NetApp's cloud complexity addresses changing multicloud demands

NetApp, a software company focused on data-centric solutions in the cloud, has recently published the 2023 Cloud Complexity Report. This report is a global survey aimed at understanding how technology leaders are adapting to the challenges of cloud requirements driven by digital transformation and AI initiatives, and the resulting complexity of multicloud environments.

The report highlights that 98% of senior IT decision-makers have been impacted by increasing cloud complexity, leading to potential losses in revenue, poor IT performance, and barriers to business growth. Ronen Schwartz, Senior VP and GM of Cloud Storage at NetApp, commented on the findings: "Our global research report highlights paradigm shifts in how technology leaders look at and manage their cloud initiatives. As cloud adoption accelerates and businesses innovate faster to compete, technology leaders are facing growing pressure to juggle multiple priorities at once – causing many to rethink how they manage efficiency and security in this new environment."

Gabie Boko, CMO of NetApp, also commented on the findings, stating: "Our global survey data demonstrates the extreme complexity of modern IT environments, and the pressure technology executives are under to show measurable outcomes from cloud investments. At NetApp, we’ve simplified the complex through our approach, which enables technology executives to increase the speed of innovation, lower costs, and improve consistency, flexibility, and agility across on-premises and cloud environments."

The report identifies several key findings, including the fact that 88% of respondents cited working across cloud environments as a barrier to their cloud strategies, while 32% struggle to align on a clear vision at the leadership level. In addition, 84% of tech executives expressed concern about return on investment (ROI), with nearly half of them reporting that cost concerns come up often or all the time during cloud strategy discussions. The report also highlights that over a third (37%) of tech executives plan to have half or more of their cloud deployments supported by AI-driven applications within the next year.

NetApp aims to address these challenges by providing IT leaders with a streamlined user interface to manage their systems, alleviating efficiency bottlenecks and enabling them to stay on top of key trends such as optimizing costs, assessing risks, and operating sustainably. The company partnered with Wakefield Research to conduct a quantitative research study in November 2022, surveying 1,300 tech and data executives at businesses in nine markets: US, EMEA (France, Germany, Spain, the UK), and APAC (India, Japan, Singapore, and Australia/New Zealand).