SPECIAL REPORT
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Next Generation Multi-Cloud Deployment Solutions
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The Rise of Multi-Cloud
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Developing a Multi-Cloud Strategy
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The Age of the Managed Cloud
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Multi-Cloud Strategies in the Future
Published by Global Business Media
NEXT GENERATION MULTI-CLOUD DEPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS
SPECIAL REPORT
Next Generation Multi-Cloud Deployment Solutions Sponsored by
Contents Foreword 2 Tom Cropper, Editor
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Next Generation Multi-Cloud Deployment Solutions
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The Rise of Multi-Cloud
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Developing a Multi-Cloud Strategy
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The Age of the Managed Cloud
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Multi-Cloud Strategies in the Future
Next Generation Multi-Cloud Deployment Solutions
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Tony Connor, Head of EMEA Marketing, Datapipe
Introduction to Multi-Cloud The Rapid Rise of Multi-Cloud Published by Global Business Media
Published by Global Business Media
Multi-Cloud Popularity Benefits of Adopting Multi-Cloud Solutions Nobody Said It Was Easy
Global Business Media Limited 62 The Street Ashtead Surrey KT21 1AT United Kingdom
The Importance of Asking for a Helping Hand
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The Rise of Multi-Cloud
Publisher Kevin Bell
The Rise of the Cloud
Editor Tom Cropper
The Best of all Worlds
Business Development Director Marie-Anne Brooks
Developing a Multi-Cloud Strategy
Senior Project Manager Steve Banks Advertising Executives Michael McCarthy Abigail Coombes Production Manager Paul Davies For further information visit: www.globalbusinessmedia.org
The Future of the Multi-Cloud and What Lies Ahead
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Tom Cropper, Editor
The Multi-Cloud
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Jo Roth, Staff Writer
Why Businesses Make the Move The Issue of Cost The Challenge of Implementation Hybrid Versus Multi-Cloud Choosing the Right Option
The Age of the Managed Cloud
The opinions and views expressed in the editorial content in this publication are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of any organisation with which they may be associated.
James Butler, Staff Writer
Material in advertisements and promotional features may be considered to represent the views of the advertisers and promoters. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily express the views of the Publishers or the Editor. While every care has been taken in the preparation of this publication, neither the Publishers nor the Editor are responsible for such opinions and views or for any inaccuracies in the articles.
The Future of MSPs
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The Challenge Managing the Cloud
Multi-Cloud Strategies in the Future 12 Tom Cropper, Editor
A Transformative Technology? Deploying Multi-Cloud A Developing Market
© 2016. The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright. Full details are available from the Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
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Foreword P
“
UT IT on the cloud”. That seems to be the
look at the key benefits businesses could secure by
mantra of an increasing number of businesses
adopting a comprehensive multi-cloud strategy.
these days. The cloud has done much to change
Jo Roth will then look at the key issues every
the way businesses handle their data over recent
business should consider when formulating that
years and with concerns over data security
strategy. There is a growing range of options available,
receding a little, uptake looks likely to accelerate
but with that comes increasing complexity. To help
in the future.
them make the right choice, many businesses are
As the market grows, so too do the number of providers, which means more and more businesses
turning to consultants to guide them through a complex landscape.
are making use of a multiple cloud solution. This can
James Butler then takes a closer look at the role
yield benefits, but also cause problems. Developing
of the broker. Spending on consultants has grown in
a coherent multi-cloud strategy, therefore, appears to
recent years. He will examine what value they can add
be central to the fortunes of any business.
and whether they will remain an important part of the
Our opening article provides a useful introduction
landscape over the next few years.
about doing just that. Datapipe provides a range
Finally, we’ll consider what that future will bring. The
of managed cloud services including multi-cloud
cloud has demonstrated plenty of potential but this
solutions. They offer a quick introduction to the space,
is a relatively young and fast moving environment.
as well as a few key issues to consider.
Predicting where that innovation will go is no easy task.
