Multi-cloud is here to stay, that much we already know – but the sheer extent of its growth is helping enterprises move mission-critical applications to the cloud.
That is the key finding from a new report by cloud technology provider Virtustream. The study, titled ‘Multi-cloud Arises from Changing Cloud Priorities’ and conducted alongside Forrester, found the vast majority (86%) of respondents see their current cloud strategy as multi-cloud. What’s more, 60% of enterprises polled said they are now moving, or have already moved, mission-critical apps to the public cloud.
According to the research – which polled 727 cloud technology decision makers at businesses with more than 1,000 employees – almost half of enterprises spend at least $50 million annually on cloud initiatives. Yet the study also argues greater alignment between cloud technologies and business objectives are needed. 42% of those polled said operational efficiency was their top priority this year, ahead of innovation.
When it comes to selecting a vendor, IT is most likely to be involved in vendor choice, with only certain sections of the C-suite – chiefly the CIO – also getting involved. According to survey respondents, a multi-cloud approach offers three key benefits; improved IT infrastructure management, cited by 33% of respondents, better IT cost management (33%) and improved security and compliance (30%).
Yet cost and security are two hurdles which organisations need to cross before going full-tilt into multi-cloud, according to Gaurav Yadav, founding engineering and product manager at software-defined storage provider Hedvig.
Writing for this publication earlier this month, Yadav also noted the eventual goal of multi-cloud – rather than negotiating and balancing between several vendors more than willing to sell you more of their ecosystem – is truly cloud-agnostic infrastructure.
“The promise of a cloud-agnostic infrastructure is to make data easier to access and more affordable to store long-term by putting different types of data into different clouds for their various benefits and cost structures,” Yadav wrote. “Multi-cloud deployments strengthen business continuity and resilience, empower DevOps development and cloud-native applications, and optimise regulatory compliance and service delivery for global organisations.”
“Multi-cloud is a clear reality of the next era in cloud computing,” said Deepak Patil, Virtustream senior vice president product and technology. “Whether it is employed to balance risk or to leverage the advantages and use cases of various cloud platforms – enterprises are increasingly moving their workloads to multiple cloud providers.”
Read more: Why you need to work through the growing pains to make the most out of multi-cloud