EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
Many organisations have adopted a multicloud approach because it provides the best choice , agility and flexibility for their many needs . Different cloud providers offer different services and organisations often move to a particular provider to take advantage of those features .
When it comes to adopting multi-cloud , arguably one of the biggest challenges is around costs . In fact , according to the Flexera 2024 State of the Cloud
Report , managing cloud spend was cited as the top challenge facing organisations . Organisations should beware of cloud egress charges where providers charge customers for network usage based on the amount of data transferred out of the cloud , but not into the cloud .
To manage costs in a multi-cloud environments , organisations should opt for flexible consumption models . The easiest way to safeguard budgets when workloads are bound to fluctuate is with flexible consumption models that allow you to pay for only what you use , rather than a fixed amount of storage you may overuse or underuse . Not only that , but asa-service options should be wrapped around service level agreements .
Use advanced analytics and AI-powered monitoring for better visibility . The best way to get ahead of bloat is with transparency in your cloud environments . Again , this is where the SLAs come into effect , with metering and monitoring capabilities so organisations get a clear view of costs and usage . Also , effective IT analytics , AI and reporting can go further to spot anomalies , predict trends in your capacity requirements , and anticipate waste before it makes its way to the balance sheet .
Focus on application portability , data mobility , and interoperability . A big allure of the multi-cloud model is avoiding lock-in , but where and how you choose to store your data can lead to compromises that diminish your multi-cloud ROI . This is why it is important to design an infrastructure for seamless multi-cloud mobility .
Some other best practices and considerations for adopting multi-cloud include , multi-cloud can mitigate risk should one cloud be unavailable or attacked , so disaster recovery is a key consideration .
Make sure application architecture is understood along with connectivity and data flows , especially when considering moving applications into the cloud .
When regularly moving data between environments , make sure that data volumes are minimised by only copying deltas , and even then , make sure that the data transferred is reduced as much as possible using deduplication and compression . p
To manage costs in a multi-cloud environments , organisations should opt for flexible consumption models .
OMAR AKAR , REGIONAL VP , MIDDLE EAST AND EMERGING
AFRICA , PURE STORAGE
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