Elsewhere, we will take an overview of the market. The use of multi-cloud has certainly been the subject of plenty of hype. A number of reports suggest that the next few years could witness rapid growth. We’ll
Tom Cropper Editor
Tom Cropper has produced articles and reports on various aspects of global business over the past 15 years. He has also worked as a copywriter for some of the largest corporations in the world, including ING, KPMG and the World Wildlife Fund.
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Next Generation Multi-Cloud Deployment Solutions Tony Connor, Head of EMEA Marketing, Datapipe
Introduction to Multi-Cloud The term multi-cloud has been discussed within the cloud computing industry for a while now but there is still confusion about what it is and where it fits within the terminology of private, public, and hybrid cloud. There are differing opinions on what defines a multi-cloud solution. Does multi-cloud include just Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or does it combine IaaS with Software as a Service (SaaS) and other as-a-service derivatives? Most agree that multi-cloud is the mixing and matching of best-of-breed solutions and services from different cloud providers to create the most suitable solution for the business. It minimises the amount of vendor lock-in and gives businesses more flexibility with its cloud solution over different price-points and by leveraging relative strengths, advantages, and geographic locations. However, managing a multi-cloud deployment is not easy. The analogy is that it is akin to spinning many different digital plates at once, and that’s why businesses are looking to managed service providers like Datapipe to help them manage their multi-cloud strategies and keep those plates spinning.
The Rapid Rise of Multi-Cloud With technology now being integrated into every aspect of business and society, the opinions and expectations of enterprises and their employees have changed to reflect this new influx of technology. Businesses are adjusting their approaches to IT in order to maintain their old technologies while also embracing a new, faster way of working.
The research and advisory firm, Gartner, use the term Bimodal IT. Bimodal IT is the practice of managing two separate, coherent modes of IT delivery, one focused on stability and the other on agility. Mode 1 is traditional and sequential, emphasising safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is exploratory and nonlinear, emphasising agility and speed. The elastic capability of the cloud is tailor-made for the Mode 2 way of working and this is one of the driving forces behind the adoption of cloud technologies. Multi-cloud is a natural extension of the exploratory nature of Mode 2 working. Is the solution for Mode 2 working the best one for supporting legacy software? Why limit yourself to one public cloud provider when two or more may be better?
Multi-Cloud Popularity A recent Equinix survey of more than 650 IT decision-makers found that 77 percent are planning to implement multi-cloud architectures in the near future. This signifies a big change in perspective from business leaders when you consider the fact that cloud adoption for businesses was relatively uncommon five years ago. It demonstrates, also, that the benefits of multi-cloud can be applied to a wide range of sectors and industries. When it comes to IaaS, the most popular cloud providers for businesses are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google. There is also a long-tail of other public clouds becoming niche providers. Add in the multitude of offerings through private clouds and there are WWW.CEOREPORTS.COM | 3
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Managing a multi-cloud deployment is not easy. The analogy is that it is akin to spinning many different digital plates at once, and that’s why businesses are looking to managed service providers like Datapipe to help them
huge numbers of multi-cloud possibilities. This is why cloud-agnostic managed service providers are best placed to take a high-level view and recommend the most suitable combination to their clients, as well as being the trusted partner for the journey to the cloud.
Benefits of Adopting Multi-Cloud Solutions There are a number of benefits that multi-cloud deployments bring, including: •R edundancy, disaster recovery, and geopresence •A bility to use unique cloud-specific services from different providers as they are needed •L everage public cloud benefits (cheaper, unlimited scalability) in order to move Mode 2 applications to the cloud •U se of a private cloud for red-tape bound applications or more traditional Mode 1 infrastructure The phrase “don’t place all your eggs in one basket” is equally applicable to cloud environments. To spread risk minimises the possibility of downtime as well as being able to make the most of public cloud cost-savings without being locked into one vendor. With a multi-cloud disaster recovery plan, businesses become more resilient than ever. Being able to failover from one public cloud provider to another means a business can still carry on as usual, even in the unlikely scenario of one provider being unavailable. Multi-cloud also gives companies the ability to take advantage of cloud data centres based in various geographic regions. Directing traffic to data centres closest to users based on their location is vital for latency-sensitive applications. Storing data locally also minimises issues over data sovereignty. 4 | WWW.CEOREPORTS.COM
Nobody Said It Was Easy It can be challenging to undertake IT service management across different cloud environments and from different vendors. Whilst this is not necessarily an immediate problem, if not monitored and controlled properly, this can cause operational issues to start stacking up at a rapid speed, which then can lead to difficulty maintaining access control and keeping on top of bug patches and security updates. The flipside to the potential for cost savings in multi-cloud strategies is that the complexity of the different cloud environments can make it difficult to understand the pricing differentiators among all of the cloud providers and the various services that they offer.
