5 Effective Tips for Setting up a Successful Multi-Cloud Strategy
Smart, innovative tech solutions have been transforming businesses in every single industry, allowing for smoother, more scalable growth, workflow optimization, and better performance. Among those top technologies that are affecting such a shift is cloud computing, which has gained even more traction ever since the pandemic uprooted our lives. Not that it wasn’t relevant before the health crisis, but it earned more global interest as a result, and pushed companies to alter how they operated.
Over time, some of the larger, more intricate organizations with various departments have started utilizing multiple cloud providers at the same time, creating a hybrid cloud model known as the multi-cloud strategy. It has proven extremely useful for growth-oriented businesses in various sectors, but it also comes with its challenges. To help you offset those potential issues and manage your multi-cloud more effectively, use the listed ideas to your advantage.
Manage access and permits with care
On one hand, your business needs to work to stay compliant with the local and international laws at all times. On the other hand, you also need to help your employees stay in line with your in-house permits and clearly define who can access which parts of which cloud platform you’re using.
As practical as the cloud is for remote and real-time collaboration, you should practice vigorous access control with a multi-cloud strategy. That is the only way to prevent security breaches, reduce the risk of human error, and limit access to unauthorized personnel to the most sensitive business files in your organization.
Use automation at every turn
Even if you have a dedicated team of professionals to monitor your AWS systems and Azure, for example, chances are that they are spending much of their time performing menial tasks that don’t really need humans at all. Out of precaution or fearing to relinquish a portion of the control, too many companies overburden their cloud managers with tasks that can be automated.
Check which processes and repetitive assignments don’t require immediate human management and control. Use the built-in automation tools to set up and cut down on those repetitive tasks. You’ll shave off hours of manual labor while granting more headspace for your team to do more relevant work.
Master the art of each cloud platform
Even though the core principles behind each cloud environment are similar, and you might even use them interchangeably for various projects and departments in your business – they require unique attention. Every cloud infrastructure needs a dedicated team of professionals to handle the cloud and the associated tools within it.
That said, effective AWS cloud management often differs from the procedures you’d use for handling other portions of your multi-cloud strategy, which is why you need professionals to handle it. Understanding the AWS environment and built-in functionalities will elevate your business performance to a whole new level, and you need the same level of in-depth knowledge for every cloud provider you choose to work with.
Take care of security for all cloud tech
Yes, each cloud provider like IBM or Amazon ensures that your cloud infrastructure has some core security prerequisites in place. Cloud engineers continuously work on improving the environment to adapt it to modern-day business needs, allowing companies to use them without worrying about cloud cybersecurity in the process.
With a multi-cloud strategy, you need to make sure that any and all interactions between your cloud environments are secure, properly supervised, and that you have the right protocols in place. Create dedicated training programs for new employees and see to it that they complete their training and apply the knowledge in all the relevant processes.
Prepare for ongoing optimization
Once you have selected the most appropriate cloud providers and their services for your business, you also need to learn as much as possible about different ways to customize and adapt the cloud to your company. Cloud computing is still evolving, and we can only expect more changes to come. In the meantime, your multi-cloud strategy needs to be flexible and agile enough to adapt to your business needs.
Start using various performance monitoring tools and reporting software to see how much of each cloud environment you’re actually using. Is any of your money being wasted because you’re paying for a premium cloud environment without utilizing half of its potential? Maybe you need a new data backup strategy that will help you treat one cloud environment as the main sector for your developers, but the other one can be your backup unit. All in all, optimizing cloud performance on the go should be a natural part of your strategy.
Over to you
Setting up a single cloud environment to suit your business is challenging. When you need to complete the same process several times, while retaining consistency all along and making sure those new platforms can co-exist in your business, it gets even more intricate.
Having a well-developed strategy with plenty of wiggle room to make changes along the way helps you stay on track with your business goals without hindering your own growth. Use these ideas to keep track of your multi-cloud approach and make the most of all the tools at your disposal.
About the author: Mike Johnston is an experienced blogger and editor with a background in creative writing and digital media. He’s produced thousands of pages of original, engaging content for numerous online publications throughout his career. Mike’s specialties are business and technology, but he also often writes about travel, lifestyle and work-life balance.
