More Than Half of Enterprises Confirm Cloud is Essential to Balance IT Spending, Couchbase Research Finds

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – June 21, 2023 – Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE), the cloud database platform company, today released research showing that 58% of enterprises are revising how they split their budget between CapEx and OpEx due to the economic climate, with 54% saying that the cloud is essential to balance IT spending. The majority of enterprises believe that further movement to the cloud is inevitable, with 44% actively looking for ways to reduce and/or control cloud spend. 

A global survey of 600 senior IT decision-makers found that factors such as vendor lock-in; a lack of transparency in cloud spending and costs; and inflexible management tools added 29% to enterprise cloud costs in 2022. Additionally, the survey found that on average enterprises spent $28.91 million on cloud services, resulting in an overspend of approximately $6.5 million. This indicates that flexible technologies that are transparently priced and cost-effective are best positioned to give enterprises a viable path to the cloud while driving business efficiency.

“Cloud is an essential component of the modern technology stack, offering enterprises the scalability, reliability and agility they need,” said Rahul Pradhan, VP of product and strategy at Couchbase. “More than ever, service providers need to deliver highly secure and scalable solutions, alongside flexible deployment options that deliver the right price-performance ratio for businesses. This approach gives customers agility and control over their cloud choices, helping them get the most out of their resources, freeing them to concentrate on driving and accelerating their business.”

Given that some organizations experience challenges with on-premises architecture, including employee training and infrastructure cost management, 53% are moving their spending from CapEx to OpEx, with an average 25% of their CapEx spend switching. Furthermore, by 2026, enterprises are planning for 31% of their total IT spend to be in the public cloud — and are 31% of the way to reaching this goal already. 

Cloud Evolves Role of IT in the Business and Drives Adoption of Self-serve and Low/No-code Technology 

Respondents see IT becoming more consultative, helping other departments make the right IT decisions while minimizing risk. Key insights include:

• 85% have either begun changing IT’s role to do this, or plan to do so in the next 12 months 
• 88% have either begun using or plan to use low-code and no-code technologies to help other business units develop applications with minimal input from IT
• 88% are taking a similar approach with serverless computing so other departments can directly purchase their own cloud services
• 90% are providing or will provide training for other departments in order to use cloud services more effectively

This does not mean IT will abandon responsibility — only 14% of organizations are using the cloud to drive innovation and new services without IT’s involvement. But it does mean that the skills IT teams need will evolve, with pure technical skills matched by interpersonal, managerial and educational skills to teach the business. 

“The cloud is at the heart of the evolution of IT into a more consultative role, which is becoming even more important with the rising wave of AI-driven applications,” continued Pradhan. “For instance, IT and developer teams can offload database management duties thanks to fully managed cloud services, but in turn they will need to educate and advise other departments on how to use cloud technologies effectively, responsibly and safely — from developing simple applications, to choosing cloud services in a way that doesn’t lead to cost overruns or increase risk. Cloud usage and therefore costs will continue to rise to keep pace with innovation. It’s up to enterprises to invest wisely in tools that will lead to more efficient operations. Modern tools that are both cost-effective and flexible will enable organizations to gain meaningful ROI on cloud technologies.” 

For more information on Couchbase’s cloud research, visit here.