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The Importance of Asking for a Helping Hand Navigating and managing multi-cloud solutions can be daunting if you do not have an experienced in-house IT team to keep on top of it all. Not only this, managing cloud services takes up time and IT resources which could be better spent elsewhere in the business, like creating new features and supporting customers. However, all of these challenges can be overcome with the assistance of a managed cloud services provider with extensive experience in the realm of multi-cloud management. By partnering with a trusted partner, companies can avoid many of the challenging and frustrating issues that are associated with multi-cloud, while enjoying all of the benefits that a multi-cloud strategy has to offer. When making the transition, businesses work with providers that can offer a single pane of glass solution, as companies often have the issue of logging into a number of different platforms to check all is well with their cloud services. The concept of a single pane of glass means that organisations would be able to converge the different platforms into one, making their cloud services more accessible and enabling changes and updates with speed and efficiency. Long-term management and maintenance of the multi-cloud deployment can also be carried
out by the provider, which gives the benefit of 24x7x365 support service to ensure any issues are resolved promptly.
The Future of the Multi-Cloud and What Lies Ahead A study conducted by IDC last year found that 86 percent of enterprises predict they will need a multi-cloud approach to support their solutions within the next two years. This makes sense, as businesses want the best possible infrastructure, services and platforms. However, in order to ensure that a company’s multi-cloud deployment is successful, the different cloud services of a business need to function smoothly and cohesively. Partnering with the right managed services provider can help organisations achieve this, guiding their cloud journey, from conception through execution and into ongoing management. A multi-cloud strategy is transformative for businesses, allowing them flexibility to scale business offerings, save on hosting solutions, and ultimately offer better solutions to their customers. By keeping a few key factors in mind when considering a multi-cloud infrastructure, companies can guarantee a successful and pain-free transition to create opportunities for innovation.
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The Rise of Multi-Cloud Tom Cropper, Editor In a short space of time, multi-cloud solutions have gone from obscurity to the forefront of business data storage strategies.
A study from IT consulting firm, SADA systems, found that 84% of IT professionals were using some form of public cloud infrastructure
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ECHNOLOGY HAS a way of quickly infiltrating the consumer mindset and making itself indispensable in ways the customer had never imagined. Take the iPad for example – the tablet computer that nobody knew they wanted until it was there. The cloud has worked in much the same way. Since cloud data services first became available, businesses have changed the way in which they operate. Their very existence has created demand and opened businesses up to new ways of working they had never before envisaged.
The Rise of the Cloud The concept of the cloud, or a global computing network, stretches back as far as the sixties when JCR Licklider introduced the concept of an intergalactic computer network which would enable any person to access data from any location in the world. Years later that vision is becoming a reality. The arrival of programs such as Salesforce in 1999 represented a giant leap forward, followed by the likes of Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud in 2006, which provided a widely accessible cloud computing service for small businesses. Today there are hundreds of providers of all sizes around the world. A study from IT consulting firm, SADA systems, found that 84% of IT professionals were using some form of public cloud infrastructure – with the most popular providers being the likes of Google and Microsoft. “All signs point to public cloud adoption growing and enterprise IT becoming more comfortable with the prospect of running their most sensitive data on public cloud infrastructure,” said Tony Safoian, SADA president and CEO in a statement. “Security and reliability will always be primary concerns – as they should – and companies should lean on expert consultants and integrators to guide them in addressing these issues1. The market is growing rapidly. According to recent research from analyst group Gartner, the public cloud services is predicted to grow in 6 | WWW.CEOREPORTS.COM
2016 to $204 billion, up from $175 billion in 2015 and it is expected to continue to grow strongly through 20172.
