Nearly all organizations are at least on the path toward a cloud database migration, but IT leaders and database administrators disagree on the importance security and analytics, according to new research from MariaDB Corporation.
The company’s 2021 Cloud Database Trends Survey of over 120 IT professionals found that 61% of organizations are either fully migrated or are working to complete their full database migration to the cloud, while 36% are either partially migrated or are working on a partial migration.
The remainder, just 3%, are still planning their migration.
According to the survey, 93% agree that storing data cross their organization in a single database helps with standardizing security protocols, especially since 85% of respondents use at least two databases.
Nearly 9 in 10 (88%) say database-as-a-service offerings would help their organization save money, and 87% said such a model can help bridge the cloud skills gap within their organization.
When it comes to the security benefits of a cloud database migration, IT leaders are more likely to name security as a benefit, with 58% of such professionals agreeing. However, just 22% of database admins (DBAs) and 26% of developers agree.
Other disconnects between IT leaders and workers exist when it comes to cloud database migrations, the survey suggests, as 79% of companies who are completing their cloud migration are planning to increase investment in database management and operations, citing increasing needs (45%), demand for analytics (43%) and support for multiple workloads (42%).
However, IT leaders are more likely to cite demand for data analytics than DBAs or developers, as 55% of IT Heads saw higher demand for analytics as key, but only 37% of DBAs and 29% of developers felt that way.
While 52% of IT Heads, including CTOs and CIOs, said database automation will give vendors an advantage, the figure dropped to 35% of DBAs and 26% of developers. A similar divide existed for flexibility and elasticity, with 52% of IT Heads naming those, but only 28% of DBAs and 23% of developers, respectively. Finally, with customer support, the same kind of tension existed: 58% of IT Heads said it yielded a vendor advantage versus 22% of DBAs and 26% of developer, the company found.
The survey also reaffirmed the importance of multicloud as 90% of respondents said they would choose a vendor with multicloud capabilities.
The survey also revealed some concerns among IT professionals when it comes to cloud migration and DBaaS, as 67% of respondents reported challenges in moving to a cloud database.
According to the survey, the biggest challenges cited include:
- 34% – the need for restructuring of apps and databases to make the cloud model work
- 30% – lack of internal skills with cloud-based technologies
- 30% – a delay in cloud migration due to business concerns
- 27% – security concerns
- 25% – incompatible legacy IT setup
- 23% – unforeseen problems once migration started
Among data-specific challenges were data and cybersecurity (43%), increasing volumes of data (37%) and a lack of skilled data professionals (33%).
In a statement, Maria DB Corporation CMO Frank Aman, pointed to the company’s SkySQL DBaaS offering.
“As companies across all verticals face ongoing customer experience, cost and security challenges, there’s no question that an easy-to-use, always available, scalable cloud database is an important part of a strategic technical solution,” Aman said.
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