Moving to a hybrid IT model? Planning imperative, says CenturyLink

Two thirds of Australian organisations are using managed services, according to the latest Australian Hybrid IT Adoption Index from CenturyLink, which says hybrid IT is becoming the architecture of choice.

The research reveals that more than one-fifth of the remaining organisations plan to move to managed services in the next 12 months. According to CenturyLink, organisations looking to move to hybrid IT must consider their IT capabilities, business objectives and workloads to develop a plan.

The research found the most popular types of applications being run on outsourced infrastructure are:

• online applications such as websites and eCommerce (48%)
• applications used for back-office services such as finance and enterprise resource planning (43%)
• disaster recovery/business continuity planning solutions (31%)

"Successful planning to move to hybrid IT involves the organisation first establishing its core business strategies and goals to understand why the model is needed," explains Stuart Mills, regional director, ANZ, CenturyLink.

Mills says businesses need to identify which areas are not performing optimally, and decided whether to supplements in-house capabilities with external expertise.

According to the Hybrid IT Adoption Index, online applications such as websites and eCommerce are the most popular types of outsourced applications (48%) followed by back-office services such as finance and enterprise resource planning (43%), and disaster recover (31%).

"As companies begin their hybrid IT journey, they should start by establishing strategies and goals, and determine the who, what, where involved in the outsourcing of eternal infrastructure and services involved," the Index explains.

From here the organisation can work with hybrid partners to better determine how to optimise external infrastructure and services," adds Mills. .