99% Are Rapidly Adopting Cloud—Insights into the 1% That Aren’t and the Future of Multicloud

In a recent Interop ITX/InformationWeek survey on the state of cloud computing, only 1 % of respondents said they will not use any cloud services over the next two years. That tiny segment represents the outliers who have chosen to stay behind the rapid rise of SaaS applications and public cloud services.

Meanwhile, 99 % of organizations are moving forward, and the trend toward multicloud is accelerating. Cloud Technology Partners outlines key considerations—architecture, operations, security, and vendor management—when planning a multicloud strategy. The firm notes that operations often require the greatest investment in skills and training to keep services running smoothly.

Hybrid cloud adoption is also expanding. Microsoft’s latest Azure adoption data confirms the survey’s outlook: Azure usage more than doubled last quarter as the company positions itself as a leading hybrid‑cloud platform.

Industry thought leader Mike Matchett predicts that this year will see cloud and hybrid cloud firmly entrenched across enterprises. He emphasizes the importance of leveraging cloud‑based big‑data analytics to give businesses a competitive edge.

On the infrastructure side, major players are building custom hardware to support their cloud services. While Facebook and Google have developed their own switches and circuit designs, Amazon has taken it further by creating a proprietary high‑speed network. Customization offers cost savings and, more importantly, reliability. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has adopted the 25 GbE standard and continues to evolve its network around software‑defined networking (SDN) principles.

These developments underscore why the majority of organizations are accelerating their cloud journeys—and why the remaining 1 % must reassess their strategy.

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