A new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has identified a select group of organizations that treat cloud as a new operating model to continuously reinvent their businesses using innovative, multi-cloud capabilities \u2014 across public, private and edge \u2014 realize greater business value, well beyond cost savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on a survey of nearly 4,000 C-suite executives at both private- and public-sector organizations globally, the report, titled \u201cEver-ready for Every Opportunity: How to Unleash Competitiveness on the Cloud Continuum<\/a>,\u201d explains why looking at cloud as a one-time migration to a static destination \u2014 essentially as a cheaper, more-efficient data center \u2014 is limiting. In fact, a narrow focus on cost savings can actually put organizations at a competitive disadvantage compared to those using cloud more strategically across its many dynamic forms, including public, private and edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost organizations today deploy some mix of public, private and edge clouds, with little integration between them,\u201d said Karthik Narain, global lead of Accenture Cloud First. \u201cAs a result, innovation, data and best practices achieved in one part of the organization aren\u2019t benefitting others \u2014 thereby impeding value realization. However, a small percentage of organizations are positioning themselves to reap the greatest value from the cloud by viewing cloud as a continuum of technologies that spans different locations and types of ownership, dynamically supported by cloud-first 5G and software-defined networks to support the ever-changing needs of their business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report reveals that while organizations plan to migrate more than two-thirds of their workloads to cloud, on average, over the next three to five years, only half are using the full potential of cloud in its various forms to transform their day-to-day business operations, carry out knowledge work and modernize applications to meet business needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accenture defines the organizations leading the way in cloud as \u201cContinuum Competitors.\u201d These organizations \u2014 about 12-15% of respondents, depending on region \u2014 stand out by extending the experience they gained from public cloud to their private data centers and edge locations to transform daily business operations. As a result, they achieve substantial gains from their continued cloud engagement and outperform competitors. Continuum Competitors are also much better positioned to withstand future shocks, according to the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n