Relying on cloud-based solutions has become the norm for all types of businesses. A survey of 786 technical professionals from companies across all industries and of various sizes found 94 percent reported using cloud technology, according to the RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud Report.
As companies migrate more processes and workloads to the cloud, one notable trend is the demise of the “one-cloud-fits-all” approach, according to the IBM blog entry “5 cloud predictions for 2019.” Instead, businesses are increasingly adopting a multi-cloud and hybrid approach: They’re leveraging multiple clouds as well as numerous types of clouds (both public and private) to maximize the returns on their cloud investments.
Multi-cloud (more than one cloud) and hybrid cloud (using both public and private clouds) strategies overlap. The term multi-cloud encompasses plans of action that involve more than one of the same cloud (e.g., two or more public cloud platforms) as well as hybrid cloud approaches.
The majority (84 percent) of enterprises now have a multi-cloud strategy, and 58 percent have hybrid strategies that mix public and private clouds, according to RightScale.
Why has using multiple clouds and often different types of clouds become common? Here are a few benefits of this approach and reasons why it’s gained popularity in the business world.
1. Different clouds are better suited for different workloads. Leveraging more than one cloud solution makes sense if you consider that not all data and workloads are well-suited for public cloud. Lots of businesses have begun keeping high-risk workloads on private clouds or in data centers, while still realizing the advantages of having lower-risk processes running on public clouds, according to the TechBeacon article “Why is a multi-cloud approach gaining such popularity?”
For instance, a company might move info that doesn’t have significant security requirements to a public cloud but choose to house sensitive financial data on-premises or in a private cloud, particularly given the data breach epidemic and growing cybersecurity concerns.
2. The number of cloud solution options out there has increased considerably. Going with a multi-cloud strategy – rather than just picking one type – makes sense to a lot of enterprises that don’t want to limit themselves to just one platform, especially in the public cloud space, according to the InfoWorld article “What is multicloud? The next step in cloud computing.”
There’s an increasing number of options in the cloud solution space, and it can be difficult to choose just one. With a multi-cloud approach, businesses don’t have to make a choice between, for example, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services; they can use all of them.
3. Businesses with multiple clouds can avoid “vendor lock-in.” Related to the desire to avoid choosing between vendors, a multi-cloud strategy can also help companies avoid “vendor lock-in,” which is defined as “proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, [which] makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs,” according to the TechRepublic article “5 ways to avoid vendor lock-in.”
Having other cloud vendors that you rely on ensures that you aren’t totally reliant on one provider, and it won’t be as big of a deal if you decide to drop one of your cloud vendors.
4. If one cloud goes down, you don’t lose everything. Putting all your workloads on one cloud platform is essentially putting all your eggs in one basket. If that provider experiences an outage, you’re out of luck. However, with workloads running on various cloud platforms, you won’t lose everything if one provider has issues.
If you’d like to learn more about cloud strategy and cloud-based solutions and services, our team of expert consultants would be happy to assist you. We have experience working with various cloud offerings from various vendors in our partner network, so we can provide you with objective assessments of each product, based on your organization’s specific needs and circumstances. Contact us today by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
