It’s not unusual to see IT organizations take different approaches towards adopting the cloud. Some organizations choose to standardize their cloud infrastructure to bolster data center efficiencies and streamline the IT value chain. Others choose to take on a more diverse approach, creating a heterogeneous IT environment in the process.
As the demand for cloud services increases among organizations, many are wondering if senior IT decision makers will expand or shrink their choice of cloud providers. A recent cloud market study from IDC shed some light on the cloud strategy choices being made by mature cloud organizations.
Going for the Diversified Approach
Diversification is a common strategy practiced in other arenas, whether it’s smart investors diversifying their investment portfolios to better manage risk or an organization selecting a diverse range of suppliers to increase bargaining power. It’s a common-sense approach that many mature cloud organizations have adopted as a major part of their cloud strategy.
As a result, the use of multiple cloud providers is being seen as the calling card of the mature cloud organization. The IDC study found that these organizations embrace the opportunity to choose from multiple cloud providers based on a variety of factors, including governance principles, policies, and location.
Another interesting finding is that an organization’s appetite for cloud services from multiple cloud providers expands based on its ability to maximize the value received from its cloud environments. The vast majority of organizations with optimized cloud strategies are more likely to choose from multiple cloud providers. Cloud management policies and service-level agreements (SLAs) are more likely to be defined through collaborative business and IT governance practices as an organization establishes a mature cloud strategy.
Dealing with Complexity
Managing such a diverse portfolio of cloud-based applications can pose a unique challenge for the mature cloud organization. A multi-cloud environment is one where complexity can easily reign supreme, requiring a unique solution that offers improved administration and governance capabilities.
One such solution involves the use of Cisco CloudCenter, an application-centric hybrid cloud management platform that offers effective infrastructure resource management and application deployment to private/public cloud and data center environments. Cisco CloudCenter’s application-centric approach allows organizations to quickly build, deploy, and manage cloud-independent application profiles.
This along with other tools makes it easier for IT organizations to adopt a diversified cloud strategy. For more in-depth information on how these strategies can benefit your business, contact one of our consultants at eXemplify today.