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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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LEE JAMES,
CTO EMEA AT
RACKSPACE
I
n 2017, cloud adoption among enterprises in the UK reached
88%, showing that businesses are no longer reliant on internal
data centres and servers. ‘Cloud technology’ has become a
ubiquitous term for a range of services offered online, from web
applications such as Office 365 to AWS storage services. These
technologies have fundamentally changed the way enterprises
operate, with uses such as the enablement of remote working and
scalable websites helping to increase efficiency in a competitive
market. Cloud leaders such as AWS, GCP and Microsoft Azure have
even helped businesses complete their cloud journeys faster than
ever before, thanks to the support they offer and migration services
such as AWS Snowball.
However, while many of the current uses of cloud technology may
have seemed unbelievable a decade ago, one trend stands out.
Businesses are not putting all of the services into one cloud platform
and instead using several cloud services at one time, despite the
challenges this brings.
Multi-cloud, which is defined as ‘any digital environment where
applications are deployed across two or more cloud platforms’, is
rapidly becoming the most common cloud model. A recent study
from IDC revealed that nearly 95% of businesses in 31 countries
have adopted a multi-cloud approach. However, this strategy is
often by accident and many IT leaders and CIOs are unsure if their
business already utilises multiple clouds, raising concerns that they
lack the expertise to make the most of
these platforms.
But what are the benefits of multi-
cloud and why are businesses
following this trend?
When adopting an individual cloud provider,
a business is often selecting them for their
‘USP’, such as AWS’s scalability or GCP’s
Kubernetes expertise. But, when adopting
a multi-cloud approach, there are benefits
aside from gaining access to individual
cloud’s strengths, including:
• No restrictions – Using a single vendor,
businesses risk being exposed to price
increases and unrequested changes in
service. By investing in multiple cloud
providers, a business has more choice as to
where they run their cloud workloads, giving
them leverage to minimise these risks.
www.intelligentcio.com
• Best of both worlds – Instead of being constrained by one
cloud framework, a multi-cloud strategy gives the flexibility
of being able to select the best-suited cloud service for each
department’s workload.
• Geographical flexibility – The leading cloud providers all have data
centres across the globe, however some companies may require
that data for specific workloads resides within certain national
boundaries. A multi-cloud strategy means businesses can easily meet
those requirements, while still engaging with a global cloud platform.
• Disaster mitigation – If a business properly utilises multiple
clouds, they can minimise the risk of
widespread data loss or application
downtime due to a localised failure.
“
A RECENT
STUDY FROM IDC
REVEALED THAT
NEARLY 95% OF
BUSINESSES IN
31 COUNTRIES
HAVE ADOPTED
A MULTI-CLOUD
APPROACH.
With Gartner predicting that multi-cloud
will be the common strategy for 70% of
enterprises by 2019, it’s crucial businesses
work with people with the expertise and
relevant knowledge to make the most of the
technology. This could mean training existing
IT staff with transferable skills that can be
adapted to different cloud technologies or
employing third party cloud experts.
For example, last year we helped online
retailer Internet Fusion to complete their
migration to AWS, resulting in almost
doubled sales over the festive period.
In short, businesses need to work with
people who understand the strengths and
weaknesses of each cloud provider and how
they meet their specific needs. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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