Maximize business outcomes and scale AI adoption through a hybrid design approach.

For established enterprises, the debate has been resolved that a hybrid cloud approach is the right strategic choice.

But while embracing hybrid cloud may be essential, customers are continually striving to derive business value and higher return on investment (ROI) from their investments. According to a study conducted by HFS Research in partnership with IBM Consulting®, only 25% of companies surveyed reported a solid ROI on the business outcomes of their cloud transformation efforts.

The lack of ROI progress can be attributed to a number of factors, including slow adoption, unrealized use cases, and unresolved cloud proliferation. This is further exacerbated by the explosion of platform expansion, technology, cybersecurity and data volumes.

Companies looking to drive value in business outcomes through cloud investments and leverage the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) must adopt an intentional approach.

IBM provides clear guidance to address these challenges and achieve better business outcomes. Adopting a design-based hybrid strategy allows organizations to align their architectural choices with business priorities across technology, platforms, processes, and people, significantly improving outcomes and increasing ROI.

IBM’s latest paper, titled “Maximizing the Value of Hybrid Cloud in the Era of Generative AI,” provides clarity for enterprises looking to optimize their hybrid cloud architecture and amplify the impact of generative AI (gen AI).

What does a hybrid design approach involve?

Many organizations seek immediate benefits by adopting cloud in isolated areas, but have not applied the technology consistently across their operations. This complexity and inconsistency increases costs and prevents businesses from meeting their needs, goals, and outcomes. We see this as the basic approach that characterizes most companies today.

Companies must realign their innovation programs to align more closely with business imperatives and outcomes. They also need to recognize how Gen AI can amplify the value of hybrid cloud and accelerate digital transformation.

A hybrid design approach intentionally configures hybrid, multicloud IT assets to achieve key business priorities and maximize ROI. Organizations can move from technology that dictates business constraints to an architecture that is purposefully built for an evolving technology environment, new business and customer demands, and new process and technology requirements. Through intentional and consistent architectural decisions based on an organization’s key business goals, organizations can take full advantage of hybrid cloud and Gen AI to drive business performance.

IBM has fostered Hybrid by Design by creating a structured framework to help clients strategically focus on the decisions that deliver the greatest results for their business. This framework easily translates business priorities into key architectural decisions.

We implement this framework by aligning business goals with a series of decision points across three areas: Product Fundamentals by Design, Technology by Design, and Integration by Design. These areas also include various design points. Each enterprise context requires different levels of capabilities to address and achieve business goals. This value framework helps capture these decision points.

Why is this important for businesses in an AI-driven world?

Gen AI plays a critical role in shaping the digital enterprise and helps maximize business return on IT investments. However, widespread adoption and deployment of Gen AI poses challenges. Enterprises must manage massive amounts of data, significant computing power, advanced security architectures, and ensure rapid scalability across distributed environments.

Intentional and consistent hybrid architecture design can help enterprises overcome these challenges and drive successful adoption and scalability of Gen AI capabilities to meet business needs.

Current pilots and deployments demonstrate that a hybrid design approach is needed to scale Gen AI adoption to meet business needs. Gen AI accelerates the execution and value of your hybrid cloud by delivering enhanced automation with observability, improved cost optimization through automated insights, and enhanced security through compliance across hybrid platforms.

Applying intentional architectural decisions based on business requirements can amplify the value of hybrid cloud and AI to improve business outcomes.

Want to know more? Connect with IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI team.

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