Multi-cloud strategies are becoming a top choice across enterprises. But with so many layered components and workflows, can this reduce operational costs, or will it succumb to conventional and alternative cloud strategies?
What does "multi-cloud" mean?
The premise of a multi-cloud strategy is to liberate enterprises to make their own cloud-related decisions. This allows companies to operate their applications and workloads in cloud environments that best satisfy their cost, performance, functionality, and storage needs.
In theory, many organizations believe multi-cloud allows them to swiftly change cloud services during unfavorable economic situations. Companies usually opt for this strategy because they believe it causes minimal, if not zero, disruption during such transitions. If only that were the case!
Multi-cloud is doubtful and risky because it can also result in cloud sprawls, security risks, excessive unplanned expenditures, and performance lags. Simply put, increasing diversity in your cloud platforms stresses the management burden on your supplier IT team. Needless to say, this type of stress can lead to further grievances.
As multi-cloud continues to dominate adoption rates, evaluating its pros and cons is crucial for harnessing a safe, reliable, and functional cloud ecosystem.
The pros of multi-cloud
1. It offers flexibility and innovation.
Undoubtedly, cloud-based platforms have blessed businesses with innovation and cost savings. But multi-cloud takes this to a whole new level by allowing businesses to have flexible choices when it comes to selecting cloud platforms. This includes the opportunity to leverage multiple tech vendors who can contribute to unique business needs without interrupting other processes.
2. Increased Cost Saving
From a financial standpoint, multi-cloud negates this possibility. Whenever a company operates in a multi-cloud capacity, it is frequently in a superior bargaining position when it comes to pricing and agreements. Having a multi-cloud option restricts vendors from increasing prices or estimations since they're aware you have other options.
3. Improved Business Continuity
Large hyper-scale cloud vendors like Microsoft, AWS, and Google have data centres placed in different geographic locations. This makes outages a common occurrence. The presence of multiple vendors is reassuring as business processes are spread across different cloud platforms. This means if one vendor faces an outage, you can switch to another vendor, with minimal interruption.
The Cons of Multi-cloud
1. It increases management complexity.
Having multiple cloud vendors controlling different aspects of your business is straight-up complex. Not only do you need to evaluate technical skills, but also ensure optimal costs, insights, and transparency of operations. The strategy keeps your company on a stretch in terms of managing costs, compliance, and security of the cloud infrastructure.
2. Increased Security Vulnerabilities
It’s not surprising when we say multi-cloud strategies are prone to different security challenges. It’s because keeping an organization safe inside a cloud environment requires excessive attention to detail and precautionary measures. Having multiple clouds gives attackers broader targets to aim at.
3. Transferability is difficult.
Regardless of having multiple cloud vendors to choose from, transferring resources from one platform to another requires extensive technical work. All vendors have different billing systems, estimates, and work methodologies that can be hard to keep track of. Plus, shifting from one cloud to another is not a plug-and-play function; it requires planning and proper implementation.
Bottom Line
Knowing all of the benefits and drawbacks of a multi-cloud implementation is useful. However, maybe the best approach to preparing for a multi-cloud implementation is to ensure that you have cloud specialists on hand. There are thousands of moving pieces in a given cloud ecosystem. The optimal strategy will be to master one vendor before adding others.