Getting Started With a Multi-Cloud Strategy
Press Release: April 21, 2020
Over the past couple of years, cloud adoption has grown. Enterprises are after the speed, agility, simplicity, and lower costs that it provides. The days of running a large data center have gone by. IT executives love the benefits of the cloud, but various studies have shown that they fear lock-in. For example, a study conducted by Bain/Morgan Stanley shows that fear is rising every year. A multi-cloud approach is the only way to tackle these issues. Before the cloud even existed, companies used multiple database vendors. So, this strategy is not new.
Each corporation has a lot of different kinds of data. The majority of cloud providers are specialized in a single region, allowing businesses to use multiple clouds to be agile. You have probably heard that a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ is a master of none. That term is the key justification for inventing a Multi-Cloud approach. There is no need to lock into a service that cannot evolve with the data which it manages.
Benefits of a Multi-Cloud Environment
It can be daunting to switch to a new program, particularly if another entity holds your data. Yet this kind of approach has other benefits.
Some of these benefits include:
- Improved Disaster Recovery – The backing up of the systems will aid in case of a disaster.
- Avoiding Vendor Lock-In – This risk management approach guarantees the consistency needed for you and your data to be managed. Moving into and out of the cloud is expensive and time-consuming.
- Vendor Flexibility – Never put all of your ‘cloud eggs’ in one basket. Instead, maintain your negotiating power, leanness, and your agility. It is safer to be able to react fast if the vendor changes its plan, SLAs or price pattern.
- Cherry-Pick Services – No single cloud provider has the best services for everything, so it is smart to tailor the best service for your situation.
The cloud promises the right place, time and costs to deliver service. The cloud has, however, an enormous influence on conventional IT systems and the numbers of technical options. Once switching to the cloud, there are multiple factors to consider.
Your Data in the Multi-Cloud
In order to accomplish its targets, each organization must follow an innovative combination of conventional and cloud services. Organizations must meet with categories of service standards on the network. Here are a few questions to consider as a multi-cloud approach is implemented.
- What types of applications are best suited for traditional or cloud environments?
- What are the risks and how could they affect my business?
- What is the cost of migrating to the cloud versus what the business will save in the future?
- What compliance or government regulation is required?
- What level of automation is needed?
- What is the security strategy?
- Are the right people in place to manage this strategy?
Not all clouds are created the same, and you should decide what the data is meant to do, to narrow the cloud provider down. Implementing the multi-cloud approach would be simple with an excellent planning stage. An application that only runs a few hours a day, for example, does not suit well with something that always runs. By moving to a better vendor, the prices will be significantly reduced.
Choosing the Best Cloud
The first step in selecting a cloud provider is to match the cloud functionality and capabilities and technical specifications for each application. Most enterprises with a multi-cloud strategy are running each application in a single cloud. Is this the best method for your data? This is not as difficult to choose the best cloud for a workload as this seems. A public cloud, for example, meets the goals of many enterprises.
What are your database needs, core services, and additional services? Answers to these questions can play a significant role in what vendors you consider. Cloud computing’s variable expense approach complicates market comparison but offers significant savings opportunities. Prices shift constantly, so it can be difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison. On average, 75-80 percent of the cloud expenses would come from computing resources.
It is important to know when evaluating the cloud vendors that they offer support and the costs of such service. Some support models are priced as a percentage of your cloud spend. You would also have higher support costs if cloud spending is high.
Challenges of a Multi-Cloud Strategy
Compared to the conventional single cloud solution, a multi-cloud model may be more difficult to use. The whole process relies heavily on good planning. Businesses should familiarize themselves with the advantages and disadvantages when making optimal choices. When a multi-cloud environment is more complex, it is important to get the right people to do the job. Most configurations in the cloud differ, and it’s unusual for anyone to know each program. This is a good time to consult the specialists in this domain and work closely with them as per the business needs.
Security is also a major challenge. Before agreeing to any provider, organizations should discuss security thoroughly. In the case of data theft or failure, anyone involved with the project should know how to respond. Security and privacy are listed as the big reasons for why the organizations not being in the cloud. Ironically, it is usually the organization that leaks the data unintentionally, rather than the provider. It is our responsibility to safeguard our data. The cloud platform may have some nice tools, but it is up to the organization to implement them to the greatest benefit of the data.
A Multi-Cloud Strategy Works
There are much greater advantages of a multi-cloud approach than any disadvantages. Since most organizations are in business to make money, we might confidently say that the key factor is that a multi-cloud approach will contribute to cash flow by saving money. Usually, issues and solutions become more complex when people make them sound more complex. A good multi-cloud strategy is one that has been well thought out, planned, and mapped to your needs. The strategy’s planning process should take longer than the implementation.
The best planning phase is one that is torn apart numerous times by security and data experts. You can only step into the deployment process when it is bulletproof. Having the best plan and the best people will ensure that your strategy lives for a very long time.
Contact Aerizo to learn more about incorporating a multi-cloud strategy into your organization.
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