Are You Prepared for Multi-Cloud Challenges?

There’s little question that cloud computing can provide you with innovative and helpful new applications designed to increase your company’s capabilities and productivity. Many businesses end up using multiple services to reach the potential that the cloud promises.

Problems crop up, however, when managing so many different services and applications becomes too complicated. In order to prepare for these multi-cloud challenges, it’s important to lay out a groundwork and vision for what you want the cloud to do for your business. Easing into the cloud is also highly advised. This can be done by integrating the cloud services you want with those solutions already being used by your data center. Planning out these moves ahead of time will make the transition into a multi-cloud environment that much smoother.

Ebook: Demystifying the Cloud from Dell

Selecting Providers

When it comes to picking your preferred cloud services, it’s important to assess their service levels. There are two ways to approach this evaluation. The first is an assessment based on quantitative performance, which includes service availability, service utilization, and application performance. The second criteria should include an evaluation on qualitative performance including security, escalation processes, disaster recovery, support, and exclusions.

Shadow IT

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of a multi-cloud environment is retaining a level of control. Employees tend to pursue those cloud options they think will help them do their jobs. While a worthy goal, this practice can sometimes result in shadow IT, which can lead to wasted resources and security violations. To overcome this challenge, your organization will need to set up proper boundaries and a clearly communicated policy which promotes productivity and IT management. Your company should also educate employees about what they need to know when it comes to using cloud services.

These issues are only the start of the challenges that many companies face when working in a multi-cloud environment. Securing that environment and maintaining control when working with private clouds are other challenges that should be addressed. Dell’s “Demystifying the Cloud” tackles these multi-cloud challenges, helping the reader understand what to do to get the benefits of the cloud, while also detailing the benefits of hybrid cloud. In addition to that, the ebook addresses some of the most common questions about the cloud and how to get started with it in the most effective ways possible. You can read and download the ebook by clicking here.