Is higher security a benefit of database migration to the cloud?

MariaDB announced key findings from its survey that shows no one’s staying behind as businesses move forward with database migration to the cloud.

Those surveyed included IT Heads, DBAs and software developers, all of whom had some responsibility for the selection and management of databases—and all said their business’ cloud database migration was in place, in progress or planned.

In fact, 61% of respondents surveyed claimed they were either already fully migrated or working to complete their full database migration to the cloud. More than a third, 36%, were partially migrated or working on a partial migration, with the remainder still planning their migration.

Key cloud benefits of Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) for cloud migration

When it came to the organizational benefits and business advantage of DBaaS, large majorities of survey respondents shared similar views:

• 93% agreed that storing data across their organization in a single database helps with standardizing security protocols—notable since 85% of respondents use two or more databases
• 88% agreed DBaaS would help their organization save money
• 87% agreed that using DBaaS would help bridge the cloud skills gap

“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,” said Franz Aman, CMO of MariaDB. “SkySQL is capable of scaling to millions of transactions per second with ease, saving customers up to 90% of their legacy database cost.”

Some stark differences of opinion emerge based on respondent’s job

Interestingly, respondents had starkly different views about security as a benefit—with 58% of IT Heads, including CTOs and CIOs, naming higher security as a benefit of migration, but only 22% of DBAs and 26% of developers agreeing with that.

Among 61% of companies who have completed or are working towards a full cloud migration in the next two years, 79% are planning to increase their investment in database management and operations. Respondents explained what’s most often driving investment, citing multiple reasons:

• 45% cite increased data storage and processing needs
• 43% cite increased demand for data analytics
• 42% cite support for multiple different workloads

Again here, a role-based difference emerged. Among the 43% who cited an increased demand for data analytics as a driver of investment, 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 – 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 developers.

Realities of DBaaS and open source draw consensus

Drilling down into other realities of the DBaaS in the context of cloud migration, sentiments were clear on the necessity of multicloud and the difficulty of managing ever-expanding volumes of data:

• 90% agreed it’s essential to choose a database vendor who supports multicloud capabilities
• 80% agreed that the data explosion makes having a powerful database more important than ever
• 75% agreed that their organization generates loads of data but fails to use it to the fullest advantage

Contemplating open source databases, respondents expressed an open attitude in general:

• 90% agreed that they would be interested in using an open source database to reduce costs
• 83% agreed that they would be willing to use an open source database for a mission-critical project
• 74% agreed that it’s frustrating when they can’t access the source code of their database