Closing the
cloud strategy,
technology, and
innovation gap
Cloud insights to harness technology’s full potential
What sets apart organizations that successfully leverage cloud?
To find out, Deloitte recently surveyed cloud decision-makers across multiple industries about their experience with cloud and how cloud strategy and maturity affect business performance and innovation.
The study looks at how cloud investment relates to strategic enterprise outcomes and innovation goals. We surveyed 500 senior cloud decision-makers in the United States across a wide range of industries. Participants were asked about their companies' current cloud maturity and self-reported on how they view the future of cloud.
The goal was to gain insights into how cloud maturity relates to business performance and innovation and how organizations can best use cloud technology investments as a “force multiplier” for their digital strategy and overall business performance.
Cloud strategy and innovation segments
Respondent organizations were segmented based on the extent to which they view enterprise outcomes as strategic priorities and the extent to which they reported a high level of success at driving innovation in these areas.
Organizations that widely view these outcomes as strategically important and have achieved high levels of innovation in their top-priority areas are classified as Leaders, whereas Hopefuls are organizations that view these outcomes as strategically important but have not been successful at driving innovation in their priority areas. In between are Drivers and Moderates, with rankings determined by their level of success at driving innovation in outcome areas they consider strategically important. Learn more about the innovation index segments here.
Bridging the gap between strategic priorities and innovation
How strategy, technology, and innovation can diverge
Cloud drives positive change, but innovation gaps remain
Organizations’ innovation capabilities are not aligned with their strategic priorities
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Cloud is a ‘force multiplier’ and digital strategy cornerstone
Cloud investments can add significant value to other technology strategies, business goals, and innovation priorities
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The value cloud brings to organizations
Artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)
Data analytics and management
Software engineering/developer tools/DevOps
Blockchain
Scaling cloud to drive business value
Investments, migration, and the benefits of multi-cloud
Investment in cloud is sizeable and will continue to grow
Most organizations plan to invest in cloud over the next one to two years
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How much do you invest across all enterprises in cloud solutions in a year?
How do you expect your investment in cloud solutions to change in the next one to two years?
Utilizing cloud now, and in the future
90% of organizations have been utilizing cloud solutions for three years or more
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What percentage of your workloads are you currently running on cloud versus traditional and on-prem solutions, and how do you expect this to change in three years?
- Current workload
- Workload in three years
How long has your organization been utilizing cloud solutions?
3-6 years
7-10 years
What percentage of your organization’s workloads are in the cloud?
All data
- Have migrated/developed cloud native
- Will migrate in 1–2 years
- Will develop cloud native in 1–2 years
Survey respondents
A multi-cloud approach means more choice and better scalability
Most respondents currently benefit from a multi-cloud approach
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Organizations that have a multi-cloud approach
Most respondents use two or three cloud providers
Use 2 providers
Use 3 providers
Top five benefits of a multi-cloud approach, based on overall responses
Cloud trends and strategies for innovation
What to know about cloud native, industry clouds, and cloud cyber
The customer domain is a top priority for cloud native solutions
Cloud native services are increasingly important for customer-facing processes
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Top four areas needing cloud native solutions, based on overall responses
Customer domain (customer engagement, customer segmentation, etc.)
Supply chain domain (vendor management, etc.)
Core operations domain (distribution, manufacturing, etc.)
Finance domain (forecasting, planning, etc.)
Industry clouds are viewed as a catalyst, but uncertainty remains
Industry clouds provide opportunity, but concerns remain. The top two benefits are faster innovation (56%) and agility (49%); whereas the top two concerns are control over data and insights (35%) and vendor lock-in (33%).
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Top benefits and concerns about using an industry cloud
Percentages reflect the top three ranked choices
Benefits
Faster innovation/time to market for business capabilities and use cases
Accelerating the capacity to change (agility)
Concerns
Fear of control over data and insights
Concerns about vendor lock-in, more unified solutions with the hyperscaler
Cloud cybersecurity offers ample opportunity
Cloud cybersecurity is pervasive, with 82% of cloud decision-makers stating their organization is using cloud cyber services
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Top four desired benefits/outcomes cloud decision-makers want to achieve with cloud cyber, based on overall responses
Percentages reflect the top three ranked choices
Improving ability to detect and address security risks/threats
Improving customer digital trust (the confidence users have in technology and processes to create a secure digital world)
Addressing regulatory compliance requirements more efficiently (through built-in data governance processes)
Adopting Zero Trust methods (Zero Trust is a model and framework that applies a ‘never trust, always verify’ policy with regards to users, workloads, networks and devices before granting access to an organization’s IT ecosystem and underlying data)
What does the future of cloud look like?
Positive emotions dominate, but uncertainty remains
Looking ahead to the future of cloud
While sentiment share is largely skewed toward positive emotions, leading negative feelings include uncertainty, overwhelmed, and stress. A cloud strategy aligning strategic priorities and innovation goals may help alleviate these negative emotions.
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Feelings about the future of cloud
Confidence
Enthusiasm
Joy
Pride
Surprise
Contentment
Excitement
Peace of mind
Relief
Triumph
Aggravation
Disappointment
Overwhelmed
Remorse
Stress
Anger
Fear
Panic
Sadness
Uncertainty
View the full report
Learn from leaders to reduce uncertainty and gain the most value from your cloud investments.
View The ReportEngineer your possible with cloud*Data filters should be considered for directional purposes only with the following kept in mind. More than 40% of survey respondents had final responsibility for the success or failure of their organization (e.g., CEO or owner) and may have been more likely to report higher levels of IT implementation and strategy success and/or been influenced by some degree of self-serving bias, given they are the “person ultimately liable for the organization’s success/perceived success.” While successful organizations could also have been more likely to have CEOs, owners, and other C-suite members report on behalf of their organizations, the literature suggests that the former explanation is more likely, and therefore any data filtered by CEO/owner/C-suite status, are likely somewhat overstated. Over 50% of surveyed organizations had more than 20,000 employees and reported being far less successful. Large organizations are likely to be older, with more system dependencies than smaller, younger organizations, and therefore, some findings may be overstated, but still directionally correct. Similarly, approximately 50% of respondents had a business responsibility and 50% had an IT function within their organization (e.g., cybersecurity, IT architecture and design, systems/software engineering, & other IT) with one-third of these having an explicitly cybersecurity function. Their vested interest should also be considered with any filtered data.
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