New Zealand & Australian businesses need to embrace cloud-based solutions

New Zealand - Australian businesses need to embrace cloud-based solutions, according to Accenture.

Based on new research by Accenture, more than 70% of Fortune 500 companies run critical applications on mainframes, despite the significant business and IT challenges that they present.

High running costs, performance, security, and compliance issues relating to mainframes are driving companies to consider reducing their dependence on mainframes and shifting to cloud vendors, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Nick Mulcahy, head of technology for New Zealand at Accenture, says that mainframe modernisation is increasing in Australia and New Zealand, but it needs to happen more quickly.

"Our survey of IT executives in Australia and New Zealand found 60% are actively transitioning to cloud-based solutions and another 33% are considering it," he says.

Mulcahy says there is widespread acknowledgement of the benefit of cloud solutions.

"From improving a company's sustainability goals to creating agility and resilience for cyber security, there are strong imperatives to transition at least some applications to the cloud," he says.

"We have seen RealMe, the Department of Internal Affairs identity verification service, move to Microsoft Azure late last year. This future proofed the service and demonstrated that large organisations can trust the cloud to store information securely," Mulcahy says.

"While we are encouraged by the uptake of mainframe modernisation in Australia and New Zealand, we would like to see more public and private sector organisations follow the lead of the RealMe service," he says.

According to Mulcahy, only 16% of respondents in Australia and New Zealand surveyed by Accenture have completed or have nearly completed their transition to cloud-based solutions.

"Those that do not start soon may find themselves lagging as they continue to struggle with legacy issues associated with mainframes," he says.

"Kiwi businesses need to make changes now if their goal is to shift away from mainframes in the next five years, particularly those industries such as healthcare, insurance and government which tend to rely on them.

"These solutions take time to implement and require buy-in from the top down as we look toward a new year, there is no time like the present to review your current infrastructure and understand how technology could help business create better solutions."

At the end of 2021, Accenture was been named a leader in the latest IDC MarketScape, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) Managed Cloud Services 2021 vendor assessment.

The report said Accenture has an unmatched focus on automation, not only in operations life cycles, such as intelligent monitoring, ticket automation, service management, and knowledge management, but also across the entire software delivery life cycle.

The report also noted that Accenture approaches cloud as a digital transformation lever, creating a foundation for rapid experimentation, innovation, and new business models.