APAC IT leaders accelerate hybrid, multi-cloud deployments

Redwood City, California-based data centre firm Equinix on Monday said that 55% of surveyed companies in Asia-Pacific are deploying hybrid cloud, and 34% multi cloud in the period of 2020 and 2021, trending up significantly from the previous year.

The uptick is a result of a growing need to remain competitive and cater to increased user demands among enterprises in the region, the Nasdaq-listed company said in a statement announcing findings of a survey it conducted.

The survey found there has been a significant year-on-year leap in companies planning to move business-critical applications to the cloud, despite cybersecurity concerns. It revealed that 40% of them plan to move business-critical applications to the cloud, despite ongoing concerns over cloud security.

The annualised survey had Equinix study responses of 2,600 information technology (IT) decision-makers across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA for its Equinix 2020-21 Global Tech Trends Survey (GTTS). 

The GTTS also found that 65% of respondents in Asia-Pacific believe migrating to the cloud is a top priority, with 76% focused on digitizing their IT infrastructure. “This move is not being made lightly, with the threat of data leaks/cyberattacks as a result of increased cloud adoption being perceived as one of the biggest threats to organizations in all three regions: 52% AMER, 50% AP, 45% EMEA.”

While moving to the cloud is at the heart of transformation, the GTTS showed that many digital leaders remain nervous about this migration, with IT decision-makers highlighting fears around increased data leaks and security breaches, Equinix’s Chief Information Security Officer Michael Montoya, said. 

Among other findings from the GTTS, 76% of IT decision-makers in Asia-Pacific said digitising their IT infrastructure is a top priority, with 68% working to improve user experience.

About half (53%) of respondents in Asia-Pacific said they believe the threat of data leaks and cyberattacks as a result of cloud migration to be one of the biggest threats globally.

Additionally, 75% of digital leaders in Asia-Pacific said they are prioritising improving their organisation’s cybersecurity.