The Multi-Cloud Each of the many cloud providers offer their own benefits and some will be more suitable to a particular organisation than others. Deciding between all these cloud providers is no easy challenge which is why many businesses are looking at multi-cloud strategies. Within the space of five years, multi-cloud solutions have risen from relative obscurity to be described as the ‘holy grail3’ of business. A survey from Dimensional Research of 650 IT decision makers found 77% of businesses are planning to implement multi-cloud solutions in the future, 91% planned to implement them within the next 12 months, and 74% expected to see an increase in budget for multi-cloud services4. Another study from IDC was also bullish about the future. It found that 86% of businesses believe they will require a multi-cloud strategy within the next two years5. Businesses are using multiple clouds for a variety of reasons: For some it’s the fear of being “locked in”. This is a fast moving environment with new updates entering the fray all the time. Sticking with one provider runs the risk of being left behind as other platforms develop more quickly. Developing a multi-cloud deployment strategy means a business will be able to take advantage of the latest updates as and when they occur to ensure their use of the cloud remains as good as it possibly can be. For others it’s simply a case of price. Competition sparks price fluctuations between the various competitors with the trend moving downwards. According to data from international research and the consulting firm, Tariff Consultancy, prices from the top 20 cloud providers such as AWS and Salesforce have fallen by two thirds since 2014 6. They believe the drop is down to intense competition and product innovation between the competing parties, which means clients
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are continually getting more for less. How long this trend can go on for is open to debate (the same report says this fall is starting to level off) but while it continues, an agile cloud strategy enables businesses to optimise their cloud costs. Compliance is also an issue when a business may want to run different businesses in different jurisdictions. Here data sovereignty can become a problem, so it helps to store data on a datacentre located within that region. This can also help with latency issues. For a company which needs fast access to data – within seconds – latency issues can become critical. They will be able to direct traffic to those data centres located in the correct region to reduce lag.
The Best of all Worlds Most of all, it’s about gaining a ‘best of all worlds’ solution. Different applications work better for different organisations. The same cloud solution may not be suitable for every single operation a business wishes to undertake. As fast as the rise of the cloud has been, companies are still retaining on-premises infrastructure. A hybrid model containing a mix of on-premises, cloud and private cloud is becoming the most popular approach among businesses of all sizes.
Speaking to Forbes Magazine, Brian Lillie of Equinix said: “We’ve talked to so many enterprises where they just say for legal reasons, concern about the security perspective, or they just can’t take the risk of giving certain parts of their infrastructure to the cloud. It doesn’t mean that public cloud doesn’t have huge runway – because it does, it really does – but I think that it’ll be hybrid for quite some time7.” It is likely, therefore, that the age of multi-cloud is emerging from the stuff of potential and hype to a reality. A need to mix various solutions and IT strategies will make an effective multicloud strategy increasingly important, but that’s not to say the concept does not create its own problems. Multiple cloud increases the complexity of the system – understanding of the cloud is still varied among CIOs. Not all of them will feel comfortable about how they can get the best out of the system. Managing multiple clouds from different providers in a clear and consistent way is a major problem. Although some cloud management tools do exist, this part of the market is still playing catch up. Moving to the future, it will not only be a case of using the best technology, it will also be a case of using it in the right way. Businesses can gain a huge amount, but they need to know what they are doing to get the best out of it. That will be one of the big challenges confronting the industry for the next few years.
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Developing a Multi-Cloud Strategy Jo Roth, Staff Writer How businesses can develop an effective multi-cloud strategy that really works for them.
