In discussions about where business priorities and technology intersect, CTOs (Chief Technology Officers) are the linchpin. They’re in the room for high-level business discussions, and they understand which technologies can make the difference. This puts them at the forefront of understanding how business priorities fit with cloud computing and where high-level strategy meets tech execution.

For these reasons, the CTO perspective on cloud is a unique and valuable one - worth paying attention to no matter what one's own role in an organization might be. That is why our friends from Atlassian asked more than 300 customers about their migration to Atlassian Cloud - and why we analyze the answers of the top tech leadership in the following article.

Cloud Benefits for CTOs

When asked why their company migrated to cloud, 65% of all respondents in the Atlassian survey answered they wanted to eliminate the costs of hosting and hardware. Another 62% said they wanted to do away with manual upgrades.

Ask CTOs specifically and both of those answers become even more important: 87% said they made the move to eliminate costs and 78% cite manual upgrades as a key reason.

Eliminate the cost of hosting and hardware | Eliminate manual upgrades

That’s a 22% jump in the importance of costs and a 16% leap in the importance of eliminating manual upgrades. This makes a lot of sense. After all, CTOs are typically responsible for the technical efficiency of their companies. In other words: Reducing costs and time are no-brainer goals.

Role of the CTO
A CTO is an executive-level manager whose primary responsibility is to make all decisions related to the technological needs of a company.

The role can vary a lot across industries and different organisation sizes. However, key element is that chief technology officers incorporate their knowledge of both technology and business to provide a company with the most up-to-date and proven solutions to generate value for a company and help it achieve its business objectives.

The second most oft-cited benefit of cloud for CTOs is reducing total cost of ownership. Yet another no-brainer since one of the top challenges facing CTOs is budget constraints.

The third most commonly mentioned benefit on the surveyed CTOs’ radar was improving security. Outside research dovetails with Atlassian’s survey findings, with a strong trend of CTOs outsourcing security to trusted vendors. In addition to moving to cloud, the survey says 40% outsource cyber security and 80% don’t even have an in-house security team.

By the way: A whopping 84% of the survey say the answer is less than six months. That peace of mind, improved security, and lower cost happened fast for the vast majority of respondents.

The great debate: Cloud vs. Server

In the ongoing debate of cloud vs. on-premise, CTOs are coming in strong with a preference for cloud. In fact, the 2020 Global CTO survey found that 85% of CTOs have implemented cloud. And they typically report that the majority of work takes place in the public cloud.

According to Atlassian’s survey, 100% of CTOs said innovation, reliability, compliance, and availability are better or equal in cloud compared to server. And 96% said change management and user management are better or equal.

In other words, a move to the cloud means things like reliability and change management either improve – sometimes vastly – or (at least) stay just as good as Atlassian Server products.

Surveyed CTOs also report high savings across several categories after a move to cloud: 30% say their admins cut time commitments by more than half (freeing up those admins for more strategic work). And 37% said they cut costs by at least 21%.

CTOs are impressed with migration speed

For more than half of the CTOs who answered the Atlassian survey, speed of the migration was a pleasant surprise: 53% said migration was faster than expected (compared to 33% of all respondents) and 42% said it was easier (compared to 40% of all respondents).

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Cloud Migration: One step at a time
For those who haven’t done a migration before, it can look complex – a bit like standing at the bottom of a mountain you’re about to hike. But, as with hiking, sometimes things look bigger and badder than they really are. You keep putting one foot in front of the other and, before you know it, you’re gazing down at those lakes from the peak.

And with the same step-by-step approach we help you with cloud migration. This article on the topic gives you a handy overview where to start your migration journey.

Conclusion

In some cases of the survey, the move to cloud is driven by cost and time considerations. But it’s also likely about innovation. In other words, CTOs are walking the fine line between the practical business goals of saving time and money and the forward-thinking goals of innovating and staying ahead of the competition. The good news: Both those goals align perfectly with a move to the cloud.

Considering making a move to Atlassian Cloud and need more insights?
We’ve got you covered! As Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner, we consult and support companies with their individual requirements for team features, migration complexity and timing when moving to the cloud.
Our services around Atlassian solutions at a glance: scandio.de/atlassian.


*Source of images and graphics used is Atlassian