As the world advances toward new forms of technology, it can be challenging for business owners to decide what structures, formats, and applications will work for them. Internal technology teams must operate efficiently while adapting to ever-changing conditions in the workforce and consumer environments.
Companies of every size should have an agile digital transformation strategy to improve adoption rates and come out of challenging periods (such as a global pandemic) above the competition. Agile, scalable, and secure infrastructures come from a future-ready cloud or multi-cloud platform.
If you remain entirely unsure whether a cloud program is right for your company, there are ways for your IT team to assess your business’s current and future needs to determine if the multi-cloud will work for you. Data modernization is essential to the future, but it’s up to you to decide your approach.
How to Assess the Applicability of the MultiCloud for Your Company
Though all businesses should embrace digital advancement, even in its most basic form, there are a few for which the multi-cloud approach may not make sense. The proper assessment is necessary, and through a strategic operational scrutinization, you can begin to establish if the multi-cloud will enhance your business practices. It’s all about knowing when the time is right to put a multi-cloud infrastructure into action.
Remember, adopting a multi-cloud strategy comes with some initial increase in costs and time spent. If your company does not have a legitimate reason to assume multi-cloud operations, you might take on too much complexity without tangible benefits regarding your ROI.
Compliance
Complying with industry regulations concerning security, for example, is a significant driver for many businesses to jump on the multi-cloud operational bandwagon. Legal concerns that could represent a potential risk to the company (whatever those may be) that can be rectified through cloud migration encourage most business owners to leap to the multi-cloud.
Flexibility
The flexibility of an organization is essential to operational efficiency. The multi-cloud allows business owners and IT teams to increase speed, create new user-friendly tools, and amp up their customer-based services and technologies.
The overnight transition from office-based work to working from home was a wake-up call to the world regarding the need for business flexibility. If flexibility within your company is a goal, then the multi-cloud is your answer.
Cut Out Downtime
Reducing the downtime for a suite of already containerized services can help your business achieve a consistent operational workflow. In the long run, this will optimize your return on investment. Though the initial switch to the multi-cloud is undoubtedly time-consuming and, for some companies, incredibly overwhelming, it’s worth the inevitable ROI increase.
Establishing the Resources
Any shift to a cloud platform requires substantial technical resources to execute the move correctly. If you think your team is ready for a multi-cloud approach, you have to fully grasp the capabilities and objectives of your organization and any potential tradeoffs, both short and long-term.
The Multi-Cloud and Success
Your business’s success in implementing a multi-cloud strategy depends on the strength of the resources that back you, though many aspects of the multi-cloud drive overall business success. Reasons to utilize the multi-cloud can go from simple to complex quickly, so let’s take a look at how the multi-cloud can help your business succeed.
Workload Optimization
A multi cloud strategy allows companies to pick and choose vendors that can best help them optimize their workload and operational services. Working from a multi-cloud perspective makes it easy to assess different vendor strengths and weaknesses and apply them to your needs.
Cloud environments have a way of operating similarly and differently all at once. While one platform may have a great test environment, another might be better for production. The good news is that a multi-cloud platform allows you to work with more than one vendor, thereby creating a workflow that fuels your output on every level.
Reliability
One of the most appealing aspects of the multi-cloud for business owners is its reliability. Multiple-cloud infrastructure often supports potential disaster and business continuity plans, should it be met in the face of an old legacy system data breach, extreme weather, a power outage, or a global pandemic.
It only makes sense to use (at least) two different cloud systems to form your disaster backup. However, you’ll want to pay attention to geography here, primarily from an extreme weather perspective. Choose cloud providers that host data far enough apart that if one provider loses power to severe weather, you still have data online in another location.
When you utilize the multi-cloud, you have your data up and running when you need it, no matter what is happening in the outside world. That alone can set your business far apart from your competition when it comes to consumer trust.
Security and Compliance
We mentioned compliance and security above as one of the main reasons businesses venture into a multi-cloud platform to start. The utilization of more than one multi-cloud provider could help many organizations succeed in stellar security measures and comply with the level of security required within their specific industry.
Many enterprises keep data stored in a private or public cloud within the national borders to comply with security regulations relevant to the business. Whatever security or data center best meets your compliance needs is the one you should choose within your multi-cloud approach.
Migrating to the Multi-Cloud
It’s not to say that a migration to the multi-cloud comes without its challenges. There are undoubtedly many of them, present on different levels, for every business attempting the switch. The proper preparation and allocation of resources can help.
Moving to a multi-cloud infrastructure when you’re not ready consumes unnecessary cash and time. The process has to begin with you understanding what the cloud and multi-cloud entail and determining if what the platform offers (as a whole, not broken down into vendors) is relevant to your business needs. Though multi-cloud technology may not suit you now, the odds are high that it will work in the future.
