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For years, many enterprise IT leaders pursued cloud computing as a goal in itself. However, as digital transformation has become a top priority, an organization’s cloud strategy has proven to be an integral ingredient in business change and innovation. Specifically, a multi-cloud strategy can help CIOs explore new ways of bringing together data from various sources and applying it in new ways.
“Sadly, most enterprises just look at migration as an end to itself, not the outcome or business reasons for using cloud – for example, to access operational data from the field,” says Prashant Kelker, a partner with tech research and advisory firm ISG. “The magic happens when you combine this data with the enterprise data sitting in its legacy world. This is an example of where a multi-cloud strategy helps: using the cloud for new business logic because you can now combine two sources of data, which was not possible until now.”
What’s more, as cloud computing options have proliferated, companies using a multi-cloud strategy can take advantage of the strengths of the various options available.
“All of the major cloud players are driving differentiated offerings which have unique benefits for particular forms of work – in a multi-cloud environment, IT leaders have the flexibility to pick the platform that makes the most sense in terms of use case, cost, existing utilization, and so on,” says Ollie O’Donoghue, vice president with HFS Research. “At its core, it makes enterprises more flexible in how they implement services in cloud environments. If they’re not locked in with a single vendor, they have a stronger bargaining hand and can genuinely assess environments based on their use case.”
Figuring out how to orchestrate a multi-cloud environment, however, presents challenges. IT leaders also struggle with oversight of cost, utilization, and a raft of related metrics, O’Donoghue says.
In addition, when it comes to hyperscale cloud providers, CIOs can also struggle with the shortage of skilled professionals available to manage these environments. “Enterprise leaders and vendors alike face a challenge with talent,” says O’Donoghue. “For a true multi-cloud environment, they need a blend of talent that can get the most out of the solutions and services on offer.”
Data governance and cloud sprawl represent two other big concerns as you shape a multi-cloud strategy.
The need to manage the associated complexity is why containers and platforms like Kubernetes have become so popular. (Kubernetes can run on a laptop, VM, rack of bare-metal servers, and/or public/private cloud environment.) Notes Red Hat technology evangelist Gordon Haff, “You can cluster together groups of hosts running Linux containers, and Kubernetes helps you easily and efficiently manage those clusters. These clusters can span hosts across public, private, and hybrid clouds.”
IT leaders who want to build an effective multi-cloud strategy can consider these tips to set themselves up for greater success:
Credits: The Enterprisers Project