The path to efficient multi-cloud
Can’t scale your cloud services? Security gaps? Spending out of control? You need to cut through the complexity of your clouds
The pace of business acceleration means that in many cases cloud implementations have outstripped their original governance. This has led to the creation of complex, cumbersome, and costly multi-cloud estates that are difficult to manage. It has also created a massive barrier to moving to cloud native and becoming a more mature cloud user.
This year, according to IDC, 90% of enterprises globally will rely on a mix of on-premises, dedicated private, and multiple public clouds. At Telstra Purple, we believe multi-cloud is any combination of software as a service (SaaS) applications, hyperscaler cloud services, cloud edge, on-premises data centers, colocation, and so forth. We consider any location hosting your enterprise’s IT services as its own cloud and therefore forming a component of your multi-cloud estate.
And as enterprises consume services from different clouds, management becomes way more complex in terms of procurement, governance, security, cost management, and performance for example. Few manage to carve out the time to resolve their concerns and build an overarching strategy. As a result, they end up with poor visibility and planning, leading to a costly and fragmented cloud estate riddled with security risks.
As enterprises move to multi-cloud, they are finding that they need to significantly change how they manage across environments. But where to start? Which clouds to choose that best suit business needs in what is a complex landscape.
Enterprises should not wait until problems happen. A proactive approach to the cloud journey is essential in the form of a robust cloud strategy designed to identify, secure, and monitor data, applications, and services in the cloud estate. Without solid foundations, you can run into management and security issues.
Why multi-cloud is necessary
Multi-cloud quite simply provides choice. It empowers enterprises to select the best cloud services for their business needs. It provides agility and more flexibility in optimizing costs, agility, capability, and performance while keeping data and assets secure. It can also minimize the risk of downtime as business operations are not dependent on one service provider. Running applications across multiple cloud service providers may also reduce latency, avoid vendor lock-in, and improve the user experience.
Multi-cloud as part of strategy allows you to industrialize how you use the cloud
Simplified, centralized multi-cloud management provides effective administration and oversight of applications and workloads across multiple clouds. It also delivers a single view across your entire distributed attack service, which is essential for policy enforcement and security visibility.
This holistic approach to multi-cloud management allows you to support distributed resources and development teams while having centrally managed policy and governance delivered by cloud-agnostic tools across people, processes, and technologies. It provides a central point of truth covering the entire distributed IT estate.
By better controlling and managing your cloud estate, you can take advantage of multi-cloud services to gain a competitive edge. The industrialization of the cloud delivers standardization and automated provisioning for improved business and technology agility wherever and whenever needed, without restraints.
Increasing cloud maturity
Furthermore, multi-cloud management, including capabilities, strategy, and an aligned operating model, is a key requisite for improving cloud maturity. According to a recent Frost & Sullivan* cloud maturity model, only 16% of businesses fall within the top two maturity levels. Enterprises with a higher level of maturity are more likely to successfully support technologies such as microservice architectures and containers.
The issues blocking multi- cloud maturity include difficulties deploying across multiple environments, migration issues, poorly defined business metrics, security compliance, resilient design for availability, backups and disaster recovery, and an ongoing skills shortage. A good multi-cloud management approach can help overcome these issues.
How to make the multi-cloud journey easier
An effective multi-cloud strategy, built around modern cloud-agnostic management tools collaborative processes, security, governance, and skills, is a critical foundation for digital transformation and innovation. It is also central to the leading-edge management of multi-cloud.
The strategy needs to tick all the boxes when it comes to people, processes, and technologies. Automation, especially for repetitive tasks, should be a priority where it works, freeing up skilled workers to concentrate on higher-level tasks. Processes need to be directed to enhance efficiencies and tools adopted to improve performance. Ultimately, it should tick all the boxes when it comes to people, processes, and technologies. Relationships must be optimized between each of these for business success. You need people to be upskilled to carry out the task alongside processes to enhance efficiency, and tools to improve performance, automating where appropriate.
The network is a key differentiator for Telstra
Connecting to multiple clouds and multiple locations is a complex task and cannot be done agnostically by service providers. Enter Telstra, which has extensive networking expertise, including in the cloud.
By 2023, Gartner estimates that 40% of all workloads will be deployed in cloud infrastructure and platform services, up from 20% in 2020. However, the native capabilities of public cloud providers are insufficient for some production enterprise workloads. This will need third-party networking software-defined solutions to support advanced multi-cloud networking features. Benefits include scalability, mobility, and faster deployment.
Time to take control of your multi-cloud estate
Every enterprise looking to advance on its cloud journey needs a robust multi-cloud management strategy to avoid heading down a blind alley. This needs to encompass people, processes, and technologies, creating a single pane of glass for full visibility on all cloud services. With this in place, enterprises will be able to industrialize their multi-cloud estates, better optimize their investment, and get products and solutions to market faster.
Multi-cloud supports transforming your business and bolstering your bottom line – but only if you keep control. For further information contact us today.
Capture multi-cloud’s full potential with Telstra Purple
Here at Telstra Purple, our multi-disciplinary team has a collaborative style of working that will provide you with an overarching multi-cloud strategy that works for your business.
- Access to 1,500 certified experts across cloud, security, networks, and modern workspace
- Over 240 independent highly certified security specialists
- 30 years delivering transformation in large complex mission-critical environments
- Telstra developed 4D methodology that delivers major change while minimizing business impact, reducing cost and mitigating risk.
We have relationships with industry-leading partners to bring you the best technologies. These include:
- Microsoft Gold Partner and CSP, Azure Expert MSP
- AWS Advanced Consulting Partner
- Cisco Gold Partner
- Equinix Platinum Partner
Our vendor-agnostic, holistic approach will ensure you adopt the best multi-cloud approach, strategy, and technologies for lasting change with a single pane of glass on cloud management. We also offer managed cloud services, providing a common integrated management experience – putting what you need in the cloud and what you want to remain on-premises.
We are a market leader in cloud connectivity. Noted as a leader in IDC’s 2021 Marketscape for Network Consulting Worldwide. In addition, we are powered by Telstra, offering 24/7 global managed services, London hosting centre, and cloud connectivity. You can connect to multiple cloud environments all from one place via the Telstra Programmable Network, the industry’s first globally connected on-demand networking platform.
As seasoned integrators with a strong security reputation, we have invaluable experience in building, deploying, and managing multi-cloud. At the same time, we can help you fill the skills gap. We also have expertise in multi-cloud networking based on our own transformational experiences and being a global network organisation.
SASE is key to keeping multi-cloud secure. Our strong security posture is at the forefront of our multi-cloud offering, including helping plan for secure access service edge (SASE), combining your software-defined networking capabilities with cloud native security functions.
Our end-to-end approach will ensure your cloud estate remains agile and secure, driving innovation based on rich insights.
* Frost and Sullivant Cloud User Survey 2020
