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A new report from enterprise cloud services provider ServiceNow argues that a tipping point has finally been reached with more than half of enterprises surveyed would use cloud as the default choice for business application rollouts.

52% of the 1,850 senior managers polled across four continents said they now prefer cloud as a platform compared with on-premise data centres, while more than three quarters (77%) of respondents expect to shift to a cloud-first model in the next two years.

The primary reason for this shift, the report argues, is the emergence of DevOps. 94% of respondents said they were involved with the DevOps movement in some way, while three quarters (76%) admitted it was a major factor driving the move to cloud-first operations. 88% of those polled said that cloud could replace a formal IT department “at least some of the time.”

Just under three quarters of those polled (72%) said IT’s relevancy is on the rise following a cloud-first reorganisation, while 68% said IT will be ‘completely essential’ in the future. Ultimately, ServiceNow argues, the role of IT will have to shift from ‘builder’ to ‘broker’ to succeed in the cloud-first environment.

“Amidst the cloud-first shift, there are ominous signs for IT if there’s no change,” said Dave Wright, chief strategy officer at ServiceNow. “We believe this presents a real opportunity for those visionary IT organisations who can become strategic partners to the enterprise during this shift to cloud-first.”

Not all the findings were rosy, however, with almost nine in 10 (89%) companies polled who had shifted to a cloud-first model saying their current IT staff lacked the required skill sets to be successful. Achieving 360 degree visibility for the business (64%) was named as the biggest priority going forward.