India is well on its way to achieving its target of becoming a US$ 5 trillion economy, and cloud services are playing a starring role in that journey. The country’s public cloud services market is now on target to reach US$13.0 billion by 2026, reflecting a seismic shift in the way businesses choose to handle their IT infrastructure. 

To remain competitive, organizations are moving to the cloud to pay less for IT infrastructure. However, many find themselves locked into costly price plans or vulnerable to security risks. Hybrid models are emerging as a solution to mitigate these risks, but companies must figure out how to best leverage on-premises and cloud-based systems to work seamlessly together. And with Gartner forecasting worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services to grow 20.7% to total US$ 591.8 billion in 2023, hybrid solutions are undoubtedly poised to become the norm.

The power of scalability and flexibility

The traditional on-premises model involves IT infrastructure housed on a company’s premises, which can become prohibitively expensive and complex to manage. Cloud-based systems offer the option to store data and run apps on remote servers hosted by third-party providers, offering scalability and flexibility. However, some companies face issues with compliance and latency, and others become overly reliant on cloud providers, leading to vendor lock-in.

Hybrid models offer agility, scalability, and security while keeping costs under control. Businesses need to approach building a hybrid model with their unique business case in mind, balancing on-premises infrastructure for handling sensitive data with the cloud for accommodating apps that require high scalability or services that are prone to data spikes. A multi-cloud approach, combining private and public clouds, is the best way to avoid vendor lock-in and mix and match providers to take advantage of their strengths.

The necessary “mix and match”

By building in a multi-cloud approach to a hybrid solution, businesses also resolve the issue of vendor lock-in, as they are free to mix and match providers to take advantage of their unique strengths. Often, however, we find that companies make the fatal error of ‘lifting and shifting’ into a model which is only fit for the business they run today, rather than factoring in their plans and aspirations. Regardless of the combination, it’s imperative that organizations get guidance on how best to mix the ingredients. 

This shift, as with any moment of fundamental change, represents an opportunity for any organization to reimagine the way their data is structured, operations are run, and customers are served. As such, the most impactful hybrid models will benefit from precise roadmaps which reflect their ambitions, diversify their competencies, and provide security from external threats.