Multi-cloud management is becoming increasingly important in today’s computing landscape. As companies migrate their IT environment to the public cloud, they are finding benefits in adopting a multi-cloud strategy. Focusing on identifying solutions to business requirements has led many companies to move from an on-premises IT infrastructure to one that encompasses multiple cloud environments.
Managing a complex multi-cloud environment can be challenging. We are going to look at why companies are choosing a multi-cloud strategy, the challenges of multi-cloud management, and a solution that simplifies that task.
Why are Multi-Cloud Environments Popular?
A study commissioned by Oracle reports that over 98% of the enterprises surveyed have a multi-cloud environment that employs at least two cloud service providers (CSPs). Four or more cloud providers are being used by 31% of respondents. The days of single-cloud infrastructures are long gone, as organizations take advantage of the many benefits of a multi-cloud strategy.
The following benefits are responsible for the popularity of multi-cloud environments.
- A primary driver of a multi-cloud strategy is the ability to select the best provider for specific business objectives or requirements. In many cases, going with a single provider entails making concessions that impact the effectiveness of moving to the cloud. For example, a company may have a Microsoft environment that would be best placed in the Azure cloud. The same company might find that alternate providers make more sense for other parts of their computing environment.
- Avoiding vendor lock-in is another reason many organizations choose to diversify their cloud spending by using multiple providers. CSPs often offer attractive terms for new customers which may not be cost-effective in the long run. Employing multiple vendors allows a company to opt for solutions that align with its cloud budget when renewing its contracts.
- Comparison shopping with an eye toward cost and available technology solutions often points to a multi-cloud strategy. One vendor may offer more economical storage options that address a company’s backup and retention requirements. The same provider may not currently have the cutting-edge analytics engines a company needs to satisfy business objectives. A multi-cloud strategy lets customers decide which provider to use on a case-by-case basis.
- Reliability, redundancy, and resiliency are complementary reasons that influence the move toward multi-cloud environments. Companies can back up sensitive and business-critical data with multiple providers for increased resiliency. Creating redundant backups using different vendors reduces the chances of a successful ransomware attack that compromises backup media.
The Challenges of Multi-Cloud Management
While there are attractive and concrete benefits associated with multi-cloud environments, they can be challenging to manage. Inefficient multi-cloud management can negate the benefits of employing multiple clouds to address business requirements. The following challenges can make it difficult to manage multi-cloud environments.
Complexity
The increased architectural complexity of multi-cloud environments can challenge the skills of a company’s technical teams. Successfully addressing the differences between competing architectures may demand a level of experience that an organization doesn’t possess. Differences in networking or security implementations and configurations can result in vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors.
Cloud sprawl and cost overruns
Cloud sprawl can be defined as an uncontrolled expansion of an organization’s cloud services or providers. Sprawl can also be a natural outgrowth of SaaS services for which a company obtains and pays for more accounts than necessary.
This problem affects many organizations that have a cloud presence and can lead to several serious problems including:
- Unexpected costs that exceed the cloud budget;
- Insecure use of unapproved applications by employees;
- Duplication of functionality with different departments using alternate solutions.
Implementing robust and reliable security
Challenges in implementing robust security are associated with both architectural complexity and cloud sprawl. The increased focus on security driven by the current threat landscape makes it imperative that an organization can adequately protect its IT environment and data resources. Differences in cloud architecture can lead to misconfigured security settings that inadvertently present vulnerabilities that can be taken advantage of by cybercriminals.
Complicated disaster recovery planning
A multi-cloud environment can complicate disaster recovery and business continuity planning. Organizations must have the necessary visibility into all cloud environments to effectively develop recovery plans. Additional complications can arise from using multiple backup solutions that need to be incorporated into the recovery. Managing the components of a multi-cloud environment efficiently is necessary to guarantee that business-critical systems can be recovered in a disaster.
Streamline Multi-Cloud Management with VAST View
VAST IT Services offers its customers a solution that streamlines and simplifies multi-cloud management. The platform is available as a self-service solution or as a managed service. VAST’s solution helps minimize the challenges associated with multi-cloud management so your company can optimize its use of cloud resources.
VAST View is a cloud management platform that provides the visibility necessary to effectively manage a multi-cloud environment. The tool enables companies to make better business decisions regarding cloud spending and expansion by consolidating information from all your clouds in a single pane of glass. This streamlines management by eliminating the need to deploy dedicated tools to gain visibility into each specific cloud infrastructure.
The benefits available to companies that implement VAST View include:
- Improved ROI with the ability to save up to 30% monthly;
- Efficiency that reclaims hundreds of cloud management hours per year;
- Controlling cloud sprawl with visibility into the complete cloud environment;
- Reducing risk by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they impact the business.
Primary use cases for VAST View include:
- Setting data governance and automation policies;
- Managing costs and finding opportunities to lower cloud bills;
- Rightsizing the environment to avoid over or under-provisioning;
- Managing reserved instances;
- Enhancing security with notification of non-compliant accounts and assets;
- Planning migrations for moving workloads to AWS, Azure, or GCP cloud.
VAST View is available as a managed service with multiple levels designed to align with an organization’s business objectives. Customers can choose service levels that provide varying degrees of professional services to meet their cloud management needs.
Talk to the multi-cloud management experts at VAST to learn how VAST View can help you address the challenges and optimize your cloud environment.
