Research Study Shows Positive Perceptions for the Software-Defined Data Center for Enterprises

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024 | Published: Apr 27, 2016

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A new study suggests that 2016 might be the year where a software-defined data center (SDDC) approach might become the norm for many enterprises.

The study is a new research initiative by the cloud security automation company, HyTrust, and is co-sponsored by Intel. The research spans over 500 senior business and tech executives across the US and UK belonging to large and medium-sized companies. While 60 percent of respondents are C-level executives, the remaining 40 percent include IT managers and system and network administrators.

Topline Findings on SDDC

Topline findings from this survey includes a positive outlook for SDDC, where 65 percent of respondents predicted faster deployment in 2016, while 62 percent anticipated increased adoption. Additionally, 51 percent of respondents said that they anticipated a quantifiable ROI, thanks to the increased efficiency, agility, and provisioning that SDDC strategies provide.

Making Effective SDDC Strategies

When it comes to effective SDDC strategies, 90 percent of respondents agreed that effective automation is critical for large-scale deployment of SDDC, and 94 percent of respondents also stated that consistent policies must be encored to ensure compliance, security, and business needs in hybrid cloud environments.

Security Concerns

Interestingly, the research suggests a positive outlook regarding security concerns and SDDC. Although 70 percent of respondents said that security would be less of an obstacle in the overall adoption of cloud and SDDC, 25 percent of respondents acknowledged that security would still be an issue. Notably, the biggest security gap identified within the study is that there is a 52 percent of perception around inadequate security, where 44 percent of respondents said that they believe there are lack of solutions or immaturity of options in the market.

C-Level Executives versus IT

Although the research primarily focused on C-level executives, there were some insights to be gleaned from IT professionals, along with variations among enterprises and SMBs.

Security concerns were varied between C-level execs and those on the IT manager level:

C-Level Executives IT Managers
Security less of an obstacle: 74% Security less of an obstacle: 62%
More breaches: 54% More breaches: 62%
Fewer Breaches: 18% Fewer Breaches: 10%
Fewer, but only after a strategic focus on security: 17% Fewer, but only after a strategic focus on security: 33%

Although the research findings here suggest that there are similarities between the two groups, it also suggests that IT managers are more confident in experiencing less breaches when there’s more of an emphasis placed on security strategies in conjunction with SDDC practices.

Perceptions surrounding SDDC were positive among both enterprises and SMBs, but SMBs’ positive outlook was 10 percent higher than their enterprise counterpart in areas of increased adoption, faster deployment, and alignment of security strategies to address needs and requirements.

A Final Note

This research study provides valuable insight into the state of cloud and SDDC. Most notably, research findings across the board show that C-level executives, along with IT managers and administrators are more comfortable in adopting cloud technologies, despite the fact that security must always be taken into consideration. Stated differently, this research study shows that organizations have moved away from fearing the cloud and are repeating the benefits of increased agility, flexibility, and performance, along with a noticeable ROI.

To learn more about the research study and its finding, visit HyTrust’s website.

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