The myths and truths about multi-cloud

There’s little question that when it comes to cloud, for most organizations, multi-cloud is already reality. According to Flexera’s latest 2020 State of the Cloud report, 93% of enterprises respondents reported having multi-cloud strategies.

So, why are so many organizations formally or informally embracing multi-cloud strategies? It could be one of many answers. The most cited answer is fear of cloud vendor lock-in, but hold that thought, because from what we’ve seen, inertia tops the list. Simply stated, most organizations have one of everything scattered across their IT portfolios.

As we’ve noted, the 2020s are the point where we believe that for enterprises, cloud adoption comes center stage. Most have had a decade or more experience using the cloud, likely starting at department level, and evolving as new parts of their businesses have gone digital and as new cloud-native services like AutoML, analytics, and IoT hubs emerge to tap the full infinite, horizontal scale that’s possible with the cloud. 

All this ignores the 16-ton gorilla in the room. Enterprises were already finding their businesses trending more digital before the pandemic, and since then, the transition to virtual has grown even more abrupt as entire industry sectors are having to reimagine, not only how they deliver products and services, but shift the mix of products and services that they offer. And it further accelerates migration to the cloud as enterprises need to focus full bore, not on keeping the data center lights on, but on navigating their core businesses. 

Which brings us back to multi-cloud. As noted, most enterprises are already running in multiple clouds, and most (if they are not reference customers) are committed to staying the course. But as they transition more of the running of their business to cloud computing, what will a multi-cloud strategy involve?

For our take, check out the full post on ZDnet.