{"id":24773,"date":"2024-05-15T11:48:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T09:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intellias.com\/?p=24773"},"modified":"2024-08-12T03:46:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T01:46:11","slug":"more-is-better-than-one-does-a-multi-cloud-strategy-pay-off","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/intellias.com\/multi-cloud-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Smart Guide to a Multi-Cloud Strategy: Benefits and Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"
With more and more companies recognizing the benefits of hosting their resources in cloud, adoption of cloud technologies is constantly accelerating. Reports<\/a> say that 94% of businesses worldwide are using cloud computing in one way or another. However, the time has come to consider using not only one cloud but several.<\/p>\n Multi-cloud computing is the approach to building cloud infrastructure made up of more than one cloud service<\/a> from more than one cloud service provider. Freedom to choose the cloud vendor for a particular task gives next-level flexibility and robustness by ensuring that every job is done in the most efficient way possible.<\/p>\n The advantages of multi-cloud infrastructure are clear, and today over 76% of enterprises<\/a> using cloud computing have opted for multi-cloud. This statistic alone may convince you to consider the multi-cloud approach for your business, but let\u2019s look closer at the benefits you may enjoy by distributing your infrastructure over several clouds. There are many cloud providers on the market today. However, the names that immediately come to mind in the context of cloud computing are Amazon Web Services<\/a>, Microsoft Azure<\/a>, and Google Cloud Platform. Indeed, these are the true leaders in this area, together holding more than 60% of the global cloud market.<\/p>\n Global market share of cloud infrastructure service providers <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: Statista<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Naturally, businesses choosing a cloud provider begin with comparing the features and opportunities offered by each of the major players, deciding which provider best fits their needs. All offer hundreds of cloud services and have flexible pricing plans; however, different providers shine in different areas.<\/p>\n For example, AWS platform<\/a> is unrivaled as an infrastructure as a service provider, claiming more than 50% of the total IaaS market according to Statista’s latest report<\/a>. Microsoft Azure is known for its superb integration capabilities, allowing companies to form coherent platforms joining cloud and on-premises resources. Google Cloud Platform tops the ratings in data analytics and machine learning.<\/p>\n Such amazing features from different providers make the choice even harder, until you consider going multi-cloud. Indeed, why not benefit from scalable platforms<\/a> coupled with powerful analytics?<\/p>\n This is the core reason for the growing popularity of the multi-cloud approach to building enterprise infrastructure; however, there are many more benefits of a multi-cloud strategy. Read also: Enterprise Software Platform<\/a><\/p>\n <\/div> \n <\/div><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adopting a well-designed multi-cloud strategy increases freedom in choosing necessary features, strengthens control over cloud costs, latency, and resource availability, and might improve the overall customer experience. However, to fully enjoy the advantages of a multi-cloud strategy, we recommend partnering with a professional cloud software development company<\/a> that can consult you on the most optimal selection of cloud providers and services and help you set up infrastructure that meets your needs.<\/p>\n With a properly organized multi-cloud solution, you will experience a new level of cloud computing advantages.<\/p>\n When you work with several cloud providers for your applications, you get access to their geographic coverage enabled by their distributed networks of data centers<\/a>. Multiple clouds ensure greater coverage, with the ability to choose the data center closest to the end user, thus increasing service availability and minimizing latency.<\/p>\n In a multi-cloud setup, you get access to more than one cloud provider and all their services. As a result, you can choose those services that are most suitable for the specific task, comparing the characteristics of services in several offerings and joining multi-cloud capabilities for a combined benefit.<\/p>\n For example, for some tasks, you might need fast delivery of high-bandwidth content, for which you select AWS CloudFront. Other applications may require a hybrid infrastructure combining cloud and on-premises environments, for which Microsoft Azure<\/a> will be perfectly suited.