Respondents to a HashiCorp-Forrester report said they were overspending in the cloud due to a combination of factors such as underused and overprovisioned resources, and lack of skills. Credit: Seagate Technology A vast majority of enterprises surveyed globally are overspending in the cloud, according to a new HashiCorp-Forrester report. In a survey that saw participation of over 1,000 IT decision makers across North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific, 94% of respondents said their organizations had notable, avoidable cloud expenses due to a combination of factors including underused and overprovisioned resources, and lack of skills to utilize cloud infrastructure. Underused resources were among the top reasons for overspending, the report showed, with more than 66% of respondents listing it, followed by 59% and 47% of respondents claiming that overprovisioned resources and lack of needed skills, respectively, caused the wastage. Another 37% of respondents also listed manual containerization as a contributor to overspending in the cloud. Nearly 60% of respondents said they are already using multicloud infrastructures, with an additional 21% saying they will be moving to such an architecture within the next 12 months. The report showed that a majority of enterprises surveyed were already using multicloud infrastructures. Multicloud infrastructure works for most enterprises Further, the report said that 90% of respondents claimed a multicloud strategy is working for their enterprises. This contrasts with just 53% of respondents in last year’s survey claiming that such a strategy was working for them. Reliability was the major driver of multicloud adoption this year, with 46% of respondents citing it as the top reason for adopting the computing architecture. Digital transformation came in second place this year, cited by 43% of respondents as the main driver for the move to multicloud, slipping from first place last year. Other factors driving multicloud adoption this year included scalability, security and governance, and cost reduction. Almost 86% of respondents claimed they are dependent on cloud operations and strategy teams, which perform critical tasks such as standardizing cloud services, creating and sharing best practices and policies, and centralizing cloud security and compliance. Skill shortages were the top barrier to multicloud adoption, with 41% of respondents listing it as the top reason. Some of the other barriers listed by respondents included teams working in silos, compliance, risk management and lack of training. Additionally, almost 99% of respondents said that infrastructure automation is important for multicloud operations as it can provide benefits such as faster, reliable self-service IT infrastructure, better security, and better utilization of cloud resources, along with faster incident response. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said they see security as a key driver for multicloud success, with nearly 88% of respondents claiming they already relied on security automation tools. Another 83% of respondents said they already use some form of infrastructure as code and network infrastructure automation, according to the report. Related content news Atos may sell national security activities to French government The troubled IT service provider could net up to $1 billion from the sale, meeting most of its financing needs for the next year. By Peter Sayer Apr 29, 2024 4 mins Government IT Government Managed IT Services feature Top 10 barriers to strategic IT success Data challenges, tech debt, and talent shortages are among the issues that can derail your IT org’s work on high-value initiatives. Here’s how some CIOs are addressing them. By Mary Pratt Apr 29, 2024 12 mins Hiring IT Skills Business IT Alignment news analysis The new CIO mandate: Selling AI to employees Employees surveyed express enthusiasm about AI, but they also worry about the impact on their jobs and want training and guidelines. By Grant Gross Apr 29, 2024 5 mins Staff Management Artificial Intelligence opinion Dump the RFP to reap better outsourcing results The RFP has been the default tool for sourcing bids for too long. Organizations wanting more collaboration — and innovation — from their suppliers should consider a collaborative bidding approach. By Kate Vitasek Apr 29, 2024 6 mins Outsourcing PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe