What Is Multicloud? A Guide to Smarter Cloud Strategies

If you haven’t attended a big Indian wedding, you need to experience one — like yesterday. The atmosphere is enthralling, and at times, it feels like you’re in a movie. Indians love food (trust me, “love,” is an understatement) and an Indian wedding is incomplete without lavish buffets.

Dozens of caterers work behind the scenes to assemble the most lavish appetizers, breads, curries, side dishes, chutneys, and desserts! Man, I’m salivating.

A multicloud strategy involves employing multiple “caterers” to host and manage your data, applications, or infrastructure. To connect the dots, “caterers,” in this instance, refers to cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure.

You shouldn’t put your digital eggs in one basket — what if the caterer preparing tandoori chicken drops the ball (I’d be livid)? You need backups. That’s basically what multicloud is.

Each cloud provider has its own strengths, and it’s up to you to choose the best one for each specific need. In other words, with multicloud, you can enjoy the best of all clouds.

Have you ever wondered how — or rather, why — the cloud got its name? The cloud is something that’s “out there,” distant from you, and yet accessible.

You don’t need to understand it fully to use it, but without it, your digital life is almost meaningless. Both the cloud and clouds (in the sky) are stunning. Speaking of stunning, so are models… er… cloud models.

I want to keep it short and sweet, so here’s the difference between multicloud, single cloud, and hybrid cloud models:

While you can develop a multicloud strategy to optimize costs by mixing clouds (who doesn’t like saving a buck), cost optimization shouldn’t be at the forefront of your strategy.

With a solid multicloud strategy, you can innovate with the best tools from different cloud service providers (GCP is the AI heavyweight, for example), manage risk (if one cloud goes down, for instance), and scale across multiple providers. Multicloud is the toolkit you need.

This brings us nicely to the core components of a multicloud strategy. Let me put it simply: your first task is to identify the strengths of each potential cloud service provider.

Next, you must devise a plan to allocate tasks and services across these clouds. Finally, you need to ensure all the pieces of your multicloud strategy fit together. One misstep could quickly turn into a tangled mess.

Multiple Cloud Providers

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. For instance, even though AWS and Azure are the two best cloud platforms overall, in my (humble) opinion, they can’t match the expertise of Google Cloud Platform in the AI and data analytics arena — it’s simply the best.

So, if you want to leverage AI technologies, you should look at GCP.

Similarly, AWS is the leader in infrastructure and enterprise-grade services, while Azure is known for its strong security and compliance offerings.

If you’re already using Microsoft technologies, you might favor Azure, but do make sure to leverage the strengths of other clouds as well.

Workload Distribution

Let’s say you’ve chosen GCP for your AI workloads, AWS for infrastructure, and Azure for security and compliance.

You’ve created the perfect “tech buffet” — it’ll cost you between $800 and $100,000 per month, depending on your business size!

Now, it’s time for you to figure out the best way to spread your tasks across these clouds to balance your workloads.

The name of the game is efficiency — you need to ensure your systems stay fast and responsive.

Interoperability

Let’s say you’re a medium-sized enterprise and have just spent around $10,000 as part of the first month of your multicloud strategy.

You’re all smiles and press the elusive “power” button to get things up and running. But your strategy fails. Don’t pack your bags just yet.

Your multicloud strategy needs to function like a well-oiled machine — each cloud service needs to play nicely together.

You need to make certain compatibility between providers, so everything runs seamlessly. Also, there’s no “power” button. I just like being dramatic.

I recently switched my cereal from Cheerios to Shredded Wheat, and trust me, this was one of the hardest decisions of my life — I’ve been eating Cheerios since I was a kid.

The main reason was that Shredded Wheat has no added sugar. And while you may argue it tastes bland, I compensate for the lack of sweetness with fruits.

With a multicloud model, you don’t have to make such sacrifices. Here are its benefits.

Implementing a multicloud environment isn’t as easy as toasting sliced bread. Can you imagine the complexity of managing cloud services and tools across multiple providers?

You may face security risks, compliance and governance issues, and data inconsistencies when implementing a multicloud setup.

Fortunately, you can take these challenges in your stride with the right team. Cristiano Ronaldo (you, in this instance) may be the GOAT, but he wouldn’t have been able to achieve much without his teammates at Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Increased Complexity

Managing multiple cloud platforms and tools can feel like juggling a dozen tomatoes — one wrong step, and you might be left red-faced (quite literally)! Each provider has its own set of services and tools, interfaces, and ways of doing things.

You need to keep track of every minute detail. With a strong team, excellent coordination, and smart strategies, you should be able to get by. If not, you should still be able to make a cracking tomato sauce…

Security Risks

You can compare your multicloud environment to a house with multiple rooms. Even if you lock all the doors, a security breach is waiting to happen if you leave the windows open!

There’s no room for error in a multicloud setting, as wrongdoers will take any opportunity to steal your data (or worse) with both hands.

You need to ensure consistent security policies across providers — lock all your doors and close all your windows.

Compliance and Governance

Have you ever played UNO? Everyone who’s played the game seems to have their own set of rules! In my version of the game, a power card can’t be your last play — you might beg to differ (my father sure does).

Meeting regulatory requirements across different cloud environments is like combining the rules and regulations of UNO according to each player. You need a solid understanding of the game to keep everything aligned and everyone on board.

Data Management

I’ve played Telephone a few times, and I kid you not, I’ve never emerged victorious. Or shall I say “we,” since it’s a team game. Managing data across multiple clouds is like playing Telephone — the more the players, the more likely someone is to mess up.

The trick to winning is to be as articulate as possible. Similarly, you need to ensure data consistency, portability, and access across cloud environments. Easier said than done.

It’s nearly impossible for you to get your multicloud strategy right without an appropriate toolkit and my list of best practices. I mean, you might have all the money in the world, but you can’t build a house without a team of skilled construction workers.

Unless you’re like the character Ryan Gosling plays in The Notebook (Noah) and have a decade or so of time to spare… ladies, stop swooning! He’s taken.

Cloud Management Platforms

You need a central command center to manage and monitor your multicloud environment. This is where cloud management platforms (CMPs) like VMware Aria Suite, Red Hat CloudForms, and Microsoft Azure Arc come into the picture.

They provide a unified interface to manage resources, ensure compliance, optimize costs, and maintain security across different clouds. Here are some other CMPs that might interest you.

Automation and Orchestration

Without automation and orchestration capabilities, you’re like a headless chicken — bound to be served. While this might sound harsh, it’s true. Automation and orchestration tools are your secret weapon to streamline operations and distribute workloads.

By reducing manual intervention, you lower human error, boost efficiency, and ensure resources are exactly where they should be when needed.

Security Best Practices

Recently, I fortified the security of my Apple account. I’m not sure if you know this, but if you’re an iPhone user, you should turn on Advanced Data Protection to encrypt your iCloud data. I’m surprised this feature isn’t enabled by default.

In the multicloud world, encryption is just as important. Other security best practices include implementing zero-trust policies and monitoring threats. You need to form the foundation of a solid defense.

Vendor Selection

Choosing cloud providers isn’t like swiping right on Tinder or Bumble — though it could be if you actually read their bios and swiped right on profiles you actually have something in common with!

When it comes to selecting a provider, you need to base your choices purely on business needs and capabilities. So, even if one provider “looks” better than the other one (I’m talking about flashy marketing, of course), you should select the one you would “marry.”

You may feel this section is unnecessary, as you already know the use cases for the multicloud model, and you’re probably sold on it by now (wait until you read the next section).

You’re partially right: you do know some of its use cases and yes, it’s definitely better than the single cloud model.

Revision makes your preparation bulletproof (for all of life’s many examinations), so read on — it’s time to hit the nail on the head.

It’s time to talk about the elephant in the room — the hybrid cloud model. You already know what it is, and if you’re a true techie, you should be weighing its pros and cons.

Many businesses host sensitive data and mission-critical applications on a private cloud for security reasons, and less sensitive workloads (such as web apps) on the public cloud. A hybrid cloud model makes sense.

To truly enjoy the best of all clouds, you should opt for a hybrid hybrid approach. Yes, I know I repeated the word “hybrid.” By a hybrid hybrid approach, I mean you can maintain a private cloud for more control and security over sensitive workloads and a multicloud model for other infrastructure and services.

While this setup might cost more, it’s worth the effort. I’m going to give you a heads-up — it’ll be really complex to configure — but it’s worth it.

You deserve the best, and a hybrid hybrid cloud model is the cream of the crop. I’m just going to call it the HH cloud model going forward.