With demand for cloud services growing at an exponential pace due to the rise of big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), a one-size-fits-all approach is non-existent for organizations needing greater agility, speed, security and scalability. When it comes to improving performance and reducing operating costs, FNTS recommends moving workloads where they perform best through a holistic, multi-cloud approach.
Early adopters of digital transformation sought a simple, streamlined cloud environment through a single cloud vendor. Today, a multi-cloud strategy allows organizations to customize their IT environment by implementing a mix of cloud architecture (public, private, edge, on-prem) and vendors (Azure, VMware, IBM) to best accommodate specific tasks, applications and workloads.
At FNTS, our average client operates two to three cloud models, typically consisting of their on-prem private cloud, the private FNTS Cloud and the public Azure Cloud. Considerations for performance, disaster recovery, security, portability and more are all important considerations in determining where each workload should live.
A multi-cloud approach, with the help of a managed services provider, can provide value and exceed an organization’s unique business goals.
Optimize Performance, Cost and Efficiency
FNTS operates a cloud environment that offers organizations much higher performance than hyperscale public clouds and does so at competitive price points. For example, applications that require more performance of CPU, memory or disk can be economically deployed at FNTS, while at the same time leveraging Microsoft Azure or other public cloud providers for applications that do not require such performance.
The long-term value of a multi-cloud approach is achieving the benefits of the best cloud solution for each application based on cost, efficiency and effectiveness. A great deal of planning that starts with application mapping provides the basis for making these decisions. The goal is to determine what is best managed internally, externally or through a skilled managed services partner.
Close Security Vulnerabilities
A multi-cloud environment can help mitigate risks by not being tied to a single vendor, though it’s important to have a clear understanding of which security and data compliance requirements must be upheld when determining where certain data is best stored and accessed.
Having the ability to seamlessly manage workloads in multiple clouds also offers a new level of security and redundancy through Disaster Recovery as a Service and Backup as a Service, which can significantly reduce risk and exposure. A multi-cloud environment provides a much more robust separation that mitigates risks of cyber threats, ransomware and more in an efficient and affordable manner.
Access New and Value-Added Capabilities
Regardless of which cloud option your application resides, you can leverage a full suite of managed services that include advanced solutions, such as artificial intelligence, business intelligence, machine learning, SaaS or PaaS.
Though the potential benefits of a multi-cloud strategy are quite significant, the processes involved are complex and time-consuming to execute properly. A company’s ability to transition successfully is contingent on their level of expertise and understanding of their current applications, licensing strategies, available IT resources and the scope and objective of the proposed changes. Having a managed services provider like FNTS can support and augment your internal IT teams in terms of staffing and expertise. The expert team at FNTS can evaluate your objectives within the context of your current solution, system requirements and long-term goals to integrate the optimal multi-cloud structure for your organization’s needs.
By your side from strategy development to execution, FNTS offers a full-service environment for organizations at any stage in their cloud journey. FNTS can perform assessments and cost analysis, build cloud models for different environments, migrate existing workloads, provide full managed services and upgrade workloads to optimize these environments into the future.
Thinking of developing a multi-cloud strategy? Here are some initial steps FNTS recommends:
- Define business objectives, goals and the value you seek to achieve.
- Rationalize each application to determine which cloud deployment model is most efficient.
- Evaluate current staffing and identify any cloud skills gaps.
- Seek partners and resources needed to facilitate the migrations and future state.
- Compile project budgets.
- Plot migration strategies.
- Determine future operations.
