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The Share of Enterprise Workloads Run in On-Premise Data Centers Falls Below 50% for First Time

As more organizations opt for a hybrid approach to IT, the share of enterprise workloads that are run in corporate, on-premises facilities has fallen to below half for the first time and is expected to shrink further, according to the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023.

"Our data shows operators grappling with several issues," said Andy Lawrence, Executive Director, Uptime Intelligence. "In 2023, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have receded, but other challenges have emerged. Digital infrastructure managers are now most concerned with improving energy performance and dealing with staffing shortfalls, while Government regulations aimed at improving data center sustainability and visibility are beginning to require attention, investment, and action."

Key findings from the report include:

■ Enterprise operators say data security is the biggest impediment to moving mission-critical workloads to the public cloud. Resiliency and transparency are lesser concerns.

■ Most operators believe acceptance of the use of artificial intelligence will grow in data centers, but operators are distrustful of its ability to make reliable operational decisions.

■ More than half (55%) of operators reported they have had an outage at their site in the past three years, the lowest number yet recorded. This continues a trend of steady improvement.

■ Power outages continue to be cited as the single biggest cause of outages.

■ Nearly two-thirds of operators have problems recruiting or retaining staff – however, this figure is not currently growing. The largest skill gaps are in operations, mechanical and electrical roles.

Methodology: Uptime conducted the survey online from February–April 2023 and collected responses from more than 850 data center owners and operators and nearly 700 vendors and consultants.

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The Share of Enterprise Workloads Run in On-Premise Data Centers Falls Below 50% for First Time

As more organizations opt for a hybrid approach to IT, the share of enterprise workloads that are run in corporate, on-premises facilities has fallen to below half for the first time and is expected to shrink further, according to the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023.

"Our data shows operators grappling with several issues," said Andy Lawrence, Executive Director, Uptime Intelligence. "In 2023, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have receded, but other challenges have emerged. Digital infrastructure managers are now most concerned with improving energy performance and dealing with staffing shortfalls, while Government regulations aimed at improving data center sustainability and visibility are beginning to require attention, investment, and action."

Key findings from the report include:

■ Enterprise operators say data security is the biggest impediment to moving mission-critical workloads to the public cloud. Resiliency and transparency are lesser concerns.

■ Most operators believe acceptance of the use of artificial intelligence will grow in data centers, but operators are distrustful of its ability to make reliable operational decisions.

■ More than half (55%) of operators reported they have had an outage at their site in the past three years, the lowest number yet recorded. This continues a trend of steady improvement.

■ Power outages continue to be cited as the single biggest cause of outages.

■ Nearly two-thirds of operators have problems recruiting or retaining staff – however, this figure is not currently growing. The largest skill gaps are in operations, mechanical and electrical roles.

Methodology: Uptime conducted the survey online from February–April 2023 and collected responses from more than 850 data center owners and operators and nearly 700 vendors and consultants.

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Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

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