According to a new survey that found higher-than-expected cloud usage amidst the economic downturn, enterprises are adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies at a healthy rate. However, challenges like increasing implementation expenses and other complexities may play spoilsport in organizations’ cloud adoption plans over the next three years.

A majority of organizations today have a cloud strategy in place. To be precise, almost 92% of them have a multi-cloud strategy or are in the process of putting one in place in the coming days, according to a survey conducted by FlexeraOpens a new window . 

The trend of embracing a multi-cloud strategy will also continue over at least the next three years, with 64% of organizations deploying multiple cloud models, as per Nutanix’s new reportOpens a new window on the cloud. 

However, managing across cloud boundaries remains a significant barrier for organizations, with 87% admitting that multi-cloud sustainability demands simpler management throughout mixed-cloud infrastructures. A hybrid multi-cloud strategy is appropriate for addressing significant problems such as interoperability, security, cost, and data integration, according to 83% of those surveyed.

“While businesses are now viewing and using IT more strategically than ever before, the complexity of multi-cloud is creating challenges that are standing in the way of cloud success,” said Rajiv Ramaswami, the president and CEO of Nutanix. “Solving these complexities is giving way to a new hybrid multi-cloud model that makes the cloud an operating model rather than a destination.”

This year, the survey participants were asked about their current cloud challenges and how and where they plan to host business apps in the future. The pandemic’s influence on previous, present, and foreseeable IT infrastructure developments and how IT strategy and objectives could change, as a result, were also reviewed.

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Key Findings

Top multi-cloud cloud challenges

Managing security (49%), data integration (49%), and cost (43%) across cloud borders are the top multi-cloud issues. While multi-cloud is the most popular operating model and the only one predicted to expand, most businesses struggle to manage many private and public clouds. This reality isn’t going away. IT leaders realize that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to cloud computing. Therefore, hybrid multi-cloud, an IT operating model that includes multiple private and public clouds with interoperability, is ideal for most respondents.

The pandemic effect

The pandemic has influenced how organizations function, and multi-cloud has helped them adjust to the new normal. Because of recent disruptions, more than half of respondents (61%) said they are focusing on providing more flexible work arrangements. While most companies indicate that their remote workforces may shrink or increase in the future, they are here to stay for the time being. Multi-cloud is the most flexible IT environment for enabling this flexibility by spreading data across many geolocations for user proximity and business continuity.

Application mobility

The importance of application mobility cannot be understated. Over the previous 12 months, nearly all organizations (91%) have transferred one or more applications to a new IT environment. However, 80% of respondents agree that migrating a workload to a new cloud environment can be time-consuming and costly. The most common reason for the migration is the security (41%), followed by the performance (39%), and obtaining control of the application (38%).

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Organizations going more strategic

The use of IT infrastructure by organizations is becoming more strategic over time. Nearly three-quarters of IT professionals (72%) feel that the IT function in their businesses is seen as more strategic now than it was a year ago. They also highlight professional motivations for upgrading their infrastructure models, such as increasing remote work and collaboration (40%), improved customer service (36%), and ensuring business continuity (35%). They have also started carefully matching each job to the infrastructure that’s most suited to it, based on variables like security (41%), performance (39%), and cost (31%), which is likely a significant driver of multi-cloud adoption.

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