The number of competitors entering the market is driving competition, which simultaneously sees leading operators such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon adding more features while also reducing prices
M
ORE AND more companies are moving to the cloud. They are being attracted by a number of factors including lower costs, higher performance and greater convenience. However, developing an effective cloud strategy is more difficult than it might seem, which is why many are looking for help.
Why Businesses Make the Move Perhaps the most important consideration is cost. The cloud is often billed as being less expensive. Rather than deal with costly hardware, staff and infrastructure, a business can simply outsource it all to a third party for a monthly fee. Furthermore, the number of competitors entering the market is driving competition, which simultaneously sees leading operators such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon adding more features while also reducing prices. Against this comes reducing hardware costs for on-premises infrastructure, which has been decreasing every year. For many businesses this will be enough to justify sticking with what they know and trust. However, that is offset by the rising demand for IT staff which comes with an associated rising cost. Cloud therefore reduces the need, not only for infrastructure but also expert staff – which a smaller enterprise may not be able to afford.
The Issue of Cost The cost benefits of the cloud go further once you factor in a multi-cloud strategy. Because this environment is moving so quickly, providers are changing services and prices continually. A multi-cloud strategy enables a company to make the most of price changes by switching between services to maximise cost efficiency. Doing so, though, can be challenging. Firstly, there is the trouble of overhauling an existing system. This inevitably comes with an operational cost and risk. What if a new cloud IT solution does not work as well as it should? Different services may also offer different benefits. For example, choosing between two 8 | WWW.CEOREPORTS.COM
of the most common IaaS service providers Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure requires careful consideration. AWS has a vast number of features and is recognised as the world leader in public cloud services. However, Azure is gaining ground on AWS because if you are a business that primarily uses Microsoft services, especially on the software development and database side, then it is probably a lesser leap to move to the public cloud using Microsoft’s cloud services. For this reason, more businesses are adopting what’s called a hybrid system – one comprising private and public cloud facilities, as well as some on-premises infrastructure. In this way, effectively, they can have their cake and eat it by tailoring the right solution to the right application. They reduce on-site infrastructure and staffing demands, while also maintaining a tight control over their data.
The Challenge of Implementation However, evolving such an effective hybrid strategy is no easy task. The cloud may have grown rapidly in recent years, and if most reports are anything to go by, most businesses are looking at incorporating multiple cloud operations into their business. Even so, it remains a young, fast moving sector which is still much misunderstood. One of the key areas to address, for example, is the difference between what most refer to as multi-cloud strategies and hybrid cloud. To many, they are one and the same thing, but there are important differences.
Hybrid Versus Multi-Cloud In its simplest terms a multi-cloud system is – as it sounds – leveraging multiple clouds from multiple providers. Some businesses do this to maximise the benefits they bring by combining solutions from different providers. Others like to minimise their risk by reducing their dependency on any single provider. This helps to ensure processes are more robust and less liable to downtime in the event of problems.
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Hybrid clouds, on the other hand, use more than one type of cloud infrastructure across a single organisation. Some, for instance, might use public and private clouds to leverage the benefits of high performance and scalability together with the greater security and reliability which comes with a private cloud. Multi-cloud, on the other hand, leverages separate clouds for different tasks; hybrids perform tasks which access both.
Choosing the Right Option So, why does this matter? Companies need to understand whether a hybrid cloud or multicloud strategy would work best for them. For some it comes down to basic costs – by using different providers it is possible to reduce the overall expense, compared with a hybrid system. Because the market is growing, competition is high. Providers are constantly having to update their offering and price points to remain competitive. An organisation which uses a hybrid cloud solution could be stuck with that one provider. A multi-cloud user on the other hand, can simply pick and choose the service that provides the best option as and when they need it. More than that, they can take advantage of the latest technology
the moment it becomes available. It’s a more flexible and agile approach which can help a business to maximise the benefits they bring. With that, though, can come problems. A multi-cloud system can be complicated. Storing all data across multiple cloud applications can be difficult. It’s a bit like trying to keep several plates spinning all at once; you have to stay on top of things. If you don’t, it’s all too easy for issues to arise such as problems with security, bug patches and access. In addition, multiple providers can muddy the waters when it comes to pricing issues. As mentioned earlier, variability of price points theoretically can make multi-cloud more cost effective. However, the complexity of the multi provider option can make it difficult for organisations to have an adequate overview of what they are paying and where. For this reason, an increasing number of businesses are looking towards brokers and advisors to help manage a multi-cloud service for them. By doing so, they benefit from the knowledge and expertise about the sector they have built up. A quick consultation will help a business understand their needs, what’s out there and how they can optimise a system to their specific requirements.
