In the fast-paced global economy, a successful business must be an agile business—one that can anticipate and respond quickly to changing economic, regulatory, and market conditions. However, no one anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tested just how agile companies are. With no time to gather data, consider options, install systems, or retrain staff, business leaders have been forced to pivot their business operations in near real-time in response to the latest health recommendations and government restrictions. Without a clear end date to the crisis, organizations are now coming to the realization that their scramble to survive is not a temporary patch until things return to normal. The new normal is constant change. Long before the pandemic hit, many companies had already laid the foundation for agility by adopting a cloud-based infrastructure. According to the 2019 Frost & Sullivan Global Cloud survey, 57% of all businesses worldwide have adopted public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The 2019 Frost & Sullivan Global Cloud Survey was conducted in April 2019 via web, with responses from 1,266 IT decision-makers representing a range of countries, geographical regions, industries, and company sizes. Forty-one percent use Software as a Service (SaaS). Among the top drivers to cloud adoption is “business agility,” cited by 75% of IT decision-makers. But not every business has completed—or even started—its cloud journey. Twenty-seven percent of respondents to the Frost & Sullivan survey say they “plan to implement” IaaS by 2021; 36% say they expect to add SaaS subscriptions. Frost & Sullivan expects cloud adoption to surge in the wake of the pandemic as more organizations prioritize business agility. But they will need the help of cloud and managed services providers, which can help navigate the complexities of the modern hybrid, multi-cloud environment and ensure businesses will gain maximum value from their cloud investments. In this brief, we examine how a cloud foundation can deliver the agility businesses need, as well as the challenges they face in executing their cloud strategies. We also provide recommendations for cloud service providers to accelerate businesses’ cloud journeys in light of the pandemic. Author: Lynda Stadtmueller