Why “perfect storm” is the best time for CLOUD
“There is no business strategy without a cloud strategy”, - said Gartner in November 2021, predicting global cloud revenue growth to $474 billion in 2022 from $408 in the previous period. Businesses around the world are looking for ways to use the cloud to increase profits and grow their businesses. The cloud is being talked about as a transformation mechanism that provides new digital capabilities, such as mobile payment systems for banks, customer services for energy companies or personalized services in retail.
Ukraine is also dealing with this issue. The rapid and massive transition of many companies and government agencies to remote operation, triggered by the pandemic, has led to a sharp increase in demand for cloud platforms, both within the country and abroad. In 2021, the Ukrainian cloud operators stated the growth of revenues at the level of 60-70%.
However, against the backdrop of this optimism, it is unlikely that anyone predicted for the cloud such a survival-defining importance that it has acquired since the Russian invasion.
We've all read Microsoft's report on the cyber lessons of the Ukrainian war, where the speed of moving data out of the country while maintaining full access to it for operations is called the key to digital resilience. One of the reasons why physical and cyber attacks on government agencies have had limited operational impact is that digital operations and data have been distributed to the public cloud. This has led governments around the world to explore the idea of introducing the cloud for official use. The Pentagon, which contracted with Microsoft for this very reason in 2019 and then canceled it in 2020, is again considering the possibility of awarding new contracts to the Department of Defense for cloud computing.
However, let's return to peaceful Ukraine in 2021 and try to remember another powerful trend that has defined business behavior toward the cloud in the last 3-5 years. Namely, the shift of operating models towards product orientation, where the entire value stream for business and IT must be aligned precisely by product.
Why is it important to mention this now? Because this change in operating model and the IT infrastructure modernization that followed determined the rate of leapfrogging forced a transition to the cloud at the beginning of the war. From Accord Group's experience, customers such as PrivatBank, Fozzi Group, Raiffeisenbank and others who managed to build ground infrastructure in advance based on the principles of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) made the transition very quickly. The work that was planned to be done before the war for a year, or even longer, was carried out in one and a half to two months!
All of these companies, in addition to their willingness to quickly migrate to the cloud, have in common that they have made a bet on Cisco ACI – the most secure, open and comprehensive software-defined networking (SDN) solution in the industry according to Accord Group. Cisco ACI radically simplifies, streamlines, and accelerates the software deployment life cycle, and in a wartime context, delivers the desired 100% interoperability and data synchronization with ground infrastructure.
Cisco ACI is:
Easy to work with policies, management models, and operations for programs, networks, and security resources
Centralized network management and visibility with full automation and real-time network health monitoring
Open APIs, for flexibility of DevOps teams and partner integrations
Common platform for managing both physical and virtual environments
Automation of IT workflows and application deployment flexibility
Zero trust internal security and innovative features in policy enforcement, micro-segmentation and analytics
Integrated security with Cisco security products and ecosystem partners
Seamless connectivity to any data center or public cloud
Cloud automation through integration with VMware vRealize, Azure Pack, OpenStack, OpenShift, Kubernetes and Cisco UCS® Director
The network has been, and remains the basis of the Internet, which underpins cloud services and capabilities. As experience shows, a modern application-oriented network can become the basis for not only scalability and layout, which requires advanced technologies and programs, but also allows businesses in Ukraine to meet new needs, such as sovereignty and survival.
We at Accord Group have extensive experience building application-oriented networks and cloud migrations, and are ready to help you build resilient, independent systems.
Find the Snapshot of our Cloud Portfolio there.