The Virtual Enterprise: The imperative of open, secure hybrid cloud and networks

Organizations that choose to evolve toward becoming Virtual Enterprises will need to develop deep cloud capabilities. From ecosystems to Intelligent Workflows, the fundamental building blocks of the Virtual Enterprise rely on open, secure hybrid cloud technology.

Cloud is not simple infrastructure. Unlike roads, railways, and airports, cloud should not be approached as a one-time, single-purpose capital expense. It’s insufficient to approach “cloud adoption” as an event that swaps parts of an old system (the data center and conventional IT management) with a plug-and-play new system.

The bigger game today is about getting radically better at designing, developing, and operating software. Leaders across industries are fast becoming software ecosystem companies on the inside, while remaining banks or healthcare or industrial companies on the outside. Leaders understand cloud, applications, data, and networks as core elements of a software-driven enterprise.

The openness of the Virtual Enterprise needs to be enabled by open, secure hybrid multicloud technology architectures.

There’s no way to build an Intelligent Workflow that crosses organizational boundaries with just a private cloud or a public cloud; only hybrid cloud provides the integration and orchestration required.

Once viewed as increasing risk, the adoption of cloud brings new opportunities to create a more secure and open digital environment at scale. Cybersecurity and cloud-based digital capabilities complement each other in support of sustainable performance, end-user trust, and reduced exposure to disruption.

Hybrid cloud supports levels of openness and collaboration far beyond what was possible in the past. Coupled with digital and business transformation, that can generate unprecedented strategic and financial benefits for an organization.

Open secure hybrid cloud and networks are foundational to the Virtual Enterprise

What differentiates cloud leaders

What does cloud leadership look like? Leading organizations have a broad and shared vision of the role cloud plays in the Virtual Enterprise. They recognize that hybrid cloud architecture is critical to an Intelligent Workflow. And they understand that applications and data may be running on and through any number of private or public clouds and even via a conventional on-premises data center.

The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) analyzed the traits of technology leaders through a wide series of studies and across industries and functions. Increasingly, these organizations prioritize the need to pivot seamlessly between virtual and analog worlds. They operate beyond traditional organizational boundaries, looking to take advantage of the possibilities offered by new technology through an increased engagement with business platforms and ecosystem partnerships. They prioritize open strategies.

We found that successful leadership depends on 4 priorities:

Adoption: Technology adopters had on average a 6 percentage-point revenue growth premium over their peers across 12 industries during the pandemic.

Integration: Integrating multiple cloud environments fuels performance, with hybrid cloud investments generating 2.5 times greater business value than a single cloud platform approach.

Transformation: The revenue impact of cloud investments can be amplified up to 13 times when orchestrated as an end-to-end reinvention of the enterprise. And the more that hybrid and multicloud are tightly coupled with enterprise transformation, the greater the revenue impact of all technology investments to the business.

Commitment: 92% of the revenue potential from cloud is expected to be generated through its interaction with other transformation capabilities.

In the emerging Virtual Enterprise, the democratization of data and the dramatically increased intelligence and insight brought about by open hybrid technology and architecture promise to redefine the economics of business. The Virtual Enterprise embodies the traits necessary for cloud leadership, building a foundation around 3 key concepts:

• Openness
• Continuous modernization
• Culture and productivity

Download the full report to see how open, secure hybrid cloud and networks drive virtual excellence and deliver business value in a rapidly evolving landscape.