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The Age of the Managed Cloud James Butler, Staff Writer
Managed cloud service providers can also act as much needed guides through what can be a complicated and confusing landscape
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HE CLOUD is growing: adoption is increasing and businesses across the spectrum are looking at new ways of incorporating multiple cloud solutions into their business operations. The difficulty, though, lies in developing a coherent strategy to manage all these multiple cloud based operations. Expertise is lacking among businesses. With that in mind, there is a growing impetus towards the use of managed service providers, or MSPs, for managing the move to the cloud by businesses. Their expertise and experience can help businesses to decide on the right options for their requirements and an MSP can act as a trusted partner to help businesses move to the cloud.
The Challenge As we’ve already outlined elsewhere in this report, multi-cloud solutions offer a variety of exciting benefits, but with these come challenges. The biggest is complexity: working across different services with their own technology, interfaces, feature sets and log-ins can be difficult. Management of all the various cloud platforms can be a major headache. Whilst this is not necessarily an immediate problem, if not monitored and controlled properly, operational issues start stacking up at a rapid speed, leading to difficulty maintaining access control, bug patches and security updates. Expertise within an organisation can be lacking. Cloud projects usually run in two phases; firstly, there is the move to the cloud which requires a specific set of planning, development and implementation skills to adapt existing applications and make the most of the new cloud environments. Secondly there is the ongoing running and maintenance of the new environments. Both require specific skillsets that businesses do not always have in place. Most importantly, there is often a cloud security skills gap, especially as multiple cloud environments mean there are more moving parts to manage. This is because of the fact 10 | WWW.CEOREPORTS.COM
that cloud security works differently to ownedinfrastructure. Physical servers are replaced with virtual machines running virtualised hardware and security is managed centrally, through a cloud dashboard.
Managing the Cloud There are moves to address the challenges of multi-cloud. A few companies offer self-service management tools that allow companies to mix-and-match multiple cloud platforms. Services such as those from Rightscale which offers a so-called “Universal Cloud Management Platform” that organises management of clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platforms amongst others. These types of tools can go some way towards simplifying a complex process, but what they cannot do is help a business develop a coherent multi-cloud strategy. For this, businesses are turning towards managed cloud service providers, who can provide expert consultation, advice and support. Recent figures given in an industry report from market research firm, Mordor Intelligence, suggests that the global managed services market will grow annually and project CAGR of 10.2% a year from a current size of about $128 billion in 2014 to $229 billion in 2020(8). This is because, as Mordor reports, implementing cloud services with managed services leads to “enhanced satisfaction” and users of cloud services stand to reap the benefits of “lower cost, better service availability and agility”. These managed cloud service providers can also act as much needed guides through what can be a complicated and confusing landscape. The sheer popularity of the sector, and the growth in the number of providers, makes it difficult to see the wood for the trees. Developing a viable strategy means assessing the requirements of any business and using the right systems to deliver. For example, does a business need data which is flexible and easy
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to access? Does it require a local data centre to comply with data sovereignty needs? The multi-cloud offers all sorts of exciting benefits but, to truly take advantage of them, businesses will need a little help. Therefore, an intermediary who knows the landscape well is best placed to advise on the optimum strategy. One of the largest players in this sector, Datapipe, has developed comprehensive cloud management services for leading players such as AWS and Microsoft. Their service provides follow-the-sun 24/7 support, monitoring, response and resolution, insights and analytics and fully managed hybrid IT. They help their clients build and fully customise the service to their own requirements.
