Cloud tech vital in meeting local firms' needs amidst pandemic: report

It has been implemented in 63.8% of local firms.

More than nine in 10 (96.3%) Singapore firms have agreed that cloud technology is critical in meeting immediate business needs amidst pandemic-induced uncertainty, according to technology services company NTT’s 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced 93.8% of Singapore businesses—the highest figure in Asia-Pacific—to rely on technology more than they did before, but the crisis has also highlighted what firms lack in terms of cloud infrastructure, security and network architecture capabilities, therefore driving digital innovation on these businesses’ end.

“An improved speed of deployment of apps and services (37.5%) is the biggest driver of hybrid cloud adoption for businesses in Singapore, especially given the shift to a distributed workforce model where businesses now need to access data and applications in new, different and often complex ways,” the report said.

Other motivators for hybrid cloud technology adoption are the better efficiency of IT operations’ spend (33.8%) and overall improvement of business agility (28.8%).

In implementing hybrid cloud technology, businesses must change their attitudes in terms of security and compliance, as well as maximise cost efficiency. More than five in 10 firms (55%) cited managing data security as the hardest hurdle to overcome in adopting hybrid cloud.

Network performance and shortage of skills are also notable barriers to successful hybrid cloud adoption.

Once implemented correctly, hybrid cloud would “increase cost efficiency and drive the organisation’s overall performance,” the report read.

Vital to data-driven processes as well as real-time decisions now and even in a post-COVID normal world, hybrid cloud has been implemented in 63.8% of Singapore businesses.

Moreover, a further 33.8% of businesses expressed plans to implement a hybrid solution in the following one to two years.