Enterprises that achieve higher levels of cloud maturity are 3x more likely to reach their cloud goals. These organizations report better results in cost efficiency, performance, and overall satisfaction compared to peers still early in their private cloud journey.
Today we’re introducing our special edition report: “Private Cloud Outlook: The Maturity Advantage.” The findings highlight a pivotal shift in how enterprises approach cloud adoption—and reveal a critical success factor that separates high-performing organizations from the rest.
The Private Cloud Renaissance #
Enterprises are redefining their cloud strategies, placing private cloud at the core of IT modernization. While security, cost control, and data governance remain primary drivers, research shows private cloud is now a foundation for modern workloads, including AI and machine learning initiatives.
What’s most revealing: success isn’t only about technology—it’s about deployment maturity, supported by people and processes.
The Maturity Advantage: Why Leaders Pull Ahead #
When analyzing results by cloud maturity, a clear pattern emerged: mature enterprises achieve significantly stronger outcomes across business impact and operational excellence.
Key findings from the research:
- 59% of mature enterprises are increasing private cloud investment (vs. 38% of developing-stage peers)
- 60% rank private cloud workloads as their #1 IT priority (vs. 41% of peers)
- 90%+ report satisfaction in infrastructure operations, app deployment, security, and compliance (vs. only 50–65% of peers)
These numbers make one thing clear: cloud maturity multiplies results.
Strategic Repatriation: A Growing Trend #
One of the most surprising findings is the workload repatriation trend. Mature enterprises are 3x more likely to move workloads from public cloud back to private cloud, with 50% repatriating modern, cloud-native applications.
This isn’t a failed migration—it’s a strategic decision driven by:
- Rising public cloud costs
- Security and compliance requirements
- Demands of AI and high-performance workloads
Six Dimensions of Cloud Maturity #
Our research uncovered six key dimensions that define cloud maturity progress across people, process, and technology:
- Workload diversity – Running both legacy and cloud-native apps successfully
- Self-service provisioning – Offering tenants catalogs and APIs for provisioning
- Policy-based guardrails – Automating governance for security & compliance
- Cost transparency – Providing chargeback/showback to business units
- Platform model – Moving from siloed teams to platform-oriented operations
- Custom services – Delivering tailored apps and service catalogs
Organizations excelling in these areas consistently report 90%+ satisfaction, compared to much lower levels among those at early maturity stages.
The Path Forward: Maturity Is the Multiplier #
The research delivers a clear message: maturity drives private cloud success. While all organizations see benefits from private cloud adoption, mature enterprises experience outsized gains—from greater confidence in operations to faster innovation at lower risk.
For enterprise leaders, the real question isn’t “Should we invest in private cloud?” but rather:
“How do we accelerate our journey to cloud maturity?”
By focusing on the six dimensions of maturity, IT leaders can transform their private cloud from a cost center into a competitive advantage.
Ready to Assess Your Cloud Maturity? #
The first step is understanding where your organization stands on the maturity spectrum. The leaders in this research didn’t arrive there by chance—they followed a deliberate path of continuous improvement.
👉 Download the full “Private Cloud Outlook: The Maturity Advantage” report to benchmark your progress and build a roadmap for success.