Study Finds Kubernetes Usage Tied to Business Success

In 2023, cloud-native technologies are becoming the norm for modern software development. And new data showed that cloud-native platforms like Kubernetes are transforming how businesses operate for the better.

Kubernetes is bringing tangible benefits that extend beyond the scope of engineering teams, such as cutting costs and accelerating development timelines. A new report found that 91% agreed that Kubernetes has benefited the entire organization, not just IT. These benefits include areas like improving operations and business, enhancing developer productivity, and improving IT efficiency. Some even credit it with increased market share and revenue growth.

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Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

Don’t know

How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

Somewhat valuable

Slightly valuable

Not valuable

How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

Don’t know

Other

What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

No formal controls in place

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

Manual assessments

Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

Based on CVSS scores

Risk-based analysis of multiple factors

First-in-first-out approach

No formal prioritization process

Don’t know

How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

Automated updates and patches

Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

A combination of automation and manual review

Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

Don’t know

Other

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Presented by VMware, The State of Kubernetes 2023 looked at the state of Kubernetes adoption within large companies across various industries. Below, we’ll review the key points from the report, showcase hindrances associated with Kubernetes usage and consider the popular solutions for managing K8s in the current market.

Kubernetes Delivers Business Value

First off, it appears that Kubernetes is delivering significant value to businesses at large. An impressive 97% of respondents reported seeing business benefits from using K8s. Indirect benefits include areas like making IT operators more efficient (64%) and enhancing developer productivity (60%). A smaller portion of survey respondents attributed direct benefits from Kubernetes use, such as a growth in market share, new revenue-driving customer experiences and increased profit margins.

In addition to positive business outcomes, 98% said they have experienced operational benefits from Kubernetes. These sorts of operational benefits include improved resource utilization (50%), shortened software development cycles (41%) and containerizing monolithic applications (37%). It’s clear from the report that K8s is much more than just an IT proficiency driver and is steadily impacting the entire organization.

Top Challenges: Multi-Cloud and Misconfigurations

Of course, there are still challenges with K8s in production. One issue is related to the fact that computing environments are becoming more diverse and varied. For example, multi-cloud is increasing—76% of those surveyed use multiple clouds. Multi-cloud is defined by the report as using “multiple public cloud vendors or a mix of public and private cloud.”

A big reason for embracing multiple clouds is to reduce dependency on a single vendor, found the report. And these multi-cloud conditions are forecast to increase, as half plan to increase capacity across multiple clouds in the foreseeable future. Yet, there are common challenges when managing multiple clouds. For example, top multi-cloud challenges include inadequate internal expertise and experience (57%), meeting security and compliance requirements (52%) and difficulty in managing cluster life cycle and upgrades (42%).

In addition to multi-cloud concerns, 97% report security challenges with Kubernetes. The most common security issue is misconfigurations and exposures — 55% of respondents reported this being a security concern. This top area is followed by applying policies consistently across clusters and teams (42%), unpatched CVEs in Kubernetes distributions (42%) and securing container images in a CI/CD pipeline (40%).

State of Kubernetes Tools and Solutions

Kubernetes has become a standard platform for running new tools and services. But a variety of platforms have emerged for managing Kubernetes itself. Regarding managed K8s offerings, Amazon EKS wins out, with over half of K8s distributions currently running on it (51%). This is followed by Microsoft AKS (48%), Red Hat OpenShift (37%) and Google GKE (26%). Those surveyed want a Kubernetes distribution that’s easy to deploy, operate and maintain, underscoring the move toward managed Kubernetes offerings.

There is also an assortment of niche tools for delivering operational capabilities for Kubernetes. These top Kubernetes tools include data security protection, platform monitoring and alerting and software and package management. This year, Kubernetes tools that saw an increase in interest were related to infrastructure-as-code (IaaC), policy management, cluster ingress and supply chain security.

Interestingly, service mesh has risen to become a near-ubiquitous framework used in tandem with Kubernetes. A full 92% of organizations said they have some type of service mesh deployed. The kind of service mesh used is split between open source meshes like NGINX and Istio and enterprise-class meshes, like Kong Mesh and VMware Tanzu Service Mesh, with some outliers using DIY or custom meshes.

Final Thoughts

Kubernetes has ushered a sea change in how modern IT is deployed and maintained. A full 90% said that cloud-native technology, including Kubernetes, is transforming how their business operates. Now, it seems that Kubernetes is delivering real-world business benefits, proving its utility beyond the hype.

The State of Kubernetes 2023 surveyed 750 software development and IT professionals, focusing on companies with 1,000 or more employees. For the full results, you can pick up a copy of the report behind an email gate here.