How to Master Multi-Cloud Management

Multi-cloud environments are on the rise thanks to benefits that include easier disaster recovery, the flexibility to spin up and offload resources on demand, and freedom from vendor lock-in.   

Multi-cloud strategy vs hybrid cloud

Multi-cloud strategy isn’t the same as a hybrid cloud strategy, which mixes private on-premises cloud and a third-party online cloud from a single provider. A multi-cloud environment may include a hybrid cloud. But with servers spread across multiple vendors, there is no orchestration to unify the entire environment. When you consider the de facto use of cloud services by employees and business units outside of IT, many companies are already multi-cloud, whether they call it that or not.

Multi-Cloud Management

With no one cloud model being the best for every workload, there’s growing consensus that multi-cloud environments will be mainstream within a few years. Requirements between business functions and departments can vary significantly.

A multi-cloud architecture gives organizations more flexibility to address different requirements. But without orchestration or connections between the servers run by multiple vendors, it also gives companies more to manage. This creates a number of multi-cloud challenges, including:

• Tracking what’s stored on each server and their uses
• Securing data spread across multiple clouds and providers
• Managing performance — The more cloud environments in use, the harder it is to track latency issues and maximize uptime

To make the most of their multi-cloud environment, companies need to leverage a multi-cloud management platform (CMP).

Why Use a Multi-Cloud Management Platform?

An effective cloud management platform simplifies the deployment and operation of apps and databases across several different cloud providers. It does so by acting as a broker between providers and cloud users to improve enterprise visibility of cloud resources, reduce administrative headaches and optimize resources. With a CMP, organizations enjoy the benefits of multi-cloud without the complexity by:

• Optimizing costs. A CMP provides insight and visibility into cloud spend and can help with budgeting, allowing companies to stretch IT budgets across multiple cloud providers while minimizing costs.
• Improve efficiency. Managing individual clouds is heavily time- and resource-intense. A CMP automates and streamlines many tasks, and improves efficiency by enabling administration from one dashboard.
• Ensure security and compliance. Security isn’t just hard to manage with multiple vendors, silos can become so opaque that it’s hard to spot risks. By providing a top-level view of security and allowing IT to drill down into the security of each cloud, a CMP ensures that cloud environments are as secure and compliant as possible.

Right Application, Right Cloud, Right Management Platform

Managing your multi-cloud environment doesn’t have to be complex, and neither does selecting the right CMP.  OneNeck’s ReliaCloud CMP will unify your on-premises, public, private or hybrid clouds together via a single platform, providing you with a “single pane of glass” to automate, manage, monitor, secure and govern your clouds, from a consolidated view.  Contact us today to discuss your cloud management needs or to schedule a demo of ReliaCloud CMP.

For more valuable reading, download our multi-cloud toolkit.