<\/p>\n The use of multiple clouds is a natural means of ensuring redundancy for fast and effective disaster recovery. When used as a failover solution, multiple clouds provide enterprises with a highly flexible, scalable, and instantly available backup for data and apps.<\/p>\n Moreover, a multi-cloud approach eliminates the risk of vendor lock-in, which makes the business overly dependent on a single cloud provider. In the event of a failure, it is extremely unlikely to affect the entire infrastructure if it is comprised of services by several vendors.<\/p>\n When you are legally obligated to comply with regional regulations, such as the GDPR, the CCPA, or other laws and standards<\/a>, using multiple clouds can be a viable solution, taking care of both data residency and data governance requirements. The wider geographic coverage provided by several cloud service vendors allows you to choose data storage locations in the required jurisdiction.<\/p>\n With a multi-cloud strategy in place, you enjoy the best features and services offered by each cloud vendor and avoid vendor lock-in. As a result, you can benefit from the most pioneering features and technologies implemented by different providers and choose those that meet your business\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When choosing a multi-cloud experience, you must consider some challenges that come with this otherwise effective approach. Still, the benefits of using multiple clouds will surely make up for the possible complexities if you work with a reputable cloud software development company<\/a> to configure your infrastructure.<\/p>\n The greater complexity of a multi-cloud configuration results in proportionately more stringent security requirements. Although cloud providers offer highly secure services out of the box, the practice of dynamically distributing data and workloads between different clouds requires a solid, holistic approach to cybersecurity<\/a>. Reliance on several clouds elevates the importance of regular failover drills.<\/p>\n Any multi-cloud solution requires thoughtful and professional setup, configuration, and continuous oversight. With assets being stored in different clouds and workloads being assigned to varying cloud resources, orchestrating these processes becomes increasingly difficult. You need to make sure that your IT staff are well-versed in all relevant cloud platforms and can maintain an effective interplay between them.<\/p>\n Even a single cloud account can be confusing in terms of the recurring and ad hoc costs of services, subscription levels, quotas, etc. When you use two or three clouds in parallel, it is extremely important to control your spending and shuffle workloads in an optimal manner. Although, you can maintain control over your cloud spending<\/a> if you closely monitor service usage and plan resource consumption.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for cloud service providers to offer exclusive deals and rates to loyal clients. Those offers can include heavily discounted storage, priority service, or other perks. Using services of other cloud providers in addition to your primary one might lead to losing some of your former privileges due to a reduction of business with the former vendor. Weigh your options carefully before deciding to use multiple clouds.<\/p>\n In a multi-cloud setup, identity and access management (IAM) may become complicated, as different vendors might have different IAM practices and requirements. To maintain infrastructure security and integrity, it\u2019s vital to implement and maintain a strong system of infrastructure assessment<\/a> and management in a diverse cloud environment or to invest in a reliable single sign-on solution to control access to all cloud services.<\/p>\n It may seem that using a multi-cloud strategy is a challenge even for mature organizations. However, with meticulous cloud readiness assessment<\/a>, planning, consideration of multiple factors, and a clear understanding of the ultimate goal, this transition may well become the best thing you\u2019ve ever done to boost the potential of your IT infrastructure and make it ready for the future.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re weighing your options in either exploring the versatility of a multi-cloud strategy or remaining with the more straightforward configuration of a single cloud, here\u2019s a side-by-side comparison of the key factors that can tip the scales:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nWhy a multi-cloud solution?<\/h2>\n
\nKey advantages of multi-cloud management solutions<\/h2>\n
Higher performance<\/h3>\n
Choice of best services<\/h3>\n
Enhanced resilience<\/h3>\n
Regulatory compliance<\/h3>\n
Access to the best cloud features without vendor lock-in<\/h3>\n
Main challenges of multi-cloud computing<\/h2>\n
Security<\/h3>\n
Management complexity<\/h3>\n
Cost control<\/h3>\n
Loss of vendor loyalty bonuses<\/h3>\n
Identity management<\/h3>\n
Multi-cloud vs single-cloud<\/h2>\n