What's Your Multi-Cloud Strategy?

In the era of digital transformation, leveraging multiple cloud service providers (CSPs) is increasingly common, but managing these multi-cloud environments presents significant challenges. A 2023 Gartner survey revealed that 81% of organizations using public clouds utilize more than one CSP, often without a cohesive plan, complicating usage tracking and cost management due to the varying maturity levels of each CSP's ecosystem. To address these complexities, data and analytics (D&A) leaders are advised to deploy multi-cloud and inter-cloud architectures strategically, track cloud usage and costs rigorously, and choose deployment tiers based on specific use case needs. Additionally, integrating independent software vendor (ISV) capabilities can enhance functionality beyond what CSPs natively offer, although this requires careful planning and strategizing to ensure seamless integration and governance. By intentionally planning cloud architectures, D&A leaders can mitigate risks such as performance issues and unplanned cost overruns, while optimizing cloud resources to ensure resilience, geographic localization, and avoidance of CSP lock-in.