Hybrid Cloud: The Key to Organizational Success

There has been substantial buzz surrounding the hybrid cloud since the onset of the pandemic, as many organizations were forced to become reliant on remote work capabilities. While this trend is on track to continue as we look ahead to a new hybrid work environment in a post-pandemic world, a lack of awareness surrounding the important aspects of the hybrid cloud remains among many Canadian organizations. We're here to set the record straight.

Implementing hybrid cloud technologies and solutions is the most effective way for organizations to take advantage of the value of the public cloud but maintain support for services that are not ready for the cloud yet in fact, according to CDW Canada's 2021 Cloud Report, over half (56 percent) of Canadian organizations have deployed a hybrid IT model as a result. So, what exactly is hybrid cloud, and how does it deliver value? Our podcast series, Get IT: Finding Success with Hybrid Cloud in Canada, explores all things hybrid cloud with our resident expert, KJ Burke, principal technology strategist at CDW Canada. Over the course of 12 episodes, KJ speaks with other industry experts from our vast partner network to share knowledge and discuss network architecture, app modernization, data portability and much more.

While having a mature hybrid cloud strategy enables organizations to leverage their existing infrastructure and quickly scale resources for added flexibility, it's important for organizations to plan their migration and maturation of their hybrid cloud to ensure portability, observability and manageability. Our podcast series shares key insights to help organizations understand the value of hybrid cloud and how to get started. If you're newer in your hybrid cloud journey, here are the top three episodes we recommend checking out first:

Episode 7: App modernization none of the pain, all of the gain

In this episode, KJ is joined by CDW's Head of Enterprise Sales, Federal Government, Ontario Healthcare and Atlantic, Glenn Gerrard, along with Henrick Gütle, general manager for Microsoft Azure at Microsoft Canada to discuss how to define modern applications, how these allow organizations to deliver value to their customers and how they have become a key business driver for success.

One of the biggest changes affecting IT organizations today is the migration from traditional VM-based workloads into modern workloads and being able to modernize applications with containers, microservices and cloud-native services. App modernization can help organizations achieve agility, faster innovation and operations efficiencies, helping them sustain momentum and manage workloads.

Microsoft Azure recently released a study called the Developer Velocity Index, which found that organizations who invested in app modernization outperformed others in terms of profitability and time to market for new and innovative products. This episode also highlights the study's key findings and speaks to how define success in adopting app modernization platforms.

Episode 9: How CDW reorganized its team to deliver hybrid cloud solutions

In this episode, KJ is joined by CDW's Director of Solutions, Alhagie Puye, to discuss the internal reorganization that was required to remove silos at CDW and better help customers achieve business outcomes from the hybrid cloud.

People are an organizations greatest asset. Being in an industry that evolves at such a rapid pace, it's important that we, too, evolve in unison in order to continue being able to meet our customers where they are in terms of their changing needs. That's why we have reorganized our internal structure here at CDW to focus on our customers' business outcomes rather than working in separate silos.

One of the ways we were able to do this was by creating a unified hybrid cloud team that focuses exclusively on customers' business challenges, rather than specific technology and solutions. Since reorganizing in this way, we are now able ensure we remain laser-focused on helping customers overcome their business challenges to enhance their business outcomes.

Episode 12: Applying the cloud model to your data centre

In the final episode of our hybrid cloud podcast series, KJ and CDW's Principal of Cloud Services, Jason Allan, along with Dan Nitta Mackay from Intel discuss how organizations should automate, streamline and standardize on-premises equipment and how to maximize investment by operating workloads appropriately.

One of the biggest challenges with the hybrid cloud is a lack of understanding, as many organizations haven't proactively planned or taken the time to fully understand the applications they're using. Many also fail to understand what data they're shifting to the cloud and why. Organizations need to inform IT with what they want it to achieve, whether it's through the public cloud, automation or the data centre. It's also vital that organizations evaluate where to move their workloads in order to maximize their investment.

Implementing and transitioning to hybrid cloud infrastructure requires a level of expertise that not all organizations have the capacity to manage, and that's OK. That's what we're here for. Whether you're just beginning to consider the hybrid cloud or are ready to begin workload migration, partnering with experts that can help keep your IT environment productive, flexible and secure is key.

To listen to the full Get IT: Finding Success with Hybrid Cloud in Canada podcast series, please visit: cdw.ca/hybridcloudpodcast.