Three steps to launching your multicloud strategy

Whether by design or by default, most businesses today rely on multiple clouds. They’re extending beyond their on-premises data center environments and adopting private clouds, hyperscale public clouds, cloud-based SaaS applications and even colocation environments. The end result is a unique multicloud environment.

Ideally, your multicloud is custom designed to meet your business’s specific needs. But without a multicloud strategy, it’s more likely to be a jumble of technologies that can quickly grow out of your control — leading to overspending and security vulnerabilities.

No matter where you are on your multicloud journey, it’s not too late to take a strategic approach. Done right, you can still reap all the benefits of the multicloud. You can be one of the 75% of midsize and large organizations who are expected to adopt a multicloud strategy by 2021.

So, where should you start? We recommend three steps:

Step 1: Establish your goals

When developing your multicloud strategy, it’s important to focus on the ultimate problem your business needs to resolve. Perhaps you need to deliver superior customer experiences, or accelerate delivery of products and services, or keep prices low. Whatever your target business outcome is, keep it front-and-center throughout the process.

Step 2: Know your current state

Next, it’s time to thoroughly assess your existing environment. Everything from your in-house capabilities, processes, technology and toolsets, to even your culture — it’s all worth looking at. You should also make note of interdependencies among applications, your current and projected TCO, and opportunities for system modernization and architecture improvement.

(This may sound daunting, and it can be. But we have experts who can help you fully assess your current environment.)

Step 3: Find the right home for each workload

Now that you know where you are, and where you want to be, it’s time to start sketching out possible paths to get there. And that means looking at each workload and identifying where it should live — whether it should stay in your on-premises data center, be replaced with a SaaS solution, move to a public cloud or a private cloud, or perhaps be retired altogether.

The best way to do this is with a Cloud Decision Management Process (CDMP) — which involves using a decision-tree (yes/no) approach to match each workload to its best-fit platform. We’ve outlined the CDMP process for you over on the Rackspace Technology Technical Blog, where we discuss workload filtering, filtering questions and platform evaluation criteria, as well as key dependences and best practices.  

Take your next step toward multicloud success

Interested in diving deeper into multicloud strategy? Check out our 2020 Cloud Strategy Workbook, which walks you through five critical elements to your cloud strategy and provides access to templates and examples that can guide you on your journey.