In a multi-cloud world, costs can multiply
Plenty of businesses decide that they want to work with multiple cloud providers, while other organizations end up in a multi-cloud situation more or less by accident. Whatever the reasons, it's much more difficult to assess the cost of cloud services when you work with more than one provider.
The multi-cloud strategy gives a business access to a mix of services and capabilities that no single platform could deliver. And with multiple providers, an organization buys the peace of mind that comes from knowing that operations can continue even if something goes wrong with one service.
When an organization has cloud workloads that run in multiple places, there's understandable concern about overspending. No one wants to spend more than is necessary, but the frustration is heightened if that company set out on its multi-cloud journey with the specific expectation that it would save money by using more than one public cloud provider.
Just how big a problem is this? It's hard to know for sure. To track the costs of cloud services is by itself a complication that businesses struggle with -- if they even bother to try. What is clear is that more organizations work in the multi-cloud world. In fact, more than half of businesses use services from at least two public cloud providers -- estimates from analyst shops range from 60% to 80%. It's not uncommon for a company to have three or even four providers.
This handbook explores the difficulties associated with controlling the cost of cloud services in multi-cloud environments and looks at ways to mitigate this ongoing challenge.
