Cloud migration is a top priority for the next few years, according to McKinsey & Co., which found that 40% of companies expect to accelerate these deployments. A whopping 80% of organisations’ total IT-hosting budget will be devoted to cloud spend.
However, McKinsey also expects $100 billion in “wasted migration spend.” That’s because enterprises are struggling with issues such as skill gaps and infrastructure sprawl that causes cost overruns.
Meanwhile, many organisations are not only using public clouds, but they are also developing private and hybrid clouds. These multi-cloud environments are further complicating cloud management. In fact, increased complexity is the No. 1 downside to multi-cloud adoption, according to Foundry’s 2022 Cloud Computing Study.
The answer is multi-pronged: IT leaders must develop a holistic multi-cloud strategy; employ consistent infrastructure, tools, and processes; and select the right expert partner.
Multi-cloud migration challenges
Cloud migration in and of itself isn’t simple. Applications often need to be refactored or even replatformed — which takes both development and architecting skills.
Yet, many IT departments are struggling to keep up with daily operations including user support issues, as well as troubleshooting existing systems and infrastructure. And then there’s the global labor shortage: when it comes to the IT department, there is a crippling lack of cloud skillsets. The Foundry Cloud Computing study found that cloud systems administrators, cloud architects, and security architects are the most in-demand roles and functions.
Organisations need to find an alternative because the C-suite sees value in the cloud, and multi-cloud adoption is expected to rise. A lack of in-house expertise will affect implementations and day-to-day management.
Some businesses are also struggling to migrate applications and workloads consistently and holistically across clouds. This typically happens when the organisation lacks a central cloud strategy. The result is sprawl, which then creates other challenges including a lack of visibility into potential gaps, vulnerabilities, and risks. In addition, sprawl makes it more difficult for IT teams to monitor and manage the overall environment.
Another common challenge in multi-cloud environments is fragmented security. Without integration across a single cloud architecture, security teams must manage security configurations for every cloud instance. This increases the risk of misconfigurations, errors, and gaps — and ultimately, data breaches.
Seamless migration in multi-cloud environments
A holistic multi-cloud strategy is foundational. It should consider several factors to ensure that ongoing cloud migrations and operations are easy to manage:
Seek flexible, scalable solutions to help overcome skillset gaps. Your existing DevOps and cloud teams can benefit from an underlying cloud platform that offers a common, standardised working environment. The key word is consistency. The right foundation enables consistent operations across distributed infrastructure. It also allows cloud teams to simplify migration and modernization efforts in a harmonious way and ensure equal performance. In addition, the right underlying architectural platform works across hyperscalers and cloud providers to reduce the management burden on IT teams and makes ongoing cloud migrations seamless.
Mitigate risks with standardisation. Organisations can efficiently manage security and operational risks by standardising common processes across multiple clouds. That includes giving developers and IT operations teams tools that can be used on all clouds; standardising on application building blocks; and using a common infrastructure across clouds.
Balance resources with consistent operations. across the data center, clouds, and edge. Tie together common processes and tools and a consistent shared platform with a software layer that abstracts complexity across multiple clouds. For example, a modular cloud-native application platform provides an iterative, self-service experience for developers to build and modernize apps for any environment — cloud, on prem, or edge. It also automates workflows to provide efficiency and built-in security.
Commit to an architectural viewpoint. Multi-cloud becomes easier to manage with an underlying architectural platform that works across different cloud environments. This starts with a crucial investment in a cloud architect — or an architectural board — who sets the vision, provides leadership, and sets standards. Empower these individuals to ensure standardisation sticks.
Consider ecosystem partners. If your organisation has talent gaps, especially when it comes to architects, managed services partners can help. Lean on partners that are part of an ecosystem, which helps ensure access to expertise across IT and cloud disciplines.
Accelerate migration with the right partner
Consistent infrastructure, tools, and processes — as well as an expert partner — help to speed multi-cloud migrations.
VMware Cloud provides a future-ready architecture that ensures organisations leverage the right environment for each application. It offers a standardised, consistent approach that ensures:
- Rapid migration
- Elimination of application rework to minimise costs
- Scalability with application integrity
- Consolidation for balanced use of resources
- Consistent security and operations across clouds
In addition, VMware Tanzu provides a streamlined, self-service developer experience that fits their preferred practices and workflows. It enables automated software delivery across apps and teams and includes built-in security and compliance guardrails.
To learn more, visit https://www.vmware.com/solutions/multi-cloud-architecture.html