June 20198 As cloud services continue to proliferate, they present both a threat and opportunity to businesses in every industry across the world. These services and solutions continue to profoundly evolve and redefine the way we work and interact with technology at an ever-increasing pace. To take advantage of this cloud evolution and not be left behind, the dominant IT strategy businesses around the world are implementing a multi-cloud approach. If implemented properly, this strategy provides numerous advantages to an organization. A multi-cloud strategy allows businesses to select best-in-breed cloud solutions that fit 'their business objectives, whether utilizing Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or both. In addition, a multi-cloud environment provides the opportunity to combine the management, migration, and governance of both legacy and cloud workloads through a combination of public and private cloud services. The agility of this solution stretches beyond the aforementioned benefits by providing additional resiliency, reduced data lock-in risk, and flexibility on pricing and cost models. However, the introduction of multiple vendors and services into your IT ecosystem creates a set of challenges that if not addressed, has the potential to more than outweigh the benefits of a multi-cloud approach. Multi-cloud does create complexity around interoperability, governance, security, and networking.A cloudy approach Embarking on a multi-cloud mission brings with it challenges. Ironically, one of the greatest advantages of multi-cloud also presents one of its greatest difficulties. Multi-cloud awards organizations the ability to deploy a unique environment for every mission-critical business application, but in achieving this, also adds several layers of management complexity. As is the case with any large-scale deployment, extending the number of cloud environments means extending the skills, tools, and knowledge required to run these environments efficiently. The formula is rather simple in this sense. If an organization is using multiple cloud vendors, then they will need multiple skill-sets to manage the cloud. The more SaaS and IaaS solutions being deployed, the more critical employee skill-set and expertise becomes. Even the simplest functions, can become muddied if vendors use drastically different methods or measures, as each platform will come equipped with individual portals, APIs, and processes that require management. Finding the fix Those looking to gain the convenience and benefits of cloud often experience the hassle of having to navigate directly with individual cloud partners. This is where key cloud management tools have emerged to consolidate complex multi-cloud environments, helping to mitigate the risk of straining resources, cost creep, or compliance issues. Leapfrogging bottlenecks and the other shortcomings of traditional networks is also critical to a successful multi-cloud strategy. This is where software defined networks (SDN) play a major role, enabling networks to move beyond being a `black box' to offering flexibility and transparency that can be switched on via APIs and automation. With SDN, businesses can now set the appropriate network parameters on an application basis to ensure the right performance, security, and compliance. It is therefore unsurprising the global SDN market is tipped to grow from $5 billion AUD this year to over $77 billion by 2022 (MarketsandMarkets).Case StudyOne Australian organization that established a multi-cloud management platform to help expand its presence HOW TO NAVIGATE THE CHALLENGES OF A MULTI-CLOUD ENVIRONMENT BY JIM FAGAN, HEAD OF GLOBAL PLATFORMS, PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY, TELSTRAJim FaganIN MY V EW
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