The Future of MSPs The market is growing rapidly. As so often happens with such fast expansion, the future is likely to see a certain amount of consolidation in the market. As recently as August 2016, one of the leading UK MSPs, Adapt, was acquired by Datapipe and this was not the only acquisition
in the MSP market this year. It is a fast moving sector as traditional hosting providers transition to a cloud-first strategy. This is why businesses need an MSP which, not only offers a high level of expertise, but also the durability to be around for the future. Partly to that end, Gartner releases an annual Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting(9). This helps to identify some of the leading players, which helps buyers develop understanding about which would offer them the most reliable service moving into the future. As investment into cloud services continues to rise, it is clear that businesses are finding real value by moving workloads into the cloud. With multi-cloud strategies they can find additional cost savings and leverage the additional services available to them. However, it is a complex process and requires specific skills to do it right. The real value in managed cloud is, therefore, that it allows businesses to focus on what they do best: running and growing their business. They are leaving the experts to concentrate on managing their cloud.
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Multi-Cloud Strategies in the Future Tom Cropper, Editor Multi-cloud solutions have enormous potential for the future – but what form will that future actually take?
In the future multicloud ecosystem, many cloud providers and consumers will interact to create, discover, negotiate and use software services
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HE CLOUD is the future of IT, and multicloud is the future of the cloud. These are two messages being repeated time and time again in the business press. However, beneath all the hype, the sector still has a number of questions to answer: What shape will technology take? Who will be the major players in this sector? Will the market remain as strong as predicted and what role will brokers play in shaping multi-cloud strategies?
A Transformative Technology? The cloud has been hailed as one of the most disruptive forces of the digital age. A recent study from Gartner found that it would impact on approximately $1 trillion of IT spending as it shifts from traditional IT spending to the cloud10. Both cloud and multi-cloud infrastructure will be on the rise. Already more than half of businesses say they use more than one cloud service, with many more planning to do so in the future. Various studies suggest between 70% and 80% of businesses plan to move towards multi-cloud in the future. Dimensional Research, for example, suggests 77% of IT professionals plan to bring in multi-cloud in the next 12 months11. We are seeing a shift in the way the cloud is being used. From a situation in which it was only for mission critical situations, companies are now using it to influence the way their entire business works. 69% of businesses reported that it had enabled them to re-engineer an aspect of their business; 65% said it improves business operations and 88% said it improves responsiveness to business needs12. The largest cloud producers are getting in on the act and delivering multi-cloud options. Google recently acquired Orbitera which provides a marketplace for cloud solutions13. The move has been seen as an attempt on the part of Google to gain a decisive advantage in the multi-cloud space. Although it remains a major player among cloud operators, it still sits in third place against more illustrious competitors in the form of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
Deploying Multi-Cloud A major question for businesses is: how can they shape their multi-cloud strategy? Recent years have seen a growth in the use of brokers to manage multi-cloud. However, with single developer solutions becoming more sophisticated, there is a line of thought that these may become defunct in the future. The signs, though, suggest that they will expand rather than contract – at least in the short to medium term. Investment has been increasing, which suggests businesses see value in the concept. A report about the future of cloud service brokerage believes they will have a major role to play in the future of the cloud. It states: “In the future multi-cloud ecosystem, many cloud providers and consumers will interact to create, discover, negotiate and use software services. Cloud service brokers will play a central role in bringing providers and consumers together, assisting with software service creation (from abstract models to platform-specific deployments), multi-cloud translation (modeldriven adaptation and deployment of services), quality assurance (governance; functional testing and monitoring), service continuity (failure prevention and recovery) and market competition (arbitrage; service optimization; service customization)14.” However, there are key questions brokers need to ask. The term is quite vague and could be claimed by almost any provider. They need to prove how they can add value and why their expertise remains so important. The current climate in which customers are relatively unfamiliar with the cloud as a concept means those brokers who truly do have expertise to offer will be at a distinct advantage over those which do not. The question is – how will this change in the future? We may see a reduction in the number of brokerage firms – even as the size of spend increases. Companies may fail or be incorporated with others as the market begins to be dominated by a smaller number of successful brokers.
