Don't simply manage multi-cloud, make it strategic
Multi-cloud deployment has become commonplace for modern businesses as they strive to get the most bang for their IT buck by combining their own capabilities with a variety of IaaS environments. These multi-cloud deployments offer several well-documented business benefits, including increased agility, IT flexibility and lack of vendor lock-in.
But there are drawbacks. Those tasked with trying to manage multi-cloud deployments will find they are complicated, forcing IT staff to adapt processes as company data moves across different cloud platforms and providers. Workload and app management is made more challenging as relevant information moves from one cloud platform to another. Cloud administrators must guarantee that resources remain secure and meet compliance standards. In addition to these complications, CIOs and IT staff must be sure to maximize each cloud platform's capabilities while minimizing costs -- the traits that made the move to a multi-cloud environment so enticing in the first place.
This is why it is necessary to go beyond just trying to "manage" multi-cloud and instead implement a companywide "multi-cloud strategy." But while implementing this multi-cloud strategy might sound like it leads to too many complications, for most organizations, the business benefits will outweigh the risks. As Gartner research director Elias Khnaser said at the August 2018 Gartner Catalyst conference, it is no longer a matter of if modern organizations will implement multi-cloud, but when.
In other words, any CIO in need of advice to help develop and manage multi-cloud strategy is not alone. We're here to help with this SearchCIO handbook, where we outline the latest best practices to guide a successful multi-cloud strategy. The strategies will go a long way to help during a multi-cloud deployment and help ensure that business, cybersecurity and IT needs are fulfilled once the environment is up and running.
