Many areas should be considered while moving towards a multi-cloud strategy. A multi-cloud strategy enables companies to consider various cloud services from different providers since some are better than others for certain tasks. Some cloud systems, for example, specialize in massive transfers of data or have advanced machine learning capabilities. Organizations are constantly utilizing various private and public clouds to distribute their software, to prevent vendor lock-in and manipulations, among other things, best-of-breed solutions.
Why Multi-cloud strategy?
IDC predicts that 2021 will be a multi-cloud year and expects more than 90% of companies worldwide to rely on a mix of on-site or dedicated private clouds, multiple public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs by 2022.
- Vendor lock-in
Among the most widely stated drivers of multi-cloud adoption is the desire to avoid being trapped into the infrastructure, add-on features, and pricing model of a single cloud provider.
- Performance
Organizations can reduce delays and other management strategies, such as delay inconsistencies and network congestion by selecting a cloud service provider with data centers located close to the clients, as performance is generally inversely associated with the set of network hops between servers. For companies with a wide array of cloud-based tasks, multiple cloud providers are likely to be involved in the optimal solution.
- Compliance
Requirements for data governance such as the EU’s GDPR, for example, would also demand that consumer data be stored at specific locations. This will often necessitate a multi-cloud approach, depending on the geographic distribution and workload combination of an enterprise, unless companies are willing to establish and sustain their own on-site data lakes.
The multi-cloud strategy has been able to achieve much popularity and recognition, but at the same time poses complications and risks too. Therefore, an organization while developing a rigid multi-cloud strategy should consider the following tips.
Recognize which workloads and applications per provider function best
Not every cloud server and its capabilities are built on equal ground. One can save both time and stress by selecting and choosing which workloads take advantage of the strengths of each provider. This process can also make it easier to hire IT because various companies and usage cases sometimes have varying provider inclinations, so if you’d like an expert team with both the cloud provider and your application, you can seek a larger pool of applicants with good experience on a specific cloud.
Select management solutions that function across clouds
While it may be appealing to deploy different applications or to use different underlying technical structures for each cloud provider, trying to make sure your management infrastructure works throughout all clouds can make it much easier for the team to work together on bigger projects.
Transparency in cloud costs is important
Different providers use different pricing structures depending on the resources and it’s important for companies to know their exact spending for workloads.
A multi-cloud strategy is the right platform companies can choose to satisfy various application needs.
