Hybrid IT strategy involves using a combination of in-house IT and cloud services. The majority of organizations (73 percent) across healthcare, financial services, retail and more agree this type of strategy is necessary to remain competitive, according to a Sungard Availability Services survey.
Here are four key points from the survey.
1. The majority of the survey respondents (94 percent) reported positive business impact, despite the fact 50 percent reported costs remained the same or increased.
2. Hybrid IT costs will vary widely, depending on the organization and industry. More than half of organizations responding to the survey saw costs increase at an average of $291,000 per year after implementing a hybrid IT strategy.
3. Nearly half of respondents (49 percent) said they use a hybrid strategy because of critical legacy applications that must be kept running. The second most common reason for turning to a hybrid strategy was mergers and acquisition activity that resulted in working with multiple IT systems.
4. Though the hybrid strategy may be popular and effective, the survey's respondents expressed concern their teams don't have the necessary skills to successfully carry it out; 89 percent said their team lacks at least one skill necessary to executive the strategy.