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 brandpost Sponsored by Dell Technologies and Intel® The impact of AI on edge computing AI at the edge offers real-time responsiveness, privacy compliance, and cost efficiency. Where are you on your edge journey? By Pratyakcha Upadhyay Consultant, Product Management, Dell Technologies Apr 30, 2024 6 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Rockwell Automation 6 steps the manufacturer of Arm & Hammer and OxiClean took to harden OT cybersecurity Church & Dwight turned to Rockwell Automation to help the maker of well-known personal and household care products reduce the risk of manufacturing interruptions. By Maro Eremyan Apr 30, 2024 4 mins Security news AI is set to transform hiring requirements: Report About 50% of technology leaders in an EY survey said they anticipate a combination of layoffs and hiring in the next six months as a direct result of AI adoption. By Gyana Swain Apr 30, 2024 4 mins Hiring Artificial Intelligence news Tableau further democratizes analytics with AI-fueled features New AI and gen AI additions to Tableau Pulse and Einstein Copilot for Tableau seek to help business users and ‘novice’ data analysts gain expert insights with ease. By Thor Olavsrud Apr 30, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Business Intelligence Data Visualization 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