{"id":12671,"date":"2020-10-15T10:27:45","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T09:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=12671"},"modified":"2023-01-17T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T10:25:40","slug":"cio-watercooler-making-move-to-multicloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/cio-watercooler-making-move-to-multicloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the CIO Watercooler: Making the Move to Multi-Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years we\u2019ve seen increasing adoption of multi-cloud infrastructure. In a recent survey of public cloud users conducted by Gartner<\/a>, 81% of respondents said they are working with two or more providers.<\/p>\n

Developments in technology have helped to highlight the key advantages of a multi-cloud strategy, and for those with over 1000 employees, or global organisations with multiple locations, multi-cloud has proven a popular infrastructure choice.<\/p>\n

Improvements and market maturity has meant that the core advantages of investing in a multi-cloud infrastructure have come to the fore for large organisations. While the landscape is a complex one, the cost of multi-cloud is no longer the primary driver. Ultimately decision-makers simply want data control and flexibility at a manageable price. According to Hiren Parekh, VP for Northern Europe at OVHcloud:<\/p>\n

“The end goal is having a hybrid cloud approach which is a fully integrated and reversible technology solution to protect your cloud investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the topic on the agenda at CIO Watercooler\u2019s Digital Boardroom last month, where we heard from key IT figures in a variety of industries. In this article, we\u2019ve expanded on a few of the key takeaways for organisations planning and navigating a multi-cloud strategy:<\/p>\n

Multi-cloud uptake<\/h2>\n

In 2018 Forrester conducted a survey<\/a> (commissioned by Virtustream) of cloud strategy and application management decision-makers. Of the 727 respondents surveyed, 86% defined their cloud strategy as \u2018multi-cloud\u2019. Now, according to the Flexera State of the Cloud Report 2020<\/a>, in organisations with 1000+ employees, 93% of IT decision-makers have adopted a multi-cloud strategy, 87% of which leverage hybrid and 6% multiple public. 6% prefer single public, while just 1% use single private.<\/p>\n

The key challenges<\/h2>\n

The cloud infrastructure landscape is still somewhat complex, but ultimately, businesses want flexibility and data control and security. Decision-makers have cited data protection, sovereignty, speed of innovation through integration, smooth cloud migration and control of costs, reversibility, and ability to avoid lock-in as their key challenges and considerations when looking to adopt a cloud strategy. Where decision-makers may have opted for a \u2018trial and error\u2019 approach to their infrastructure, design, strategy and culture are the more effective solutions to adopting a long-term multi-cloud plan.<\/p>\n\t\t