Understanding the benefits of multi-cloud in a world full of data and AI
The push for more businesses to capitalize on the growing capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has led industry experts to predict a significant increase in investment in cloud computing.
Gartner predicts that worldwide public cloud end-user spending will exceed $675.4 billion (£531.6 billion) this year, with end-user spending on public cloud services expected to increase 20.4% to approximately £441.6 billion. This growth is primarily attributed to advances in GenAI and application modernization.
Many companies looking to adopt GenAI at scale are opting for a multi-cloud strategy. This allows a customer to mix and match the cloud services that best suit their needs, including access to the best-in-class products, building resilience into the cloud architecture, and strengthening their negotiating position with providers.
Organizations pursuing a multi-cloud strategy must consider several key points to ensure a reliable, secure, and scalable build.
VP EMEA Sales at DoiT International.
Aligning the cloud with the needs of the organization
Cloud diversity benefits IT departments because it provides a variety of choices to meet specific needs. For example, some companies choose to keep security-focused workloads in the more capital-intensive private cloud, while running regular corporate data and apps in cost-effective public cloud networks. Hybrid clouds are suitable when a high degree of flexibility and agility is needed. For example, when sensitive, mission-critical IP in the private cloud needs to be switched to the public cloud at short notice for additional capacity or when costs need to be reduced.
Additionally, a multi-cloud approach enables organizations to match workloads with the most advanced technology available at the time. GenAI is a rapidly evolving technology development that serves as a prime example of an evolving technology that enterprises are eager to adopt. However, deploying LLMs safely, effectively, and efficiently across the enterprise requires a comprehensive reevaluation of organizations’ IT infrastructure and cloud strategies. As new technologies continue to advance, a solid multi-cloud strategy is essential to reap the benefits that these new tools will provide. In the context of multi-cloud, this means that customers can test and evolve with different providers and understand which ones best fit their requirements.
When creating your multi-cloud strategy, evaluate your company’s culture, DevOps practices, and technology stack. Then, arrive at clear, measurable objectives that align with your broader business goals, such as cost optimization. This thorough assessment will inform your multi-cloud governance plan and create a robust, long-term blueprint for digital empowerment that integrates the essential components of people, process, and technology.
Ensuring data security
Another common goal is to improve organizational resilience, ensuring that systems remain available during a major incident or disaster. By distributing workloads across multiple cloud regions or providers, you can minimize downtime and ensure business continuity. And while adopting multi-cloud can expose an organization to a broader attack surface, the risk of significant damage can be reduced by implementing consistent security policies and compliance controls across all cloud environments, with measures such as encryption, identity and access management (IAM), and security monitoring tools. If the worst happens, a data breach will only impact a limited amount of data, because data and applications can be segregated across different services.
The hyperscalers regularly release new security solutions designed to protect data, applications, and other workloads. For example, Google Workspace recently announced that it is proactively improving the security of its platform by requiring Google two-step authentication (2SV) for all Super Admin accounts. This secondary factor can be a security key, a Google Authenticator prompt, or receipt of a verification code via phone call or text message.
Successful workload migration
Moving workloads to the cloud or between cloud platforms can be challenging. A critical aspect of the planning phase is determining what to migrate. This requires a comprehensive application assessment to determine which workloads will deliver greater business value if moved to the cloud or another cloud environment. While public applications with global reach are good candidates for the public cloud, others may require an ROI analysis to determine whether the scalability of the public cloud adds value.
During the planning phase, many companies discover a skill gap in their team that can create challenges during the migration. Partner companies can help train and align strategic goals within engineering teams to ensure you achieve your migration goals.
The danger of vendor lock-in
Whether it’s your cell phone company, utility company, or mortgage lender, being forced to stick with the same organization can be costly. The same goes for cloud computing: companies can find it difficult to switch providers without significant costs, legal issues, or technological incompatibilities.
A multi-cloud approach reduces your dependency on a single vendor and largely allows you to operate on your terms. For example, major cloud providers offer pay-as-you-go pricing, meaning you can theoretically lock down your environment, export your data and virtual machines, and walk away whenever you want. You also have the option of using a range of open-source cloud computing platforms and tools, reducing your reliance on proprietary platforms. Open-source technology effectively separates your technology decisions from your choice of cloud vendor—developers can customize the source code to their specific needs as they deploy, provision, and manage workloads.
While multi-cloud offers a wealth of benefits, from flexibility and best-of-breed products to improved resiliency and cost optimization, these benefits are only realized through careful planning and optimized architecture. Legacy IT systems, on-premises infrastructure, and outdated hardware can all hinder an organization’s ability to manage multi-cloud operations independently. Partnering with a vendor-neutral managed service provider (MSP) can help identify the optimal mix of infrastructure, solutions, and providers. With the right expertise, your business can achieve complete agility and workload mobility.
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