Hybrid cloud environments are now the dominant architecture in the enterprise, a new IBM study has found.

The popularity of hybrid clouds has emerged as many companies migrate workloads to the cloud while keeping others on-premises. IBM’s study, Tailoring hybrid cloud: Designing the right mix for innovation, efficiency and growth, reveals that 78 percent of enterprises state their cloud initiatives are “coordinated or fully integrated,” compared with just 34 percent of enterprises in 2012. That number rises to 83 percent among what IBM calls “high performing organizations.”

Nonetheless, in a sign that most enterprises are far from ready to go “all-in” on the cloud, the survey found that the vast majority of respondents plan to keep running half of their workloads (45 percent) on-premises.

IBM’s study was based on in-person interviews and surveys of over 1,000 C-suite executives in 18 different industries. Lowering the total cost of ownership was cited as the top reason for adopting a hybrid cloud solution (54 percent of enterprises), followed by facilitating innovation (42 percent), enhancing operational efficiencies (42 percent) and more readily meeting customer expectations (40 percent).

Marie Wieck, general manager of cloud integration at IBM, said the study shows that enterprises are switching to hybrid cloud models faster than anyone had predicted, in order to drive business innovation, support digital transformation and fuel new growth.

“As clients continue to reap the benefits of integrating their on-premises infrastructure with the cloud, we see them increasing their investments in new workloads on public clouds,” Wieck said. “Successful clients have integrated plans to place workloads where they fit best, and IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy provides this on-ramp for flexibility and growth.”

Another key driver of the hybrid cloud model is business flexibility, the study found. Some 76 percent of companies said that embracing a hybrid cloud strategy has allowed them to expand into new industries, while 71 percent said it helped them to create new revenue streams. In addition, 69 percent said hybrid cloud allowed them to develop new business models.

The study once again highlighted the main barriers to cloud adoption, with security and compliance risks (cited by 47 percent of respondents) the biggest obstacle, followed by cost structure (41 percent) and increased risk of operational disruption (38 percent).

IBM offered up three recommendations for companies that are looking to gain an edge over the competition by leveraging the cloud. First, IBM says enterprises need to enhance their understanding of cloud computing’s business implications. Second, organizations need to increase their ability to manage complex cloud ecosystems. Third, companies need to establish policies for the cloud that adhere to their industry’s compliance and security regulations.

IBM’s report comes a week after Forrester Research ranked Big Blue as a leader in the public cloud, noting in particular its ability to empower developers with the right application-building tools. The Forrester Wave report highlighted IBM as a “strong performer,” giving it top marks for its hybrid and private cloud strategies, as well as its infrastructure services.

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