CIOs recalibrate multicloud strategies as challenges remain

The multicloud calculus

Mojgan Lefebvre, EVP and chief technology and operations officer at Travelers, says a multicloud architecture not only offers enterprises the freedom to use best-of-breed cloud services but also the ability to negotiate better financial terms from each cloud provider.

“Different cloud providers offer various pricing models,” she says. “A multicloud strategy allows organizations to optimize costs by selecting the most cost-effective services for their needs.”

[ Related: CIOs sharpen cloud cost strategies — just as gen AI spikes loom ]

Lefebvre says Travelers’ approach to multicloud is intentional, with best fits for each workload being decided on a case-by-case basis — including keeping specific workloads in-house. She also notes that not relying on a single cloud provider reduces the risk of downtime and data loss, while also fostering better business opportunities.

“Access to a broader range of tools and services, including advanced AI and machine learning capabilities, can drive innovation and improve business outcomes,” she says. “However, managing multiple cloud environments can be complex and requires specialized skills and tools to ensure consistent security and compliance and effective integration of services and data.”

That often means applying vendor-supplied connectors to exchange data from cloud to cloud, interoperability management tools, and in many cases, pricey systems integrators to stitch it all together and ensure, above all else, that there is no data leakage.

Bob McCowan, CIO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, says taking a cloud-native approach can help ease some multicloud challenges.

“For those organizations that embraced ‘native cloud,’ the architecture and design allow for movement of the work between different cloud providers without significant effort,” he says. “In most cases this is part of a business continuity play but it’s good practice to avoid getting overly committed to any provider, as well as leaving the door open for pivoting to cloud providers that may deliver a capability unique to their platform.”

Given the pace of change in the cloud industry itself, that flexibility can readily pay off, McCowan says.

“Cloud providers are going to be leapfrogging each other and if the capability, price point, or global reach warrants it, organizations will need to have the agility to change things up,” he says. “The rapid growth in AI, with very specific use cases will also require organizations to plan for change or risk getting tied to the wrong technology or cloud provider.”

AI has become a game changer in many ways, and it is causing CIOs to rethink their cloud strategies. There is a lot to be gained from leveraging the latest tools in the public cloud and being able to defect as necessary.

Still, Max Chan, CIO of Avnet, says IT leaders ought not fret about building a multicloud architecture unless there is a well-defined need.

“Public cloud interoperability is increasingly important for gen AI deployment, but whether it is critical or more of a ‘nice to have’ depends on the specific use case and enterprise needs,” he says. “Enterprises with complex workflows that require integrating data and services from multiple cloud providers, such interoperability is essential for seamless data flow and service integration. However, for most other organizations that use a single cloud provider, interoperability might be less critical.”

And, Chan notes, the added complexity, as well as the potential costs associated with managing multicloud environments, might outweigh the benefits for many organizations.

Still, for those organizations embracing multicloud, all eyes will be on interoperability advancements. Oracle has taken a big step in that direction but only time will tell if enterprise demand forces cloud providers to build further interoperability directly into their clouds or risk losing customers.

In the interim, there are many tools and data integration strategies CIOs can use to make a hybrid, multicloud environment functional, says Nick Golovin, senior vice president of enterprise data platform at CData.

Amazon, for instance, advises customers to use homegrown services such as AWS DataSync, Glue, Athena, and CloudWatch to enable hybrid, multicloud interoperability. In a blog post this summer, AWS claimed Phillips 66 achieved multicloud interoperability by deploying its Managed Service for Prometheus but acknowledged AWS Professional Services was hired to make it work.

AWS also pointed to Elastic Container Services and EKS Anywhere, as well as AWS Outposts Family and AWS Snow Family as additional tools to enable interoperability.

“CIOs and data decision-makers can create a comprehensive data management strategy for the hybrid cloud environment by considering their environment as a data ecosystem and focusing on aspects such as integration, data quality, governance, master data management, and metadata management,” Golovin says.

“Cloud platform vendors often provide parts of these aspects, so understanding where the gaps are and leveraging third-party specialized tools for critical data management functions can help overcome the limitations of proprietary cloud ecosystems, ensuring seamless connectivity and flexibility,” he adds.