• A growing number of costly tech outages in 2025 have organizations increasingly viewing private cloud as a smarter choice for enhanced security and control.
• Businesses are strategically refining their cloud approaches, placing more and more workloads in private cloud environments.
• As a result, more enterprises are re-evaluating their options to safeguard their data and power innovation.

Recent outages affecting thousands of companies and millions of people have raised concerns among industry watchdogs about the dangers of relying on a few hyperscalers. The impact of these outages have rippled far and wide across the world. For example, according to a recent cloud service outage, “People couldn’t order food, communicate with hospital networks, access mobile banking, or connect with their security systems and smart home devices. Major global companies, including Netflix, Starbucks and United Airlines, were temporarily unable to give customers access to their online services,” according to CNN.

The interconnected nature of these public cloud systems means even minor technical issues can lead to widespread disruptions. ​ This dependency, coupled with expanded attack surfaces and the strategic value these systems hold for adversaries, suggests that such outages are becoming an inevitable consequence of our current technological landscape. ​

Organizations are now questioning whether the advantages of public cloud outweigh the risks, especially when private cloud alternatives can achieve similar objectives with enhanced security. ​ Many businesses are reassessing their cloud strategies, opting to place workloads in environments that best meet their needs. ​ This shift is driving a growing preference for private cloud solutions.

Why the public cloud revolution stalled ​

For over a decade, cloud migration was seen as a one-way journey. ​ Applications were expected to either move to the public cloud or be built natively within it, staying there permanently. ​ However, the anticipated cost benefits of cloud migration have largely diminished, making the economic case less compelling while the costs keep rising. ​In fact, cloud migration typically costs $40,000 for startups and $600,000+ for enterprises running mission-critical workloads.  

While public clouds offer convenience and scalability, they come with significant security trade-offs that are becoming increasingly concerning as cyber threats evolve. ​Over the past decade, cloud computing adoption surged due to promises of agility, scalability, and operational efficiency. ​ These benefits allowed enterprises to innovate rapidly and better serve customers. ​ A major driver of public cloud adoption was the desire to avoid managing physical data centers. ​ However, this shift came with security challenges, leading organizations to weigh the trade-offs between flexibility and risk. ​

Initially, many organizations—including government entities—accepted the risks of moving data to the cloud, believing the benefits outweighed the security concerns. ​ But as the threat landscape has evolved and the number of single-point-of-failure outages have increased, this equation has shifted. Organizations also increasingly need to address AI and Data Sovereignty issues.​ Cyberattacks and breaches have become more frequent and damaging, even for smaller organizations. ​ Today, many are questioning whether the value of public cloud infrastructure justifies the security risks and devastating costly business disruptions. ​ Some are considering bringing assets back to environments they can control, which are less exposed to the internet. ​

Rethinking Cloud Strategy

In his recent blog, “Predictions 2026: Cloud Outages, Private AI On Private Clouds, And The Rise Of The Neoclouds,” Forrester Research Principal Analyst Lee Sustar wrote, “The cloud’s promise of always-on infrastructure took a hit in 2025, as AWS and Azure suffered high-profile outages that disrupted critical services across industries and regions. These incidents weren’t isolated — they’re a preview of what’s to come.” He added, “These outages will force enterprises to rethink their cloud strategies — not just for resilience but for control, especially for their big bets on AI.” 

In fact, according to the Private Cloud Outlook 2025 report commissioned by Broadcom, 69% of enterprises are considering repatriating workloads from public to private cloud, and over one-third have already done so. ​ This trend reflects a more mature strategy: placing workloads where they can be most secure, cost-efficient, and performant. ​ Security remains the top driver of this shift, with 92% of IT leaders trusting private cloud for security and compliance compared to widespread concerns about safeguarding data in public cloud environments. ​

In the next article in this two-part blog series, we will take a closer look at public cloud risks and what organizations can do to improve their security posture.