In today’s digital world, cloud computing has become the cornerstone of business operations. But with a plethora of cloud providers offering an array of services, an important question arises – is a single cloud platform enough, or should you consider a multi-cloud infrastructure? Well, the latter has a surprising number of advantages for certain companies and also enables the use of tech like Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) .
In this article, we will take a look at the many benefits that multi-cloud infrastructure can have for your business. Let’s delve straight into it.
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The Power of Choice
One of the most compelling advantages of a multi-cloud infrastructure is the sheer flexibility it offers. If you choose a single cloud provider you are essentially locked into a single ecosystem, limited by the features and functionalities of one provider. A multi-cloud approach liberates you from this constraint. With multi-cloud infrastructure, you can select the cloud platform that best suits your specific workload requirements depending on the task.
For instance, a cloud service provider might excel in high-performance computing, making it ideal for intensive data analysis tasks. Another might offer exceptional data storage solutions at a competitive price. By adopting a multi-cloud strategy and getting the best of both worlds, you can cherry-pick the most suitable services from each provider, creating a customised cloud environment perfectly aligned with your business needs.
And it doesn’t stop there – this flexibility extends beyond mere service offerings. Multi-cloud strategies can allow you to distribute your workloads across different geographic regions. This not only improves redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities but can also minimise latency issues for geographically dispersed teams.
All of this put together gives businesses that take a multi-cloud approach a huge advantage, allowing them to build dynamic and adaptable cloud infrastructures that scales seamlessly with any evolving business requirements.
Optimising Costs
Cost optimization is a crucial component for any business. This has always been the case. Unfortunately, traditional single-cloud environments can lead to vendor lock-in, where you become reliant on a single provider’s pricing structure. This lack of competition can result in inflated costs, limiting your ability to negotiate better deals or leverage new technologies.
In contrast, a multi-cloud strategy breaks free from this constraint. If you use services from multiple providers, you gain significant leverage when negotiating pricing and service level agreements (SLAs). On top of this, the competition between cloud providers drives down costs, which can allow you to secure the best possible deals on the resources you need.
A multi-cloud approach also allows you to take advantage of pay-as-you-go pricing models offered by many providers. This means you only pay for the resources you actually use, eliminating the potential for wasted expenditure on underutilised resources in a single-cloud environment.
Optimising your cloud spending through a multi-cloud strategy can free up valuable resources to invest in other areas of your business, and as every business owner knows, greater profit margins are always welcomed.
Spreading the Risk
Security is a constant battle in the modern world. If a business isn’t implementing the right strategies and protocols, it could be brought to its knees in an instant by a cyber attack or data leak. This is why safeguarding your business as much as humanly possible should always be the goal.
While cloud providers often offer robust security measures, a multi-cloud approach can add an extra layer of protection and give you more options. Perhaps the main security benefit multi-cloud infrastructure brings is that of spreading your business across multiple systems.
By distributing your data and applications across multiple cloud platforms, you eliminate the risk of a single point of failure. If one cloud provider experiences a security breach, your critical data and applications remain safe on the other platforms.
This can be particularly beneficial for businesses operating in heavily regulated industries. Compliance with complex data residency or security regulations can be challenging in a single-cloud environment. However, a multi-cloud approach allows you to select cloud providers that offer specific compliance certifications and data storage locations, ensuring adherence to relevant regulations.
Ultimately, a multi-cloud infrastructure strengthens your overall security profile by diversifying your risk and offering greater access controls over your data. This layered approach can provide peace of mind and allows you to focus on core business operations with the confidence that your data and applications are secure. It’s a surprisingly effective tactic for reducing the impact of any attacks.
Conclusion
We hope we have been able to give you a better insight into the many benefits of multi-cloud infrastructure for your business. While this approach won’t be beneficial for every business, most businesses will experience a plethora of advantages by swapping over to a multi-cloud strategy.
Not only can it drastically increase security and reduce the likelihood/severity of cyber attacks, but it can also save costs and offer greater flexibility. As a business owner, there’s not much more you could ask for. So, consider if multi-cloud infrastructure is right for you. It could just be the next big move for your business.