The State of CloudOps 2023

Only 33% of executives are "very confident" in their ability to operate in a public cloud environment, according to the 2023 State of CloudOps report from NetApp.

This represents an increase from 2022 when only 21% reported feeling very confident.


"Cloud operations is critical to realizing the benefits of cloud for infrastructure and applications," said Haiyan Song, EVP and GM, CloudOps at NetApp. "This research demonstrates that although organizations face challenges in their cloud operations, they also recognize the importance of investments in areas including automation and FinOps to overcome those challenges."

Key findings from the report include:

Cloud operations remain a struggle for IT teams

64% of IT decision makers continue to see security and compliance as the top cloud operations challenge, followed by cost management, which was cited as the top challenge by 60% of respondents.

The biggest areas of focus for improving cloud operations continue to be cost management and security, according to 66% of technology executives.

Automation is the key to success in cloud operations

The survey reveals that 82% of respondents believe that cloud automation is critical for optimizing cloud operations and ROI.

95% of respondents have already incorporated some automation in their cloud operations and 88% plan to increase cloud operations automation in 2023.

Enterprise teams are embracing FinOps

Despite a majority of tech executives (96%) agreeing that FinOps is important to their cloud strategy, only 9% have a mature FinOps practice. These numbers remain fairly consistent with findings from the 2022 survey.

The biggest FinOps challenges include reducing cloud costs (50%) and forecasting cloud spend (47%). Only 19% of respondents reported that they have been able to make the most of discounted cloud purchase options.

"Spot by NetApp's 2023 State of CloudOps report is interesting because it shows that cloud cost management is not just a standalone process, but one that is inextricably linked with resource management, compliance, and security", said Hyoun Park, Chief Analyst at Amalgam Insights. "One cannot simply look at cloud costs in a vacuum without advocating for holistic cloud management. As companies seek to manage cloud costs, the sheer volume and variety of cloud cost service components leads companies to automate as they fully optimize and rationalize cloud resources to match business needs."

Methodology: The 2023 State of CloudOps report, sponsored by Spot by NetApp and conducted by Dimensional Research, examines the current state of CloudOps for large enterprise teams, primarily focusing on operational activities, staffing and expertise, automation, and FinOps. This report is based on an online survey of 310 US-based IT decision makers in operations or applications roles who are responsible for public cloud infrastructure investments at companies with 500 or more employees.

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The State of CloudOps 2023

Only 33% of executives are "very confident" in their ability to operate in a public cloud environment, according to the 2023 State of CloudOps report from NetApp.

This represents an increase from 2022 when only 21% reported feeling very confident.


"Cloud operations is critical to realizing the benefits of cloud for infrastructure and applications," said Haiyan Song, EVP and GM, CloudOps at NetApp. "This research demonstrates that although organizations face challenges in their cloud operations, they also recognize the importance of investments in areas including automation and FinOps to overcome those challenges."

Key findings from the report include:

Cloud operations remain a struggle for IT teams

64% of IT decision makers continue to see security and compliance as the top cloud operations challenge, followed by cost management, which was cited as the top challenge by 60% of respondents.

The biggest areas of focus for improving cloud operations continue to be cost management and security, according to 66% of technology executives.

Automation is the key to success in cloud operations

The survey reveals that 82% of respondents believe that cloud automation is critical for optimizing cloud operations and ROI.

95% of respondents have already incorporated some automation in their cloud operations and 88% plan to increase cloud operations automation in 2023.

Enterprise teams are embracing FinOps

Despite a majority of tech executives (96%) agreeing that FinOps is important to their cloud strategy, only 9% have a mature FinOps practice. These numbers remain fairly consistent with findings from the 2022 survey.

The biggest FinOps challenges include reducing cloud costs (50%) and forecasting cloud spend (47%). Only 19% of respondents reported that they have been able to make the most of discounted cloud purchase options.

"Spot by NetApp's 2023 State of CloudOps report is interesting because it shows that cloud cost management is not just a standalone process, but one that is inextricably linked with resource management, compliance, and security", said Hyoun Park, Chief Analyst at Amalgam Insights. "One cannot simply look at cloud costs in a vacuum without advocating for holistic cloud management. As companies seek to manage cloud costs, the sheer volume and variety of cloud cost service components leads companies to automate as they fully optimize and rationalize cloud resources to match business needs."

Methodology: The 2023 State of CloudOps report, sponsored by Spot by NetApp and conducted by Dimensional Research, examines the current state of CloudOps for large enterprise teams, primarily focusing on operational activities, staffing and expertise, automation, and FinOps. This report is based on an online survey of 310 US-based IT decision makers in operations or applications roles who are responsible for public cloud infrastructure investments at companies with 500 or more employees.

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Why AI Is the Differentiator for Operationally Resilient Organizations

In the world of digital-first business, there is no tolerance for service outages. Businesses know that outages are the quickest way to lose money and customers. For smaller organizations, unplanned downtime could even force the business to close ... A new study from PagerDuty, The State of AI-First Operations, reveals that companies actively incorporating AI into operations now view operational resilience as a growth driver rather than a cost center. But how are they achieving it? ...

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In live financial environments, capital markets software cannot pause for rebuilds. New capabilities are introduced as stacked technology layers to meet evolving demands while systems remain active, data keeps moving, and controls stay intact. AI is no exception, and its opportunities are significant: accelerated decision cycles, compressed manual workflows, and more effective operations across complex environments. The constraint isn't the models themselves, but the architectural environments they enter ...

Closing the Gap in Modern Tech and the Tools Meant to Monitor Them

Like most digital transformation shifts, organizations often prioritize productivity and leave security and observability to keep pace. This usually translates to both the mass implementation of new technology and fragmented monitoring and observability (M&O) tooling. In the era of AI and varied cloud architecture, a disparate observability function can be dangerous. IT teams will lack a complete picture of their IT environment, making it harder to diagnose issues while slowing down mean time to resolve (MTTR). In fact, according to recent data from the SolarWinds State of Monitoring & Observability Report, 77% of IT personnel said the lack of visibility across their on-prem and cloud architecture was an issue ...

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Technology management is evolving, and in turn, so is the scope of FinOps. The FinOps Foundation recently updated their mission statement from "advancing the people who manage the value of cloud" to "advancing the people who manage the value of technology." This seemingly small change solidifies a larger evolution: FinOps practitioners have organically expanded to be focused on more than just cloud cost optimization. Today, FinOps teams are largely — and quickly — expanding their job descriptions, evolving into a critical function for managing the full value of technology ...

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