When the Crisis Accelerates Cloud Adoption

It’s the fourth edition of your cloud-focused event. This year’s central theme is crisis as an opportunity for the cloud. Why this choice?

Let’s be clear: the cloud is not a miracle solution for all problems! During the health crisis, however, we observed an acceleration in the adoption of cloud-accessible collaboration tools, such as Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet. As crises continue and businesses face ongoing challenges, we believe that cloud adoption—whether hybrid, private, or public—will continue to grow and accelerate due to its inherent advantages.

You mentioned challenges. What are they?

In these uncertain times, especially with rising energy and salary costs, companies are looking for new approaches.

A few years ago, IT was the first department subject to strict cost control. Today, the world has changed. IT has become the primary driver of digital transformation within a company. It is an essential lever for improving competitiveness.

In HR, one clear challenge lies in talent acquisition and the associated costs, particularly in IT. For mid-sized companies, it is increasingly difficult to find the necessary teams with the right expertise to manage their IT efficiently, reliably, and independently.

Regarding energy, companies need to find ways to monitor and reduce energy costs.

How can private, hybrid, or public cloud help companies navigate these turbulent waters?

By design, the cloud relies on shared platforms, enabling economies of scale. This leads to more efficient energy consumption management and optimization of the skills needed to manage IT resources. These economies of scale inherent to the cloud concept have positive impacts on both energy use and human resources.

These principles are well-known. However, we believe we are at a turning point. Cloud technologies have now reached a high level of maturity. In the current context, they allow companies to focus exclusively on their core mission and value creation, while entrusting technical support aspects—such as IT infrastructure—to expert teams managing shared platforms.

Cloud adoption has often been slowed by concerns over data security. Why is perception changing?

Several factors explain this shift. I would say the change in perception is driven by new strategic challenges.

Today, very few industrial sectors are legally prohibited from moving their IT to the cloud. Past barriers have mostly been lifted. Some remain, of course. Currently, especially in a geopolitical crisis context, there is a certain trend toward ‘sovereign’ cloud solutions. This push for sovereignty should not hinder innovation. On the contrary, we see a real opportunity to innovate through the cloud while ensuring a high level of data sovereignty.

What is a sovereign cloud? Is it a reality in Europe today?

It has become a buzzword, but its meaning must be clear. There are different versions of sovereign cloud. At our cloud event, we will discuss them in detail. Here, I’ll focus on data sovereignty: the ability for an organization to retain full control over its data at all times, to know exactly where it is physically located, and to guarantee it never leaves Luxembourg.

To address these needs, we have operated a sovereign cloud in our data centers since 2010. Managed by our teams, it guarantees that client data remains in Luxembourg. No internal partner or provider can access this platform without our approval and strict oversight. More recently, we enhanced our value proposition with ‘cloud-native’ solutions on top of our sovereign cloud. This platform offers the best of both private and public cloud worlds.

How can the transition to the cloud be facilitated?

This is another crucial question. For public cloud, a simple ‘lift and shift’ approach does not capture all cloud benefits. Migrating to the public cloud requires a thorough strategic reflection to identify which applications can—or must—be moved. Adaptation or even transformation of the application is necessary on a case-by-case basis.

In cloud migration, we offer a comprehensive ‘cloud adoption’ program. It includes multiple workshops covering all key phases of cloud migration, accompanied by a detailed report that serves as a roadmap for the company’s cloud transformation.