Enterprises in the UK have accelerated their adoption of hybrid IT solutions and services to prepare for the long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report published today by Information Services Group (ISG)
The 2021 ISG Provider Lens Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud – Data Centre Services & Solutions report for the UK found companies were implementing hybrid IT solutions and IT operations led by artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise IT assets costs productivity and capacity and reduce short-term risks.
This trend is part of an ongoing expansion of outsourcing in the UK, ISG says.
ISG EMEA president Steve Hall said: “UK enterprises are turning to IT outsourcing to maximise both growth and productivity for a transformed post-pandemic economy. As a result, companies have started re-evaluating the balance between the IT resources they keep in-house and those they seek from partners.”
The impact of COVID-19 has put more pressure on CIOs and chief technology officers to deliver digital transformation and cost reduction, reversing a moderate drop in IT outsourcing deals across verticals in the UK over the last five years.
The report says cost optimisation is the main reason UK companies use outsourcing, according to ISG. Business transformation and higher service quality are the following most significant factors.
In the wake of the pandemic, companies in the travel, hospitality and retail sectors are forming new outsourcing partnerships and renewing existing deals to cut costs, the report says.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical, technology, utility and other enterprises continue to invest in digital capabilities and cloud, network and data operations to support artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Enterprises migrating to hybrid clouds can face significant challenges, beginning with integrating current and legacy systems, the report says. Other concerns may include security, privacy, governance and internal management of cloud providers and solutions. In addition, in some companies, a shortage of knowledge and skills holds up implementation of hybrid IT services, leading the organisation to look outside for help in revamping the business and IT operations.
Many UK companies have implemented software-defined data centres and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) in the past few years, often using HCI for mission-critical applications, particularly those developed with container services for cloud-native applications ISG finds. In addition, more enterprises now rely on colocation centres as an extension of their business and as a less expensive alternative to in-house facilities. As a result, the UK has the most extensive and fastest-growing colocation market in Europe, dominated by sites owned by hyperscale providers such as Google Cloud, AWS and Microsoft, and it is expected to grow by double digits over the next three years.
The report names BT as a Leader in four quadrants and Ensono, Fujitsu and Rackspace Technology as Leaders in three quadrants. Atos, Claranet, IBM and T-Systems are named as Leaders in two quadrants each. The report names Accenture, CANCOM, Capgemini, Computacenter, Digital Realty, DXC Technology, Equinix, Global Switch, HCL, Hexaware, TCS, Telehouse, Unisys, Vodafone and Wipro as Leaders in one quadrant each.
In addition, CANCOM, Cognizant, Infosys, Lumen, Mindtree, Rackspace Technology and Sungard AS are named Rising Stars—companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in one quadrant each.
