If you are still framing your cloud strategy around a private vs. public cloud debate, it is time to reimagine how your organization is using cloud features, capabilities and services and to focus instead on how to maximize the value of all your clouds.
Today’s reality is that almost every organization is using multiple clouds and will continue to do so. Think about it: If you use applications such as Office 365, Salesforce or Workday, those are three different cloud services. That’s not even counting additional cloud services you may be using from the hyperscale providers.
What’s more, companies such as VMware, Dell Technologies and Intel have evolved their offerings to support modern innovations. In turn, some service providers, such as Rackspace Technology, are taking advantage of these advances to deliver the key benefits of cloud once thought available only from hyperscalers—agility, automation, self-service, rapid provisioning, elastic scalability and consumption-based pricing—with hybrid and private cloud solutions that offer more control over security, compliance and cost management.
See “Enhanced Capabilities for Private Cloud and VMware Cloud Provide Added Flexibility”
Separate research studies by Forrester Research and Rackspace Technology indicate that 65% to 70% of organizations are using private clouds and/or data centers or colocation facilities as critical elements of their multicloud environments, as discussed in a recent webinar titled “What Your Cloud Strategy May Be Overlooking.”
In the webinar, Bill Martorelli, principal analyst at Forrester, succinctly sums up the opportunity to optimize the hybrid multicloud environment: “The fastest digital businesses create connected cloud ecosystems with their customers at the center.”
So, what factors might you be overlooking—or, to frame it another way, what are some of the key areas you should be evaluating as you seek to evolve and optimize your overall multicloud strategy? Here are five to consider.
Factor No. 1: Cloud is not a choice between private and public.
When considering public or private cloud, an either-or approach is limiting and not advised. Instead, take a more progressive perspective on which model is needed to drive real business outcomes. Many of the benefits developers are seeking from the hyperscaler environment are now achievable in both cloud models. You can use consistent platforms and tools across clouds as well as advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, or leverage automation for infrastructure as code for CI/CD pipelines with solutions like VMware Cloud.
You can also deploy hybrid cloud solutions on Dell VxRail HCI that use 3rd Gen Intel Xeon processors to maximize performance and deliver intrinsic security protections. You can even create a connected ecosystem of clouds, both public and private, that shares data and workloads. The idea is to use all of your clouds in concert to deliver the best business outcomes—which means finding the best technologies and partners to effectively manage the different cloud environments, regardless of which clouds you are using.
Factor No. 2: Cloud is an operating model, not a destination.
Organizations shouldn’t think in terms of having a multicloud strategy but rather an IT strategy that supports their business. If using multiple clouds is the right way to go, the IT strategy needs to include a way to leverage those across the environment. A modern IT strategy recognizes that cloud is about how you consume, manage and interact with the digital resources you need for your business and not about where those resources sit.
Focus on how your company is organized, what problems you are trying to solve and what makes sense for your workloads. If you focus on what is best for the business, you can evolve to an operating model that allows you to consume cloud in the way you want, when you want it, using the platform you want.
Elevating the Value of Private Cloud Through Innovative Technologies
Read this paper to learn how to applying innovative new technologies to private cloud environments, can enhance the benefits of private cloud while also being able to access leading-edge applications.
Download NowFactor No. 3: It’s all about workloads and applications.
Decisions should be made workload by workload, based on which cloud model is best suited to deliver the defined business outcomes you are seeking. This is driven by shifting from being infrastructure-focused to application-focused. It’s not that infrastructure isn’t important, because it is. It’s about where the infrastructure decision comes into play and whether there’s value in your IT teams managing infrastructure vs. innovating.
Rather than building applications to fit a particular infrastructure, deploy infrastructure to support the needs of the applications. And don’t let the infrastructure slow down your teams. Offloading infrastructure management, whether on premises or in the cloud, to a service provider like Rackspace Technology can lift the burden from your IT team so it can focus on which problems your applications are solving and look for tools that enable success. Remember, applications have requirements, and those requirements should inform your infrastructure and cloud decisions.
Factor No. 4: Hybrid cloud can be temporary or permanent.
There are workloads where it doesn’t make sense to shift them to the cloud—for example, back-office workloads that aren’t cloud-friendly and applications that simply aren’t viable to transform because of cost, compliance, security, performance or other considerations. Some applications fall into more of a transitional category, whereby cloud migration makes sense but not now. These workloads can be moved to a familiar hosting environment such as VMware Cloud while the transformation strategy is being developed. This could be temporary or permanent.
Cloud native does not mean hyperscale cloud. A benefit of using a platform such as VMware Cloud is the flexibility a common foundation provides to run traditional workloads as well as develop and run cloud-native workloads on the same platform and across multiple clouds. This way, you can leverage the best of each cloud service.
Factor No. 5: Service providers can simplify complexity.
Cloud was supposed to simplify IT, but in reality, multicloud ecosystems are increasingly complex. As noted by Forrester’s Martorelli, companies are finding it challenging to manage effectively across different cloud environments, particularly as their “whole cloud” journeys grow and mature. Consider enlisting the help of a service provider that can help simplify your cloud experience. Among the capabilities they can offer are:
- Advise, build and implement cloud strategies.
- Manage multicloud operation services.
- Modernize and migrate applications.
- Develop and deploy cloud-native apps.
- Improve the economics of the cloud—for example, with consumption-based services or through capabilities that reduce cloud data egress charges (see “Finally, a Path to Reducing Public Cloud Egress Fees”).
- Supplement your IT staff with expertise and resources to ensure successful cloud transformation, particularly at a time when specialized IT skills are in high demand (see “The Cloud Expertise Shortage Is Real; This New Services Model Helps You Overcome It”).
- Deploy security solutions and services for multicloud environments.
Finding a service provider that can do all the above and more ensures you’ll have the right expertise no matter where your transformation plans take you.
Taking the Next Step
When it comes to evolving your multicloud strategy, Rackspace Technology offers the broadest range of solutions, services and expertise in the industry. From VMware and hyperscaler clouds, to migration services and hybrid cloud integration, to cloud-native development and Kubernetes as a service, Rackspace Technology offers solutions to optimize your cloud journey and accelerate the value of your multicloud environment.
In conjunction with partners such as Dell Technologies, VMware, Intel and other industry leaders, Rackspace Technology is changing the way organizations look at cloud and cloud services, enabling them to focus on outcomes to achieve business goals. For more information on how to evolve and optimize your multicloud strategy, please visit Rackspace Technology.
