Security Defines Multi-Cloud Infrastructure Success, IT Leaders Say

Almost half of surveyed IT leaders reported struggles with balancing application performance and security as the top performance challenge when it comes to implementing multi-cloud infrastructure, according to a new report conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Prosimo.

On the other hand, over 60 percent of respondents equated consistent security measures with multi-cloud infrastructure success, showing that a lack of security is one of the main inhibitors to organizations embracing multi-cloud networking strategies.

“The way that enterprises approach multi-cloud remains defined by four key pillars: cloud networking, application performance, security, and observability,” the report stated.

“Cloud networking is often in tension with security, which itself is seen as the biggest barrier to application performance. Overall, enterprises face the persistent challenge of achieving simplification and consistency across clouds.”

The report also found that COVID-19 pressures catalyzed digital transformation for many healthcare organizations as they shifted toward telehealth and IoT patient monitoring. Surveyed healthcare organizations reported seeing multi-cloud as an essential strategy for delivering health services. Data governance and simplified operations were found to be crucial to healthcare given the complexity of the industry and sensitivity of health data.

Cloud adoption can enable streamlined operations, but the multi-cloud journey presents hurdles to success, specifically in regard to security.

“Part of that challenge is that, to operationalize their multi-cloud journey, most enterprises are using a combination of strategies, from multi-cloud networking [MCN] vendors, legacy networking, mid-mile security solutions, to homegrown solutions,” the report pointed out.

“Integration of these tools between teams is not simple – and in fact, there is often finger-pointing among networking, security, operations, and other teams when problems arise especially when it comes to resolving performance issues. Enterprises will have to think differently about their multi-cloud strategy to achieve a truly frictionless journey.”

Over 55 percent of respondents said that maintaining consistent security policies across cloud environments was one of their biggest security challenges when it comes to multi-cloud. In addition, 57 percent of respondents identified enabling zero trust network access (ZTNA) for cloud workloads across providers as a major hurdle.

Other security concerns included managing disparate security tools across on-premises and cloud environments, maintaining comprehensive visibility, and shadow IT.

When choosing a cloud service provider (CSP), the research revealed that organizations prioritize the vendor’s ability to extend security solutions such as zero trust, followed by the ability to reduce operational challenges.

Researchers recommended that organizations work to achieve long term unity across networking, performance, security, and observability. Additionally, organizations should begin to build a multi-cloud transit and leverage CSPs to enable progress.

“For enterprises to be successful, they will need to unify their operations with a more frictionless, dynamic, autonomous approach to multi-cloud,” the report concluded.

“In other words, enterprises will require a unified way to manage security, networking, application performance, and observability to deliver better application experiences, achieve their goals for business agility, and achieve a frictionless multi-cloud journey.”