This independent, comprehensive, local market study provides key insights on the state of the cloud market in Australia, the role of edge and the criticality of cloud security
Telstra Purple has recently published the insights from an Omdia survey and in-depth interviews of 200 CIOs, CISOs, CEOs, and other leaders which sought to better understand the realities of cloud computing, edge and security within mid and large-sized Australian companies and government agencies.
The State of Cloud, Edge, and Security in Australia 2022-23 report based on the local market study provides insights on:
- how businesses across the country are leveraging cloud technology to help them accelerate innovation and digital transformation;
- the critical challenges facing IT teams
- areas where investments are being made; and
- the capabilities required to realise the advantages that cloud brings.
Technology innovation is often fueled by application-led cloud migrations
Many leading Australian organisations have, or are rapidly building, a well-articulated cloud strategy that ties application improvements to business processes within a company’s digital transformation journey with infrastructure consolidation remaining a key driver according to the study.
The report revealed that application-led cloud migration is on the rise, and of those surveyed was the top-ranked reason for migrating workloads to the cloud followed by infrastructure-led cloud migration.
“When we read through the research, we get a really clear understanding of what Aussie organisations have been learning from these application-led migrations,” shared Gretchen Cooke, Growth & Transformance Executive at Telstra Purple. “In particular, the unforeseen challenges that have emerged as a result of the migrations and the challenges they now have to prepare for.”
The report indicated that Australian businesses unfortunately remain unprepared for this next wave of cloud with only 50% of those interviewed being ‘somewhat prepared’ across the broader cloud lifecycle.
Organisations want to move workloads to the edge, but are often held back
As a logical extension of the cloud, connecting the network edge can bring cloud computing benefits closer to where data and users are based. The report pointed out that the benefits of edge computing are well known amongst Australian IT decision makers, however perceived barriers have constrained domestic roll-outs to date.
“Customers in Australia are adopting and experimenting with edge albeit at a significantly lower levels than is seen in some overseas markets” said Tim Otton, Product Owner Edge at Telstra. “The vast majority of Australian organisation are looking to adopt edge over the next two years to gain the benefits with greater network efficiency, improved latency and getting greater control and utilisation of the data at the edge.”
“The research highlighted that the lack of an edge strategy and challenges with having the right in-house skills and understanding of the technology are holding many companies back. We’ve seen firms engage Telstra Purple to help with strategy development, execution and to overcome skill gaps. ”
The report showed that 92% of organisations surveyed are expecting to deploy edge computing / services within the next two years. Cost, business case and strategy are some of the biggest constraints to faster edge adoption according to the report.
Cloud security is the top cloud migration concern among Australian executives interviewed
Despite the benefits Australian businesses often realise in moving to the cloud and edge, security remains key to moving faster.
The report indicated that cloud attacks are increasing, security remains the primary constraint to cloud migration and that cloud security preparedness is declining.
“As businesses move more business-critical applications and workloads to the cloud, security often remains their number one concern,” said Matthew O’Brien, Cyber Security Executive at Telstra. “The latest research from Omdia and Telstra tells us that security incidents and attacks against critical cloud workloads is on the rise… and that Australian businesses today are likely far less prepared than they were a year ago in dealing with today’s cloud security challenges.”
The research revealed that only 39% of Australian businesses surveyed feel they are ‘very prepared’ in terms of cloud security—down from 44% a year ago. Additionally, 56% of respondents reported a significant increase in overall security incidents within the past year.
Insights from Australian decision-makers highlight the path
Take a look at the report for an in-depth exploration of the cloud, edge and security themes we’ve covered here, areas where investments are being made, critical challenges facing IT teams as well as some key recommendations from the IT and business leaders we interviewed.
You can download your copy of the State of Cloud, Edge, and Security in Australia 2022-23 report here.
Customer research
State of Cloud, Edge, and Security in Australia 2022-23
This research covers the critical challenges facing IT teams, areas where investments are being made and the capabilities required to truly exploit cloud, security, and edge commercially for sustainable competitive advantage.