Pure Storage Explains The Stages Of A Professional Cloud Roadmap
In contrast to catchy marketing slogans, simply opting for a multi-cloud strategy is not. Recognizing the need for multi-cloud, whether to cut costs, improve security, or accelerate digital transformation, is an important step. Still, it is not the formal strategy for managing and supporting multi-cloud. Implementations are required to get the highest ROI from these initiatives.
Pure Storage is increasingly confronted with the topic of “Multi-Cloud” and reports from practice on the essential stages of a professional multi-cloud timetable:
However, many companies have either not yet realized the difference or are unaware of the value a formal strategy brings, which is understandable. It’s not uncommon for companies to take an ad hoc approach and go ahead. While this approach may work for some organizations, it rarely develops the infrastructure needed to support modern cloud architectures, and it often undermines the success of the digital transformation.
Then there are the companies that haven’t even considered developing a multi-cloud strategy because they don’t understand how many cloud services they are using. According to a 2019 McAfee study of cloud risk and adoption, “the average business uses 1,935 unique cloud services, up 15 percent year over year. Most companies think they have around 30.” Many of these companies would probably have preferred to have a strategy in place before the number of their cloud services grows exponentially. Still, the speed at which cloud services expand is often the oversight lost.
Avoid Problems With An Effective Strategy
Without a strategy, organizations face several severe and complicated problems, typically including the following:
- Introduce unnecessary complexity into your IT environment and face the prospect of having to unravel multiple ad hoc approaches.
- Stress on IT staff who may not have the skills and tools necessary to effectively manage a multi-cloud environment (or solve its complexity).
- Lack of the proper IT infrastructure, such as B. modern, flexible data storage to support your multi-cloud environment.
- Inadequate monitoring and control of cloud services.
- Due to a lack of governance, I am struggling with “cloud growth”, the uncontrolled spread of cloud instances or cloud presence.
- Regulatory compliance challenges and the risk of not knowing where the data is stored and perhaps not realizing the extent of the shared responsibility.
That’s a long list, but there’s something else: the unrealized ROI or other business value these companies leave on the table. That’s because they don’t understand that the motivation for using multi-cloud (e.g. to ensure business continuity) is not the same as the goal of multi-cloud: aligning cloud usage with the company’s broader business strategy.
How Can This Alignment Be Achieved? A Strategy Is Required
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing a multi-cloud strategy, all companies should consider the following points when developing their strategy:
Prioritize Interoperability
Interoperability in cloud computing means that different cloud services and platforms understand each other, work together, and exchange information. According to an Accenture-sponsored Everest Group study, “When interoperability is at the heart of a multi-cloud strategy, workloads come together to drive business agility, reduce technology costs, and harmonize processes.”
When companies hire professionals for their team, they evaluate candidates based on their résumé and skills and whether they are a good fit with the company culture and can work together effectively. The same procedure applies when implementing a multi-cloud solution. Just because the solution looks good on paper doesn’t mean it fits well. If the functions that the solution offers do not include the current infrastructure and this is only selected based on its “résumé”, it is, in the end, a wrong answer.
Include Automation From The Start
Organizations looking to implement multi-cloud deployments must invest in world-class automation management tools. Without it, companies will not be able to effectively orchestrate data, applications and infrastructure across different cloud environments, effectively monitor their multi-cloud environment or automatically adjust workloads.
Automation enables companies to continuously innovate by quickly leveraging the strengths of various cloud services when the need for new functionality arises. With the automatic logging and Storage of information in the cloud, companies can accumulate more big data more quickly and, in turn, accelerate its analysis and application for their decision-making.
Include DevOps In The Strategy
Recent research by IDC on Red Hat found that 100 percent of companies worldwide are investing or evaluating DevOps for faster innovation and greater agility. According to IDC, more than a third of enterprise application development projects will be using DevOps by the end of this year.
DevOps workloads will have to run in multi-cloud environments. Organizations looking to expand their DevOps use must consider this when developing their multi-cloud strategy and planning multi-cloud investments. However, companies should also consider how their IT teams can leverage DevOps tools and processes to help the company better manage and realize the benefits of multi-cloud. For example, a DevOps-aware approach to multi-cloud would include standardizing and automating much testing and deployment.
Invest In A Modern Storage Infrastructure
Organizations need a suitable storage base to support their multi-cloud environment. By implementing modern, flexible Storage, companies can adapt to modern cloud architectures and scale faster and easier for different workloads and variable data patterns.
Intelligent investments in storage infrastructure can enable companies to accelerate digital transformation, increase analytics maturity, and seamlessly switch between private and public clouds to unite cloud ecosystems in one data layer.
Be Critical And Selective, But Also Remain Flexible
Introducing a multi-cloud strategy does not mean that all applications and infrastructures have to be relocated to the cloud. It’s often better to leave certain things in place. Organizations should think carefully about what should be moved to the cloud – and why. Knowing why they should move to the cloud is key to balancing their multi-cloud motivation with their goal.
Regardless of these decisions, choosing the proper basic infrastructure can offer flexibility to adapt over time what remains and what is possible and make this back and forth possible. When cloud interoperability is a priority, a framework for flexibility is already in motion. When cloud providers bring new functions or lower prices to the market, interoperability enables specific workloads to be converted and new, cloud-based products and processes to be used.
One Last Tip: Develop The Strategy Further
The work is not done once the multi-cloud strategy is defined. In the opinion of Pure Storage, it must be continuously developed to meet the changing requirements and needs – and ideally to anticipate them. With a well-thought-out and dynamic multi-cloud approach supported by the right tools, functions and infrastructures, the overall strategy can be more easily adjusted if necessary. Environments can be optimized over time, and planning for future network and cloud rollout requirements can be made.
