radically simpler and more efficient,? he added.
The software defined and mobile cloud era in India
In terms of priorities for IT over the next 12 months, improving IT agility & responsiveness to business demands was high at 82 percent and operational efficiency was noted by 80 per cent of respondents. Additionally, server consolidation via virtualization continues to be a strong priority at 77 per cent.
Respondents in India are also aware of and are planning around new and evolutionary priorities. A software-defined approach to implementing and managing datacenter resources (servers, storage, networks) was stated by 71 per cent of respondents. Furthermore, mobility & consumerization of IT was also noted by 71 per cent as expected to create a lasting impact for organizations over the next 2-3 years.
Fast provisioning and zero downtime from networks (80 percent) and storage (81 per cent) have been identified as key areas for IT to address over the next 12 months in the study. 68 per cent believe if their company doesn?t improve the way they deliver or ?provision? these services to the business, they risk falling behind competitors. Nearly half of the respondents also view internal resistance to change hindering cloud or ?as-a-service? adoption within their organization.
Consumerization of IT gains acceptance across Indian businesses
While 71 per cent of IT decision makers are concerned about end users accessing corporate systems and applications from mobile devices, 73 per cent believe that their IT organization are able to keep up with the end user computing needs of their employees. In fact, 65 per cent claim to already have a formal strategy in place for supporting end user computing clearly showing that Indian businesses are acting to cater to the needs of the new age worker.
?Continued investment and innovation in end-user computing by companies like VMware, are helping IT organizations free the desktop, redefine the corporate workspace and embrace a new way of working in the mobile cloud era,? said Srinivasan.
