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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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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 Latest

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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Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

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) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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Today, organizations are generating and processing more data than ever before. From training AI models to running complex analytics, massive datasets have become the backbone of innovation. However, as businesses embrace the cloud for its scalability and flexibility, a new challenge arises: managing the soaring costs of storing and processing this data ...