Just One is Not Enough: The Rise of Multi-Cloud

According to recent research, nearly one-third of all businesses use four or more cloud vendors, and these organizations are more satisfied. Even the combination of one private cloud and one public cloud fails to be enough. As a result, the number of organizations relying on a multi-cloud approach will steadily increase: Researchers say 86 percent of enterprises plan to need multi-cloud solutions by 2018.

What is driving this multi-cloud trend? There are a number of reasons for multi-cloud adoption. Here are a few of the most significant:

Improved Performance

With a large organization, different departments and divisions will have varying requirements requiring a hybrid solution. Using a multi-cloud vendor approach gives an enterprise the flexibility to meet all those needs, because third-party providers have contrasting strengths and weaknesses as well as services offered. In addition, certain APIs or architectures might or might not be supported by a particular vendor, driving the need for multiple providers. This kind of mixing and matching can also help organizations to make price-sensitive decisions to lower their costs while still providing access to the services, features, and capabilities they require.

Decreased Risk

With multiple cloud vendors, organizations both increase security and decrease risk. Their data resides in multiple places, making them less vulnerable to vendor downtime, as well as data breaches and attacks. In addition, the potential impact of a disaster is significantly decreased and disaster recovery is made easier.

Increased Speed

When speed and latency are issues, organizations can use a cloud vendor located physically closer to end users. This is also why we are seeing a rise in fog computing. Physical location is particularly important when the user experience is affected by the speed—or lack of speed—of applications.

Improved Scalability

If you improve your scalability with cloud computing, it only follows that you further improve it when using multiple vendors, especially when you have needs that can spike with surges in traffic.

Concentrated IT Support

As with scalability, the benefits of cloud computing are increased with a multi-cloud approach by expanding IT capabilities without adding to IT staff. Businesses are essentially outsourcing those IT needs to the vendor, and eliminating the need for staff to manage and maintain legacy servers and data security.

When you have one cloud vendor, that vendor gets to hold all the cards—including pricing and performance—and you are subject to all that vendor’s vulnerabilities. Your cloud computing is a compromise. With multiple cloud vendors, you decrease your risk, increase your performance, and possibly gain some control over your costs. As this trend continues, it could even lead to better options for organizations, as vendors compete on price and services offered and businesses benefit from the competition.

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