More than 70% of German IT decision-makers claim their firms have embraced or plan to implement cloud-native solutions, with a lack of skills being the biggest roadblock. It’s the outcome of a survey in which German IT decision-makers were polled by Information Services Group (ISG), a major worldwide technology research and consultancy organization.
According to the survey, 22% of respondents stated their organizations are currently using cloud-native technologies, and 27% expect to do so over the next 12 months. Another 23% stated that they have specific plans in place, but did not indicate when they intend to use cloud-native technology.
The survey was conducted in September for EuroCloud Native (ECN), the cloud-native initiative of the industry association EuroCloud Deutschland. In this survey, 200 German IT decision-makers were polled on their present and prospective usage of cloud-native technologies.
“The survey results show that interest in cloud-native solutions is now widespread in Germany. Only 3 percent of respondents said that cloud-native is not currently on their agenda,” said study leader Heiko Henkes, director with ISG Research. “Despite the strong interest, most companies are still only in the initial implementation phase.”
The poll results, according to Mr. Henkes, show that businesses aren’t fully appreciating the benefits of cloud-native solutions. The main advantage of cloud-native solutions, according to nearly half of the respondents (48 percent), is IT security, which Henkes only classified as an ‘indirect benefit.’
“Other primary advantages were ranked lower on the list of benefits,” added Mr. Henkes. “They include more stable systems (40 percent of the mentions), shorter development cycles for software engineering (23 percent), and automatic scaling (9 percent).”
Cloud-Native Adoption Slowed by Skills Scarcity
When asked about barriers to adoption, the most common response (37%) was a shortage of experienced people to install cloud-native solutions. According to Felix Höger, a board member of EuroCloud Germany, this explains why IT security is the major focus of business advantages.
“The majority of respondents are well aware of their companies’ limited perceptions of cloud-native benefits,” said Felix Höger. “But in view of the worsening shortage of skilled workers, companies are forced to direct their focus on precisely those requirements that are currently most pressing for the business. IT security is definitely one of them.”
The response to the question of how strongly cloud-native procedures are already entrenched in application development demonstrates the extent to which the skills deficit is inhibiting cloud-native adoption. The majority of businesses are taking a cautious approach, with 44% of respondents stating they would first focus on implementing cloud-native technology for smaller applications, such as refactoring projects. Significantly fewer (27%) think cloud-native will be used in new software development initiatives.
Market Opportunities Specialized Service Providers
“The fact that most cloud-native users have so far taken advantage of only some of the capabilities of this technology means there are great market opportunities for specialized service providers, especially in the area of software engineering,” said Dr. Nils Kaufmann, director at EuroCloud Native.
The most significant criterion for firms when picking a provider, according to the poll, is that the provider has a specialization in cloud-native technology, with 85 percent stating this is either an important or very important aspect. A thorough understanding of cloud platforms is also crucial, according to 83 percent of respondents, in order to enable the construction, operation, and enhancement of multi-cloud solutions.
EuroCloud Deutschland
Alice&Bob.Company, CLOUDETEER, Cloudwürdig, Deepshore, GECKO (a member of release42 Gruppe), globaldatanet, Kubermatic, and tecRacer Consulting all participated in the survey project and provided their experience to the study’s design.
EuroCloud Native is an initiative within EuroCloud Deutschland_eco e. V. (EuroCloud), the association of the cloud computing industry in Germany. EuroCloud Deutschland is the association of the German cloud computing industry and represents it in the pan-European EuroCloud network.
