Hybrid multicloud infrastructure provides agility to adapt to a crisis

Today, more companies recognize the unquestionable value that cloud can deliver for mission-critical applications — the flexibility to quickly test and implement solutions. The shift was inevitable, but challenges like the current pandemic are accelerating the change. An open hybrid multicloud platform provides the level of agility needed today, as well as the operational gains for the future.

Many organizations now realize that there’s more risk to holding back on cloud than to actually making the move. The shift to public cloud and cloud-native predicted to occur over the next decade or two may now take place over the next two or three years.

Remote working is no longer a complementary support strategy. Telecommuting is mainstream, and organizations with cloud services and infrastructure have experienced a relatively seamless transition to this new way of working.

Additionally, these enterprises are able to continually re-examine workflows and identify opportunities to implement collaborative tools, reimagine processes to meet customers’ urgent needs and automate workflows for efficiency and speed. The resulting changes can positively impact an organization’s bottom line.

Leading by example: GEICO

As the second largest auto insurer in the United States, GEICO has a mission to offer the most affordable automobile insurance product while providing outstanding customer service. At THINK 2020, GEICO Director of Cloud Products and Services Fikri Larguet talked about the company’s move to cloud.

“If I look back on our cloud journey, it started with the quick realization that in order to achieve agility, availability and innovation, we could not continue investing in the management and operation of our own data centers,” said Larguet. “The need for scale and continued expansion of our infrastructure footprint dictated that we move to a more consumable and intelligent cloud model. This move has allowed GEICO to focus on competitive advantage, which is essentially the business of developing great insurance products.”

GEICO has moved significant portions of its workloads to various public clouds in recent years. By focusing on building self-service capabilities for its DevOps teams, the company is harnessing the power of open standards to maximize reuse and efficiency.

“To put it simply, cloud adoption has offered GEICO the possibility to transform our business in delivering product and services faster and meeting our customers’ demand for an effortless and secure experience when engaging with us,” said Larguet.

When asked how COVID-19 has impacted GEICO’s move to cloud, Larguet’s perspective was clear. “This crisis only reinforced and validated GEICO’s cloud strategy,” he said. “It was interesting to note that those companies that have navigated this crisis successfully were the ones that achieved a solid maturity in their cloud presence and invested in growing a team with strong cloud expertise. GEICO was up for the challenge.”

Source: ibm.com