NEXT GENERATION MULTI-CLOUD DEPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS
A Developing Market The evolution of cloud management tools may also have a role to play in the future of brokers. Currently, for all the advances made in multi-cloud deployment, there is still a relative lack of tools with cross platform intelligence. The market is picking up – the number of participants is growing as is investment. Consistency is crucial. In the cloud nothing stays still for long. Competition is delivering innovation. The top providers are constantly battling one another for supremacy within the market. They are bringing in new features, evolving the technology and changing the price points. All of this forces users to confront the issue of lock-in. In a fluctuating environment, staying with one provider represents a risk. Some will be happy to stick with one provider in the hope that their service and technology will evolve with the market. Others will seek to hop from provider to provider – choosing those which offer the best service and price value at any one time.
In addition, the cloud sees IT stepping increasingly into the limelight from a basic process to a core business function – one which can save significant sums of money, free up time and drive revenue. The value to a business of an effective multi-cloud deployment strategy never have been greater. This will mean understanding the technology, what different platforms can offer a business, and where the technology is going. For that to happen, expertise and usability will all be factors to consider alongside security, cost and performance. The more this space evolves, the more complex it becomes. That is a positive development – it drives innovation and ensures consumers benefit from better services. It also creates an opportunity for differentiation. With cloud services offering wider ranging benefits to their clients, they can be used to gain a significant competitive advantage. As we move ahead into the future, we’ll be seeing many more companies focusing on the deployment of multi-cloud strategies as well as the actual systems they use.
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NEXT GENERATION MULTI-CLOUD DEPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS
References: Research Argues Greater Confidence in Cloud Storage: http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2016/aug/12/research-argues-greater-confidence-public-cloud-security-it-pros/
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http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3188817
Cloud Computing is the new Holy Grail: http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2015/apr/21/why-multi-cloud-is-the-new-holy-grail-of-cloud-computing/
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And the Winner is: Multi-cloud: https://blog.equinix.com/blog/2014/11/05/and-the-winner-is-the-multi-cloud/#!prettyPhoto
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Rise of Multi Cloud: http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2016/jul/21/rise-multi-cloud-what-you-need-know-succeed-your-deployment/
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The Sky Isn’t Falling but Prices are: http://www.smartgridnews.com/story/sky-isnt-falling-cloud-prices-are/2016-01-11
Equinox says Hybrid Cloud is the Future: http://www.forbes.com/sites/justinwarren/2016/03/09/equinix-says-hybrid-cloud-is-the-future/#1c6591cda953
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Global Managed Services Market - by Managed Services Type, End-User Industry, Geography and Vendor Analysis - Forecasts, Trends and Shares (2016 - 2021) - http://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-managed-services-market-industry
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Gartner Magic Quadrant: https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2K50B8G&ct=150729&st=sb
Cloud Shift: https://www.gartner.com/login/loginInitAction.do?method=initialize&TARGET=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gartner.com%2Fdocument%2F3321217
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Enterprises Planning Widespread Adoption of Multi-Cloud: http://www.cloudstrategymag.com/articles/85365-report-enterprises-planning-widespread-deployment-of-multi-cloud-it-architectures-in-2015
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State of the market – Enterprise Cloud: http://docplayer.net/8894786-State-of-the-market-enterprise-cloud-2016-from-adoption-to-transformation-69-have-used-cloud-to-reengineer-business-processes.html Google Acquires Obitera: http://www.cloudwards.net/news/google-acquires-orbitera-cloud-commerce-platform-13691/
Cloud Service Brokerage: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273340068_Cloud_Service_Brokerage_2014_Towards_the_Multi-cloud_Ecosystem
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