Your Guide to Multicloud Part 1: What Is Multicloud?

After reading this article, you will have a clear understanding of what the multicloud is and how to most effectively leverage it across your organization. 

Before beginning an investigation into the best way for I&O leaders to position their departments and expertise in a changing multicloud world, it is best if we make sure that we all have the same foundational understandings about the multicloud, its capabilities, and potential issues in its security and data management practices.

What Is Multicloud? 

Multicloud sounds complex, but it is actually a very simple concept: it means you choose two or more cloud vendors to serve your different cloud needs. 

In practice, this means you might have an IaaS and a PaaS solution, each from different vendors, or you have two IaaS solutions, or (most commonly) two or more SaaS solutions from different vendors. Any combination of 2+ cloud solutions qualifies as a multicloud environment. 

For example, if you currently work with a Google cloud service provider for enhanced analytics, and you work with an Oracle cloud service provider to manage and support your IaaS solution (Oracle Gen 2 Cloud), this combination means you are already running a multicloud system. Add AWS storage and a third-party SaaS app like Microsoft 365 to this mix, and you will have a complex multicloud system. 

Considering the flexibility that multicloud offers, it is not surprising that the trend is increasing. According to Flexera’s “RightScale State of the Cloud” report from 2019, companies were already using nearly five cloud vendors on average, and 84% of businesses had a multicloud strategy. Managing those all those clouds can be difficult, which explains why a BMC study found that 4 out of 5 surveyed IT decision makers found that many current multicloud management approaches “need rethinking.” 

Best Practices for Multicloud

Whether you have a multicloud solution in place already or you are currently crafting your multicloud strategy, it is a smart idea to ensure that you set up your cloud procedures properly. With the right setup, you can rest assured that you are running an efficient, effective multicloud environment that is appropriate for your enterprise’s precise needs, now and in the future. 

Best practices for multicloud efficiency include:

• Broadening your multicloud portfolio
  Pay attention to popular shadow IT solutions in your organization and add them to an “a la carte” options menu of available cloud software offerings, so you can steer various department managers toward vetted cloud solutions. This maintains your overall cloud control and can significantly cut down on cloud costs and cloud headaches in the future.
• Monitoring and optimizing your many cloud solutions
  Cloud consumption costs can add up quickly if I&O leaders lose track of usage and resource patterns – and cloud flexibility can lead to compliance issues if not closely watched. Utilize in-house cloud management skills to continuously monitor usage and adjust strategies accordingly or work closely with an experienced multicloud cloud services provider (CSP) to help manage this process.
• Keep up to date with cloud revolutions
  Whether you focus primarily on Moore’s Law for hardware or the blistering pace of modern business software innovation, the one thing that is clear about cloud services is that they are always improving. If you fall behind or stop paying attention to cloud advances, you are likely to miss out on cost-savings, time-savings, and groundbreaking new technology that can give you the competitive edge. A multicloud-certified CSP can advise you on the latest, greatest developments that are relevant to your company if you find yourself without time to keep up with all the news yourself.

Multicloud Security

As an I&O leader, you have traditionally been expected to manage the most modern on-premises software and hardware solutions on the market, while keeping every solution fully secure and compliant with a continuously shifting regulatory landscape that feels as if it changes from day to day. 

This is a complex task. 

In a multicloud environment, you will be adding complexity because you will be expected to maintain both older on-premises solutions, as well as a range of vastly different cloud solutions that each have their own ever-evolving policies, capabilities, and updates. 

To ensure your multicloud environment is compliant and secure: 

• Check with each vendor about their industry-specific compliance measures
• Ask about integration capabilities for your preferred security solutions
• Double-check your management responsibilities and granular control options
• Start thinking about governance across multiple cloud solutions (it is best to consult with a multicloud cloud managed services provider to help you strategize)

We know we do not have to remind you to read and negotiate the SLAs from each cloud vendor – but we will remind you to allocate ample time to handle this process. Ask for help filling in cloud knowledge gaps if you find that you need assistance.

Multicloud Data Management

We will discuss this in depth later in this blog series, but it is important that we immediately clarify that while multicloud refers to the use of more than one cloud solution for a similar purpose and could refer to siloed data structures, intercloud refers to the shared use of data across multiple cloud setups. 

Today’s I&O leaders with an eye on the future are focusing their attention on intercloud capabilities, rather than on running parallel instances in multiple clouds. Intercloud data management is the best way to extract the most strength from each cloud solution you use, including AWS, Azure, Google, and Oracle Cloud. 

To skip ahead and learn more about effective data management practices using intercloud capabilities, check out Part 5. 

Planning for multicloud success requires I&O leaders to carefully plan each part of their multicloud strategy in advance, taking best practices for security and compliance into account, and paying close attention to their shared data setup. Advance planning can mean the difference between a multicloud environment that supports the enterprise and drives business forward – or an “almost there” solution that IT and users would characterize as a system that “needs rethinking.” 

With a history of more than 20 years spent helping enterprises select, implement, optimize, and support the precise business technology they require, the experienced multicloud cloud solution provider (CSP) team at Centroid is the right choice to trust for your carefully planned multicloud deployment. 

As one of the most experienced cloud partners in the Oracle ecosystem, Centroid offers unique insight that you can leverage to make sure your Oracle solutions deliver seamless performance, whether you choose to host or integrate them with Oracle Cloud, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Azure. Better yet, the Centroid team can handle the details for you, so you can take full advantage of the wide-ranging benefits of a strategic multicloud environment – with none of the management headaches. 

I&O leaders at many of today’s leading global enterprises, including Toshiba, Subaru, and Overstock.com, have trusted the expertise of Centroid’s cloud solution provider (CSP) team to support and simplify management for their cloud setups – and you can too! 

Simply contact Centroid online or at (877) 868-1753 to set up your multicloud consultation with one of our world-class multicloud solution providers today.