The importance of optimising on-premises infrastructure to support mission-critical workloads
It’s hard to find an organization that doesn’t store at least some of its assets in the cloud. However, this does not mean that on-premises computing is a thing of the past. In fact, it still has an important role to play, and as such should be kept up to date.
According to research by Computer in which 131 IT leaders were surveyed, only 2 percent of organizations have fully migrated to the cloud, with the remainder taking a hybrid approach, combining cloud with on-premises. In fact, 36 percent still primarily store their workload on-premises and 66 percent agree that on-premises computing still plays a critical role in their organization.
While cloud computing offers many benefits, such as scalability and flexibility, and is particularly suitable for smaller organizations without the resources to manage their data storage in-house, this does not mean that it is the best option for all workloads.
Server reliability, availability, serviceability and low latency are essential for mission-critical applications such as ERP, HCM and databases. Moving it to the cloud could risk costly downtime.
Some legacy applications are also designed in a way that doesn’t allow data to be easily migrated to the cloud or depends on important customizations, making a wholesale migration unsuitable due to the cost and complexity involved.
Furthermore, some regulations may require data to remain on-premises where organizations have greater control over who can access it.
While cloud computing has been in the spotlight for some time and organizations strive to be “cloud first” or “cloud only”, it’s clear that some workloads are better suited to on-premises and, for some organizations, on-premise remains the most secure and most cost-effective choice. It is therefore important that it is not overlooked in digital transformation strategies.
However, just as cloud migration alone is not enough to achieve business transformation, keeping workloads on-premises without regularly assessing whether they are performing at their best can mean organizations are missing out.
Sixty-two percent of respondents say their organization has modernized its on-premises hardware to keep up with innovation. The fact that a third have not done so is worrying and implies that they experience poorer performance, reliability, energy efficiency and security. Without embracing up-to-date technology, organizations can be left behind or outpaced.
With on-premises computing still having an important role to play, it’s important that outdated data center hardware doesn’t stand in the way of organizations operating flexibly and with agility. Seventy-five percent agree high performance reliable hardware is critical to on-prem success, with just 5 percent disagreeing.
It is essential that processors and supporting hardware platforms are efficient across all workloads. Without strong infrastructure in place, the benefits of keeping certain workloads on-premises will not be fully realized.
Underneath every computing workload, from edge to cloud, is hardware. Whether or not that environment achieves its business goals depends on performance, secure and cost-effective hardware. How a data center is structured and managed, how equipment is deployed, data hygiene as well as how often hardware is refreshed all contribute to this and should be regularly assessed to see if improvements can be made.
Organizations should regularly audit their on-premise infrastructure to determine if they are getting the most out of their data, if they are taking advantage of technological advances and if any updates are needed. By having a modernization strategy for their IT infrastructure in place, organizations will maximize their investments, ensure they can implement new ways of working without being slowed down by outdated hardware, and get the most from both cloud and on-premises.
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This post is sponsored by Intel.
