Faster response to business needs, reduced IT capital expenses and better ability to deploy IT resources where needed are among the top benefits experienced by enterprises using multicloud services. But what is multicloud and why organizations choose to implement a multicloud strategy?
We can refer to multicloud when enterprises need services or resources from multiple public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. In this case they connect their networking infrastructure to multiple clouds. This refers to the distribution of cloud assets, software, applications, and more across several cloud environments. With a typical multicloud architecture utilizing two or more public clouds as well as private clouds, a multicloud environment aims to eliminate the reliance on any single cloud provider or instance. Most organizations adopt a multicloud strategy out of a desire to avoid vendor lock-in or to take advantage of best-of-breed solutions, according to Gartner.
In a recent 451 Research study, 76% of organizations cited having more than one public cloud vendor for IaaS, and 39% are using at least three, demonstrating the prevalence of the multicloud approach.
Leveraging multicloud usually rests on three considerations:
Organizations want it all - threat protection capabilities, full visibility, scalability, and simplified management to help lower capital and operational costs and provide performance increases. None of them can be achieved overnight, but CEOs, CIOs, line of business and business technology leaders have to set the line of travel and drive towards their ultimate goal.
We see four main multicloud benefits that organizations should consider when choosing their cloud strategy:
The world of multicloud deployments brings enormous benefits and significant new challenges and priorities. The reason is simple. There is a fundamental difference between deploying multiple cloud technologies and having the skills and processes in place to effectively manage this new hybrid IT environment. Some of the most common multicloud challenges include increased security risks, increased complexity operating or administering multiple techs, as well as increased complexity of managing the associated costs of moving data to and from different cloud environments.
According to Forrester, traditional security models cannot cope with multicloud environments. The analyst is urging organizations to adopt a “Zero Trust” architecture that abandons the concept of a trusted network inside a defined corporate perimeter, to focus on securing the data. Whether or not organizations buy into a “Zero Trust'' security model, those that are developing an effective, unified multicloud management strategy are realizing they need to use the same management tools, processes and metrics to manage all their cloud resources, and rely on an appropriate connectivity solution to ensure business continuity and performance. More so, they are seeking out technologies and services that help manage their relationships with multiple cloud vendors and protect against the threats that exist on public networks.
So how do you realize the true power of the cloud? Working with a cloud agnostic partner who has deep expertise across all major cloud providers can help you plan your cloud strategy so that you extract maximum business value. Here’s how the InterCloud multicloud platform can help you.
The InterCloud platform enables businesses to streamline their cloud and network operations.. InterCloud reduces the need for human intervention and improves business performance with speed and agility by harnessing advanced automated tools and improved visibility and reliability of network performance and availability across multicloud environments. Its central automated layer enables businesses to connect and inter-connect their resources based on their goals without having to worry about underlying connectivity or network performance. The platform and managed services offering also reduces the cost chaos that comes with managing a complex cloud environment with multiple vendors, allowing businesses to maintain uptime, performance, and reliability while also ensuring cost efficiency.
Learn more about how we helped organizations unlock business acceleration in a multicloud world.