CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Sashank Purighalla, Founder and CEO of BOS Framework.
In the past, what was the typical draw to single-cloud services?
From my experience, single-cloud platforms offer a streamlined and familiar journey for IT teams accustomed to traditional on-premises infrastructure. Managing everything within a single ecosystem reduces complexity, minimizes training needs, and simplifies administration.
Concerns around interoperability and data portability between different cloud platforms have long discouraged multi-cloud adoption. The lack of standardized protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs) has made it challenging to move data and applications seamlessly between different clouds until recently.
Typically, one of the biggest attractions of single-cloud systems is that can offer attractive pricing models by avoiding the overhead of managing multiple providers. This makes it seem the most cost-effective approach and a significant draw for many businesses.
However, businesses are moving towards a multi-cloud approach. An IMB report showed that only 3% of enterprises reported using a single private or public cloud in 2021, down from 29% in 2019, and the number using a multi-cloud approach only continues to grow.
2. What’s causing the shift towards multi-cloud?
One key reason businesses are moving toward a multi-cloud framework is that it provides access to a broader range of services and technologies. This increased flexibility allows companies to choose the best cloud services from multiple providers for each task or workload.
A common misconception with a single-cloud strategy is that businesses get the best price by staying loyal. Be that as it may, adopting multi-cloud means companies avoid vendor lock-in, leveraging the best pricing and features from different providers. Forbes reiterates this point, stating that, on average, adopting a consistent multi-cloud environment is 33.6% cheaper than locking in with major cloud providers.
Another significant benefit related to adopting multi-cloud is scalability and performance. Single-cloud environments can be vulnerable to outages and performance bottlenecks. On the other hand, multi-cloud allows companies to distribute workloads across multiple clouds, improving performance and access to critical data—this is especially important for mission-critical applications.
3. How can multi-cloud infrastructure drive an IT company’s development?
One significant factor is the enhanced service offerings, since businesses with multi-cloud can mix and match services from different providers, like Google Cloud’s AI prowess with Amazon Web Services’ robust storage solutions. This flexibility ensures that companies can tailor solutions to each client or team’s unique needs.
By removing ties to a single vendor’s roadmap, companies can experiment, prototyping and iterating on ideas on one cloud, while retaining business as usual on another. This agility will help keep companies ahead of the curve, allowing them to adapt to changing market demands and customer needs.
Embracing multi-cloud also offers a double-edged competitive advantage: differentiation through unique capabilities and boosted operational efficiency. It allows companies to distribute applications and data globally for peak performance, empowering users with improved resource management and seamless on-demand scaling across diverse cloud environments. If a company needs more resources for a sudden spike in traffic, it can spin up additional instances from another provider, keeping businesses agile and ahead of the pack.
4. What type of company is best suited for a multi-cloud environment?
It’s impossible to say that a specific industry or business size will benefit the most from a multi-cloud strategy. However, some indicators companies can look for might point towards multi-cloud being a better approach for them.
For example, risk-averse companies like banks, insurance companies, and other regulated institutions would benefit from this approach. Multi-cloud can mitigate risk by offering redundancy disaster recovery features, ensuring business continuity in case of outages or disruptions in one cloud provider, and mitigating downtime risks.
Whilst multi-cloud offers the ultimate service buffet for enterprises with complex workloads, setting it up is no walk in the park. It requires skilled engineers and intricate infrastructure, but with the right integrations, it serves up unparalleled flexibility and performance.
Ultimately, the best approach depends on each company’s needs, budget, risk tolerance, and IT capabilities. A thorough analysis of current and future requirements and a cost-benefit assessment is crucial before deciding whether multi-cloud is the right choice.
5. What are the typical challenges of multi-cloud?
The most discussed issue that comes to mind when adopting multi-cloud is complexity. Now, you’re managing distinct infrastructure, APIs, and tools across multiple cloud providers; this requires expertise in different systems, adding a layer of intricacy to operations and maintenance.
Complexity is also linked to ensuring integration and interoperability. Seamlessly connecting services and integrating tools and workflows across separate platforms is a technical challenge. Data needs to flow smoothly to avoid silos, security policies need to be consistent, and operational processes need to be adapted to handle disparate cloud environments.
Another concern that needs to be managed is security, as the more clouds you use, the larger your attack surface becomes. This means more entry points for malicious actors to exploit, requiring vigilant threat detection and incident response across all platforms. And keeping track of security threats across multiple platforms is a challenge, as different dashboards, logging formats, and access controls make it hard to get a holistic view of potential vulnerabilities and suspicious activity—without help from multi-cloud management tools.
6. What strategies do IT companies need to implement for successful multi-cloud adoption?
Investing in automation and orchestration (A&O) tools is a good way to go for efficient multi-cloud management. Agile development thrives on agility, and manual deployments hinder that, so embracing A&O is essential for streamlining multi-cloud deployments. Automating processes, such as configuration management or security patching and updates, ensures swift and consistent delivery, upholding security and compliance standards.
Building on the agility point, A&O provides a unified interface for centralized control over multiple clouds, saving time and effort. By orchestrating workflows, it dynamically moves workloads between clouds based on performance, cost, or compliance requirements, creating a seamless and well-managed multi-cloud experience.
My second recommended strategy revolves around robust security measures, as businesses must protect data across all their cloud platforms. Some key strategies involve centralized management and visibility, threat detection and incident response, and identity and access management. Remember, “robust” means consistent, adaptable, and proactive. Implementing and adapting these measures to your specific environment will help you build a multi-cloud fortress that safeguards your data, applications, and business against evolving threats.
