Design a multicloud strategy that’s sure to be a win

Multicloud is no longer a vision for the future; it’s here and, what’s more, it has become the business norm. About 90% of enterprises use a multicloud strategy, leveraging an average of 2.6 public clouds and 2.7 private clouds.

The benefits of a multicloud strategy — and the reasons for its widespread adoption — are clear. Multicloud offers better reliability, greater security, improved scalability, and enhanced governance.

While enterprises can meet these objectives to some degree, there’s a resounding theme: the same enterprises feel inhibited by the complexities of managing multicloud operations.

“When you deal with this complexity, you find that the very thing that was going to create the efficiency and solve all the problems has now delivered you three new problems to solve: inefficiency, risk, and waste,” notes Ruby Raley, Axway’s VP of Healthcare.

Multicloud complexities that can create doubt

While business leaders see the value in multicloud adoption, they tend to feel doubtful about the strategy behind it. The growing use of multicloud has translated into more integrations, storage systems, required expertise, and other variables that make the infrastructure increasingly complex to manage.

Ruby Raley says it best:

To sum it up: security leaders can feel concerned about the lack of a single control pane. In the event of a security attack, will they be able to efficiently handle the incident?

Tech leaders, meanwhile, worry about missing project deadlines. Multicloud can be an “operations nightmare.” Tech teams must learn how to oversee the multicloud while keeping current operations up and running.

Then there’s executive-level leadership. They’re promised an ROI that comes with a multicloud strategy, and delays in reaching those objectives put them in a difficult place.

Read 10 reasons to move your managed file transfer to a managed cloud service.

A game plan to support your multicloud strategy

There are no doubt a lot of variables to consider in a multicloud strategy. And while that may be challenging, it can also be beneficial.

“The good thing is you’ve got a lot of different players on your team that you can pull together and lean on to support making some success and driving things forward,” states Chris McCauley, Axway’s VP of Channel & Ecosystem sales.

The key to earning and maintaining universal support? Making use of standardization tools to drive efficiencies.

Consider this scenario. You have applications in the cloud that require more applications in the cloud, with files stuck somewhere between. You need to normalize the workflows, and while building code is an option, it uses up a lot of time and resources.

The most efficient drive to the hoop is with standardized MFT tools. The tools operate across all clouds, support clustering, and offer cross-cloud visibility.

Other multicloud plays have added complexities. For instance, enterprises may want to automate cross-cloud applications and file flows between an ERP system, Salesforce, and a marketing app.

That way, the right information funnels between the platforms for total file orchestration.

Enterprises can achieve this with Lambda code, Azure functions, and Splunk’s customizable dashboards. But standardization is once again the most efficient solution.

The playbook for navigating multicloud madness

Controlling multicloud complexity starts with standards and consolidation. Having a consistent method of doing things makes it easier to scale and solve various architectural problems.

Seeing as how one architecture may not fit all scenarios, solutions must be flexible, too. At the same time, each architecture must be resilient, with failovers in place to reduce disruption.

While you can’t end risk, you can reduce it. As an example, consider segregating traffic by a line of business or criticality of the flow. Separation of concerns can help enterprises gain more resilience and be better equipped to meet SLAs.

It’s also important to think about ways to make the most of investments.

When consolidating your MFT, you can bring that standardization and a higher level of volume to the table as a negotiation tactic. Ensure the MFT vendor gives you the flexibility of any server anywhere to accommodate your needs.

The fact is, technology is going to continue to advance at lightning speed. Being able to grasp and control as much as possible is what’s important to keep chaos in check and get your multicloud strategy off on the right foot.