Even if the pandemic risk can now be considered a thing of the past, 40% of people continue to work remotely.
But beware, because traditional security models are outdated and present a problem for IT professionals who identify both the risks related to cloud security (51%) and the growing number of employees working remotely (39%) as the main challenges ). And finally: companies continue to adopt the cloud, with 78% of respondents declaring their intention to entrust more than 40% of their data to it by 2025.
Cisco 2023 Global Networking Trends Report
This is the first summary of the Global Networking Trends Report 2023a study produced by Cisco to examine the evolution of network technology and multi-cloud initiatives undertaken by companies of all sizes and industries, and which highlights the different trends and priorities that will impact the future of networking and the role of networks in a successful cloud strategy.
The starting point for the creation of this report is the consideration that the last two and a half years have brought about an enormous change in the world. And so after having faced a global pandemic, a geopolitical conflict, economic uncertainty and an increasingly hybrid and multicloud world, companies today are asking which way forward is.
To thrive and survive, they’ve had to change the way they do business and in doing so, cloud adoption has accelerated and the role of the network has changed.
Here are the main points of the Cisco Global Networking Trends Report 2023:
1. The emergence of hybrid ways of working has created the need for new approaches to guarantee employees who work remotely, secure connections to data and corporate resources distributed in hybrid and multicloud environments.
- While people are returning to the office, over 40% continue to work remotely, full-time or some days of the week.
- Traditional security models are now obsolete, posing a problem for IT professionals who identify cloud security risks (51%) and the growing number of employees working remotely (39%) as their main challenges.
2. The transition to cloud and multicloud is accelerating. If business agility is the issue, many are selling the answer in the cloud.
- Enterprise adoption of the cloud continues, with 78% of respondents stating plans to host more than 40% of their data in the cloud by 2025, up from 63% currently.
- Multicloud adoption is also growing with 42% of respondents citing more agile and scalable application development as the primary reason for using multiple clouds.
3. Secure access to cloud applications is the top networking challenge of 2023. End-to-end visibility along the digital services delivery chain (for example, between user and cloud) to ensure a consistent application experience is also a top concern for enterprise IT professionals.
- Providing secure access to applications that can reside on premises and at the same time be distributed in different clouds is the main challenge according to 41% of respondents.
- Because network traffic originates and ends outside the corporate network, having end-to-end visibility into network performance and security is critical according to 37% of respondents.
“Remote and hybrid work are here to stay,” explains Fabrizio Gergely, Architecture Sales Leader of Cisco Italy. “Adoption of multiple clouds is accelerating but providing secure and consistent connections to highly distributed employees, devices and applications continues to be a challenge due to the ever-expanding threat landscape and the complexity of tools and processes available to teams who deal with networking, cloud and security. By themselves, they cannot ensure secure connections or deliver the digital experiences and agility businesses need to compete. Most IT leaders know this and are testing innovative operating models to meet these evolving needs. What clearly emerges from the report – Gergely adds – are the benefits deriving from the transition to a SASE architecture, a statement confirmed by almost half of the interviewees who plan to implement it within two years to connect branches and remote customers. SASE is in fact able to guarantee a simplified and more secure IT experience in connecting cloud applications to employees and distributed customers. Additionally, a cloud-centric SASE model harnesses the power of data to deliver capabilities such as end-to-end visibility and predictive analytics, which are critical to ensuring a consistent user experience.”
To download the full report Click here.