New study predicts sharp rise in cloud native applications

Adoption set to double by 2020, research suggests

According to recent research from Capgemini, cloud-native applications are expected to rise dramatically over the coming years, with 32 percent of enterprise being run natively on cloud platforms by 2020.

Seventy-four percent of those polled across the Americas, Europe, and Australia believe the improved business agility of cloud applications will drive the change; 70 percent believe the collaborative nature of cloud applications will accelerate the transition.

Capgemini

In total, 67 percent stated that these cloud applications will be in demand because they can provide better customer experiences.

“This is an exciting shift in our industry.” predicts Franck Greverie, Cloud and Cybersecurity Group Leader at Capgemini.

“Cloud-native architectures will become the default option for customer-facing applications by 2020, driven by a need to continuously deploy innovations at an accelerated pace and enhance the customer experience. Businesses that delay adopting this approach will struggle to make up the gap with cloud-native competitors,”

New Routes to Market

This shift makes the need to ready their on-premise IT architecture to be able to handle cloud native applications even more pressing.

Those using cloud operations for at least 20 percent of their apps were substantially more likely to describe their operations as agile and describe their deployment operations as automated. This cohort also focused more heavily on businesses agility, scalability, and excellent customer service instead compared to focusing on cost reduction.

Capgemini

CIOs working for groups using or planning to use cloud-native programs expect the cloud and hybrid options to become a central part of the non-IT aspects of business.

Sixty-seven percent see these apps aiding in the development of novel business models, and 68 percent see it helping develop new routes to market. In total, 71 percent see the cloud contributing to faster product and services updates, and 72 percent predict it leading to faster scaling.

Vertical Variation

The adoption of cloud-native services varies by field. Twenty-nine percent of manufacturing firms are now cloud-native, as are 26 percent of high-tech firms. Among CPRD firms, 22 percent are considered cloud-native leaders, compared to 18 percent of insurers. Only 11 percent of banking providers are considered cloud-native. These three groups, however, are all expected to pass to 40 percent threshold for PaaS adoption by 2020.

Also included with the report is a roadmap for companies to follow. Businesses should first start by identifying priorities informed by the available application portfolio, then create a roadmap to demonstrate results. It’s best to start small, according to the report, and scale up with an appropriately skilled team in place. Businesses should focus on both stability and agility and emphasize pragmatism. It’s also important to foster a culture that emphasizes collaboration, innovation, learning, and testing.

“Organizations need to listen to their CIOs and understand the huge potential of cloud-native technology to deliver business benefits and innovation.” concludes Greverie. “CIOs must also address culture and skills gaps within their own organizations on the road to being cloud-native leaders.”

Download the full report