INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud

The research , entitled The Multi-Cloud Maturity Index , was conducted among almost 3,000 business and IT decision-makers across EMEA and reveals that nearly half ( 47 %) strongly agree that using multiple clouds will enable them to maximise their data to innovate – while addressing critical issues such as national and sector data sovereignty . In fact , data sovereignty is highlighted as one of the key challenges facing organisations – with 95 % admitting it ’ s a concern .

The ambition to realise more value from data , however , comes with additional challenges . Security ( 35 %), skills ( 35 %), difficulty stitching different cloud environments together ( 31 %) and siloed access to data ( 27 %) remain key obstacles .

Organisations must also improve the control they have over their operational and cloud expenses , with 76 % and 74 % respectively agreeing this is a concern if data is to drive genuine business value .

“ The reliance on data to fuel innovation and drive competitive advantage is now the backbone of the digital business ,” said Joe Baguley , VP and CTO VMware EMEA . “ Being cloud smart – the ability to choose the right type of cloud for the right data , including highly sensitive information that needs to remain within national borders – is becoming the de facto business model for organisations looking to drive advantage from their data .

“ Organisations that are fully exploiting the competitive advantages of using multiple clouds to manage data are seeing benefits across the business . To achieve success , however , they must be able to take control of where their data resides – without compromising security , compliance or sovereignty and the choice of providers to manage it .”

“ Our Digital Retail Strategy 2026 is built on a ‘ data-centric , digital-first ’ approach ,” said Damien Cazenave , CTO and CISO Carrefour France . “ Data and the cloud it runs on , are at the heart of all our operations and our value creation model . This digitisation will improve the customer experience with greater personalisation , increase operational efficiency at headquarters as well as in stores and have a positive effect on the group ’ s revenue .”

There is agreement ( 86 % of respondents ) that the benefits of multi-cloud – the ability to use and manage different types of private , public , Edge and sovereign clouds – outweigh the challenges . Almost half ( 46 %) believe multi-cloud use has had a very positive impact on revenue growth , while 46 % also believe it has had a very positive impact on profitability . In fact , only 4 % believe multi-cloud is not critical to business success .

And this is even better news for organisations across Europe , where the data economy ’ s impact on GDP in the European Union and UK is expected to grow to 4.2 % from 2.6 % by 2025 , according to the European Commission . p

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