Why should you consider a Multi-Cloud Strategy?
Over the last decade or so, the popularity of cloud-computing has really hit the roof. What started off as nothing more than a limited collection of computing services, has now evolved into a highly-sophisticated ecosystem, rapidly emerging as the de-facto solution for Enterprise IT. Nearly a third of organizations are working with four or more cloud vendors. In other words, it seems that the future of IT isn’t just cloud computing – it’s Multi-cloud.
Unfortunately, the majority of cloud providers would prefer that you don’t consider multi-cloud at all, as it benefits them to keep you locked in. Ultimately, every CIO should have the freedom to control the future of their business. Whether you’re considering multi-cloud deployments because you want to have more options, or you’re interested in multi-cloud to create more productivity and minimize risk within your organization, there are a host of benefits to building for multi-cloud.
A growing number of companies have embraced a multi-cloud approach as part of their digital transformation strategy, mainly to meet various business and technology requirements because no single cloud model can fit the diverse requirements and workloads across different business units.
A multi-cloud environment creates an ideal sandbox for IT to experiment with and deploy proof-of-concepts
Every major cloud platform—including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle and the Google Cloud Platform—has a range of data-related services in the areas of cloud data warehousing, big data and real-time streaming, to name a few. Some workloads run better on one cloud platform while other workloads achieve higher performance and lower cost on another platform. By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, companies are able to choose best-in-class technologies and services from different cloud providers to create the best possible solution for a business.
Another reason for a multi-cloud approach is that companies adopt new IT projects in increments. A multi-cloud environment creates an ideal sandbox for IT to experiment with and deploy proof-of-concepts. Various teams can set up and decommission scenarios quickly without the burden of the high cost and time needed to build and deploy new infrastructure.
With a multi-cloud strategy, each business unit can choose their ideal cloud service depending on their specific business needs, which may include:
- Ease of management
- Concurrency of workloads
- Query performance
- Controlling user roles and access levels
- Security and governance
- Government regulations and data privacy
- Specialized functionality for a particular workload or application (i.e. Machine learning or AI)
- Access to Big Data tools and technologies
Multi-cloud is more like a buffet for IT experts, than a pre-set menu
At the end of the day, the multi-cloud solution is all about enabling new choices and freedom for CIOs and organizations. It gives you the chance to pick and choose the components that are most relevant to your specific needs and case environments. Multi-cloud is more like a buffet for IT experts, than a pre-set menu.
For instance, organizations that have already got a large amount of dependency within the Windows ecosystem might find that leveraging a certain set of Microsoft Azure service is useful. However, they might also want to make use of Google for their analytics and machine learning capabilities. This level of freedom, and the ability to choose the cloud services that work for you, rather than settling for “whatever is available”, is why many big companies have already taken the multi-cloud approach.
While the world of multi-cloud is still growing, it’s already seduced plenty of early-adopters who are looking for ways to differentiate their business, and become more competitive for the future. In a world of digital transformation, companies that take the multi-cloud solution are setting themselves apart from the crowd.
It’s clear to see that multi-cloud is the next logical step for any business’s cloud journey. After all, it gives you freedom, control, and the ability to mitigate risks with downtime, or even bad relationships with your cloud provider. To build the best, then you need to learn how to develop from a multi-cloud perspective.
