What multicloud means, and why it’s a game-changer

Pierre Fricke

icon representing multicloud

 

Editor’s note:

Multicloud has many definitions in our industry. For some, it means multiple hyperscale clouds. For others, it can mean hyperscale clouds plus private cloud and virtualized environments. We take a more holistic approach to multicloud, as you’ll see in this post.

 

Multicloud defined

Chances are you already have a multicloud environment. Perhaps you run VMware® Cloud on-premises, while looking to Amazon AWS for new customer facing applications, SAP® for enterprise resource management and Salesforce® for your CRM deployed as SaaS. That’s multicloud.

Or maybe one part of your business runs on Microsoft® Azure®, but another runs on AWS. That’s multicloud, too.

Basically, multicloud means what it sounds like: multiple clouds. From your on-premises data center and private clouds to hyperscale clouds like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform™, cloud-based SaaS applications and even colocation environments — it all comes together to create your unique multicloud.

 

Why multicloud matters

Multicloud gives you the right tools for the job. For little upfront cost, you can easily spin up a SaaS app to solve a business problem. If your legacy, on-premises systems are still working for you, there’s no need to change them. If you need to move these to a cloud to optimize cost, performance and speed, you have choices — ranging from a port to managed private cloud, to a remake as a cloud native application on a public cloud or even VMC on AWS. And even if you’ve “always been a Microsoft shop,” you can still choose AWS for some projects if it makes sense.

This multicloud approach can give you the lowest costs and best performance, because you’re able to pick-and-choose exactly what you need. The best part is, you’re in control. You build the multicloud solution that fits your business best, and you can make changes along the way.

 

But multicloud strategy also matters — a lot

Although multicloud puts you in control, you can also quickly lose grip of what’s going on in your environment. Because it’s spread across so many technologies and platforms, you need a multicloud strategy and governance program — so you can keep costs in check, maximize performance and fortify security. To jumpstart your multicloud strategy, we recommend you:

  1. Identify your business’s top-line goals, such as the need to deliver superior customer experiences, accelerate delivery of products and services or optimize economics, and then see how multicloud can help support those goals.
     
  2. Create a high-level framework to help guide your cloud decisions, such as minimum requirements around security, performance, management, and what services are approved for developing cloud native applications and where to host them.
     
  3. Work with your accounting team to address the financial implications of the various cloud service models and identify TCO, long-term costs and savings while remaining focused on your business goals.

 

Multicloud can transform your business

Rackspace Technology helped global education software provider Tribal Group move strategically to a multicloud environment across AWS and Azure. As a result, Tribal Group experienced a 90% increase in customer participation and achieved cost efficiencies across the business.

“Rackspace Technology helped us tackle the complexity of moving to a multicloud environment and accelerate time to value for customers.” - Graham Barton, Commercial Director, Cloud Services at Tribal Group

Australia’s top auction and valuation specialist Pickles turned to Rackspace Technology for help with its multicloud strategy and execution. By combining VMware private cloud and Azure public cloud, Pickles can scale quickly to support its 10 million page views per month. It’s experiencing better performance and reliability and is better positioned to tackle its competition head-on.

“Rackspace Technology was the ideal fit for our [multicloud] strategy and a good, strong partner to help with our transformation." - Simon Meyrick, CIO, Pickles

 

Start your multicloud journey

Multicloud environments can be complex. So don’t go it alone. We have experts across all leading technologies, including AWSGoogle Cloud Platform, MicrosoftOpenStack®, Oracle®, SAP, VMware, cloud native enablement and more.

Get started today. Learn how the multicloud experts at Rackspace Technology can help you reduce costs, increase performance and free up your business to innovate.

 

 

 

 

 

Multicloud environments can be complex. So don’t go it alone.