Trends and Challenges Shaping Multi-Cloud Management in the Enterprise

Larger enterprises are generally choosing a multi-cloud solution to fulfill their digital transformation goals. It provides some unique benefits, including the ability to optimize workloads based on where they best perform: public or private cloud, on-premise or managed hosting. While multi-cloud often proves ideal for enterprises, there are a few common challenges that are shaping trends in IT.

First, the benefits of implementing multi-cloud: Enterprises appreciate the flexibility they have and the ability to avoid vendor lock-in, which comes with potential for rate hikes or performance issues. Also, because there is no one-size-fits-all solution for large, global enterprises, multi-cloud allows organizations to meet business needs with a combination of pay-as-you-go public cloud solutions and private cloud solutions that meet security and regulatory needs.

Multi-cloud also offers enterprises a higher level of control, plus the potential for greater cost savings. There are benefits related to disaster recovery as well, with the ability to spread data between geographically varied storage locations.

The challenges: While the benefits are compelling, multi-cloud solutions also come with obstacles, some of which may be unexpected prior to migration. For instance, many IT teams spend a lot of time and resources trying to get up to speed on cloud technology. These efforts often take time away from expected innovations with a multi-cloud environment.

Security also becomes more complex with a multi-cloud approach. Cloud solutions broaden the security plane, and create many more access points for a breach. Enterprises must meet the expertise of hackers with the same level of expertise in their security approach, which often requires a managed services provider that specializes in security. The best providers will have both a bird’s-eye view of the network infrastructure and a deep understanding of individual platforms and typical use of each resource.

Looking for the right multi-cloud provider: Enterprises planning a transition to a multi-cloud environment should look for a partner that can help them align with other service providers to meet their needs. A service provider equipped to partner with a large enterprise will offer migration support, backup and recovery, and a full cloud readiness analysis.

Enterprises should not only look at the expertise a provider has in-house, but also at their industry partnerships and the depth of those relationships. This gives the enterprise a feel for how well their prospective provider is able to fully integrate a set of multi-cloud solutions.

One Connect offers the full-service answer for enterprises wanting to implement a multi-cloud environment. Contact us to learn more about the partnerships we have with providers and our ability to meet your unique technology requirements.