Hybrid IT And The Cloud: Impacts Of Digital Migration

IT networking environments are more complex than ever before. Though IT departments have been dealing with different types of IT assets for decades, the advent of virtualization and acceleration of digital migration has caused the number and type of assets to grow significantly. As a result, organizations are looking at a new, more complicated reality when it comes to managing their IT networking environment.

Organizations are now grappling with how to manage not only various types of assets, from on-premises infrastructure to cloud services to bring-your-own-device models, but also multiple types of licenses, subscriptions and enterprise agreements. New questions have started surfacing for IT departments around the world: What licenses do I have on what device? What happens when I retire a device but do not remove the licensing? What is my organization’s overall cloud spend? Why are we still paying for an application we never adopted? Why are we paying that amount for only two users?

To answer these questions, organizations must first understand the nuances of cloud services and digital migration, and then pursue strategies to help them manage their evolving IT infrastructure as cost effectively as possible.

The Rise of Cloud Solutions for Hybrid Networks 

Cloud services have begun to rapidly dominate the enterprise IT network landscape. Reducing the volume of on-premises IT hardware through virtualization makes an organization more agile, reliable and scalable. Moreover, it solves a range of issues such as licensing problems and the cost of hiring dedicated labor for IT hardware management.

While cloud services have risen in importance, however, it is crucial to note that they have limitations and need to be managed in concert with on-premises infrastructure, to ensure that cloud migration has a high return on investment.

Cloud Solutions: Hidden Challenges and Costs

Some of the biggest challenges that organizations run into when migrating from on-premises to cloud-based infrastructure are shadow IT costs, cloud bloat and hidden costs. Gartner has stated in recent reports that “through 2022, organizations without effective SAM (Software Asset Management) practices will waste 30% of cloud spending.”1 As organizations go through digital migration, they need new capabilities and processes to ensure that cloud services are being utilized and deployed correctly, that there will be no costly audits or true-ups events and that they properly transition and do not pay for service coverage on retired legacy on-premises hardware.

An Effective Hybrid ITAM Strategy 

Hybrid IT was, for many years, a futuristic concept, and discussions revolved around what is coming and how to prepare for digital migrations. Today, hybrid IT is a reality, and this reality is driving networking industry channel requirements for a hybrid IT asset management (ITAM) strategy. Organizations need to develop a mature ITAM practice that can support the complex nuances of hybrid IT environments encompassing both legacy on-premises hardware and cloud services. All assets must be managed together, in harmony, to fully optimize costs and maximize the lifecycle of both physical and virtual IT assets.

RAY ALLEN helps your customers manage their entire hybrid networking IT asset estate while providing insights into how you can optimize costs and increase recurring revenue.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you and your customers develop a mature ITAM solution and succeed in a digital economy.

1. Roger Williams and Matt Corsi, “Avoid 5 Common Mistakes When Implementing Software Asset Management,” Gartner, Inc., accessed May 26, 2021,https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3920323/avoid-5-common-mistakes-when-implementing-software-asset.
2. Source for second image: www.business2community.com