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Multi-cloud has been discussed within the cloud computing industry for a while, but there is still confusion about what it is and where it fits within the terminology of private, public, and hybrid cloud.

What most agree on is that multi-cloud is about mixing and matching the best-of-breed solutions and services from different cloud providers to create the most suitable solution for a business. It minimises the amount of vendor lock-in and gives organisations more flexibility with their cloud solution over different price-points and by leveraging relative strengths, advantages, and geographic locations.

A recent Dimensional Research survey of more than 650 IT decision-makers found that 77 percent of businesses are planning to implement multi-cloud architectures in the near future. This signifies a big change in perspective for business leaders when you consider that cloud adoption for businesses was relatively uncommon five years ago. It also demonstrates that the benefits of multi-cloud can be applied to a wide range of sectors and industries.

Why adopt multi-cloud solutions?

There are a number of benefits that multi-cloud deployments bring, including:

• Improve disaster recovery and geo-presence
• Ability to use unique cloud-specific services from different providers as they are needed
• Ability to leverage the public cloud benefits of low-cost and unlimited scalability in order to move agile applications to the cloud
• Use of a private cloud for red-tape bound applications or more traditional infrastructure

The phrase “don’t place all your eggs in one basket” is equally applicable to cloud environments. To spread risk across multiple platforms minimises the possibility of downtime as well as being able to be make the most of public cloud cost-savings without being locked into one vendor.

With a multi-cloud disaster recovery plan, businesses become more resilient than ever. Being able to failover from one public cloud provider to another means a business can still carry on as usual, even in the unlikely scenario of one provider being unavailable.

Multi-cloud also gives companies the ability to take advantage of cloud data centres based in various geographic regions. Directing traffic to data centres closest to users based on their location is vital for latency-sensitive applications. Storing data locally also minimises issues over data sovereignty.

Nobody said it was easy

It can be challenging to manage your solutions across different cloud environments and from different vendors. Whilst this is not necessarily an immediate problem, if not monitored and controlled properly, operational issues start stacking up at a rapid speed,  leading to difficulty maintaining access control, bug patches and security updates.

Additionally, the flipside to the potential for multi-cloud cost savings is that the complexity of the different cloud environments can make it difficult to understand the pricing differentiators among all of the cloud providers and the various services that they offer.

The importance of a helping hand

Navigating and managing multi-cloud solutions can be daunting if you do not have an experienced in-house IT team to keep on top of it all. Not only this, managing cloud services takes up time and IT resources which could be better spent elsewhere in the business, such as creating new features and supporting customers.

Many organisations are therefore turning to a managed cloud services provider to assist them with their multi-cloud solution. By partnering with a trusted partner, companies can avoid many of the pitfalls associated with multi-cloud. For instance, by using a proprietary single pane of glass solution from a managed cloud services provider, companies can check all is well with their cloud services from one place. Companies can also utilise their cloud services more efficiently and easily monitor changes and updates.

Long-term management and maintenance of the multi-cloud deployment can be carried out by the provider, which gives the benefit of round-the-clock support to ensure any issues are promptly resolved.

The future of the multi-cloud and what lies ahead

A study conducted by IDC last year found that 86% of enterprises predict they will need a multi-cloud approach to support their solutions within the next two years.  Businesses want the best possible infrastructure, services, and platforms.

However, in order to ensure that a company’s multi-cloud deployment is successful, a business’ different cloud services need to function smoothly and cohesively.

A multi-cloud strategy is transformative for businesses, allowing them flexibility to scale offerings, save on hosting solutions, and ultimately offer better solutions to their customers. By keeping a few key factors in mind when considering a multi-cloud infrastructure, companies can guarantee a successful and pain-free transition as well as create opportunities for innovation.

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The financial sector’s high security and compliance standards have traditionally made it something of a laggard in the adoption of cloud computing. Yet there are indications that momentum is shifting and finance institutions are beginning to benefit from the agility, flexibility, speed and innovation that is missing when running large, on-premise data centres.

But just how secure can customer data and commercial operations be when stored and running on someone else’s infrastructure? The short answer is: very secure. Indeed, cloud services should be at least as secure if not more secure than their in-house equivalents.

Financial organisations have large and complex IT infrastructures that rely on mission-critical legacy applications while conforming to strict compliance criteria and extremely high security requirements. These factors combined, it’s no wonder that cloud computing within finance has traditionally had slow uptake and been met with scepticism. The advancement of flexible cloud hosting options, including the hybrid cloud model, should help financial institutions overcome infrastructure barriers and ensure compliance and security requirements can be met.  All it takes is some careful planning to create a secure and reliable cloud solution that provides financial enterprises, and their customers and clients, peace of mind.

When planning a move to the cloud, confusing security regulations in the EU can be a major issue for financial organisations. A recent study by the European Union Agency for Network and Information found that nearly a quarter of survey respondents felt confusing cloud security regulations in the EU were the main obstacle for implementing a cloud solution. Take the EU Data Protection Directive for example. This regulation governs the storage and transmission of personally identifiable data – making it complicated to ensure security compliance when service providers, as they often do, have multiple data centres in different locations.

These confusing regulations, along with the limitations of traditional cyber security in a cloud environment mean a big headache for IT leaders, stalling the transition to the cloud.

A loss of control is another common concern for CIOs in financial institutions. However, this is no longer a problem as it is possible to roll all your cloud services, whether they are public, private or hybrid, into one single management solution that is controlled and secured centrally.

Contrary to common belief, a cloud solution can actually lead to enhanced security. Financial institutions can implement a public cloud solution, a private cloud solution, or a combination of the two. These solutions often offer institutions more robust security than their IT teams can execute on their own along with additional resources for governance and monitoring. This is because the security elements have been built-in from the ground-up and reviewed by experts outside the institutions.

It is also important to note that embracing the cloud gives financial institutions increased agility and responsiveness. This means that banks can quickly move into new markets and adjust business operations rapidly after an acquisition. Migrating to the cloud is also a great chance to improve code and platforms by installing easy, scalable solutions while avoiding the issues surrounding hardware, software, and additional data centre expenditure.

As more enterprises migrate towards cloud solutions, financial institutions need not be left behind. Cloud computing provides enormous potential benefits to organisations and considerations such as security and compliance should not hinder the migration. With a trusted partner and careful planning, even the most complex IT ecosystems in a financial institution can be moved to the cloud and start reaping its numerous benefits such as agility and flexibility.