Why a hybrid cloud approach brings benefits to enterprises

Our world has changed over the past three years. We’ve seen enterprises reap the rewards in allowing people to work more flexibly. Hybrid work has been embraced, while the way companies communicate with, and offer services to their customers is evolving fast. The result is that hybrid cloud has become the new normal and is the go-to IT infrastructure for every business. According to a recent global survey sponsored by Cisco, 82% of respondents currently use hybrid IaaS cloud infrastructure to host their workloads (Source: 2022 Cisco Global Hybrid Cloud Trends Report). In this blog I will explain why hybrid cloud brings benefits to enterprises.

Get cloud networking benefits

New experiences such as 8K ultra-high-definition video streaming, immersive VR (virtual reality) and AR (alternative reality), self-driving vehicles, and high frequency stock trading are becoming mainstream. Organizations are using multiple public clouds as they develop these applications. 92% of organizations surveyed use more than one public cloud. In response to growing complexity enterprises are also looking to embrace more automation and tools powered by AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning).

New infrastructure is needed to deliver these types of experiences, with organizations adopting hybrid cloud and multicloud models to attain cloud networking benefits.

Why a hybrid cloud approach brings benefits to enterprises but also new challenges

There are many different approaches out there, all of them have some pro´s and con´s. I have made a quick summary of a hybrid cloud and multicloud model and explained why hybrid cloud networking will bring benefits to IT organizations.

A hybrid cloud model is the combination of two or more clouds that are running workloads on-premises as a private cloud and in public cloud. They are centrally managed to enable interoperability for different use cases. It also comes with challenges like compliance, security risks, and the need for consistent policies across environments. This brings more complexity and scaling issues.

Hybrid Cloud will become the go-to IT infrastructure for every business. It requires flexibility and the ability to enable AI and automation. They demand a pay as you go subscription, sustainability and open hybrid solutions (source: 2022 Futurum Report).

Here are the three main benefits why a  hybrid cloud approach brings benefits to enterprises

1. Scalability: With a hybrid-cloud solution enterprises can scale resources up and down whenever needed.
2. Innovation: With having access to public clouds, companies can benefit from specific offerings and reduce time to market when they build applications this allows access to innovation.
3. Efficiency: With a hybrid-cloud infrastructure, organizations can deploy workloads as required based on performance, cost, security, and other requirements.

A multicloud model leverages two or more public clouds to the use of multiple private and public clouds. As a result, the multicloud environment becomes more flexible. However, it also becomes more complex, and it creates additional security risks. Multicloud at scale requires interoperability, automation, and governance as well as a common security and networking approach across multiple cloud frameworks and tooling as well as environments.

Here are the three main benefits of a multicloud model

• Greater choice and agility: Companies have the option to use different cloud providers to avoid a lock-in and provide their users with the cloud services they require.
• Lower costs: With a Multicloud model companies can choose the cloud service with the optimal price and performance based on their needs.
• Increase IT performance: Companies have the ability to choose the cloud service they need to efficiently develop and deploy their specific workloads.

And last but not least, cloud networking let companies manage and configure the network in a cloud service with consistency and security. It offers benefits like a unified management and will bring visibility and insights. Another advantage is the simplified consumption model. To benefit from a cloud networking solutions companies must invest in an agile, highly-available, scale-out and secure multi-site connectivity.

According the actual Futurum research, the foundation pillars of Cloud Networking are:

• Simplified operations
• Automated secure connectivity
• Platform approach
• Unified management and policy
• Best-in-class infrastructure
• Simplified consumption model
• Insights and visibility

What solution does Cisco offers, and will this help us to connect, observe, and optimize our hybrid-cloud environments?

Whatever cloud approach your company will follow; we see that companies need to continue to digitize their business to keep ahead.

It is essential to expand the networking foundation to support modern applications, connect microservices and harness data for business services. All of that will determine success of an organization’s cloud journey.

Cisco Hybrid Cloud experiences enable IT to:

• Build cloud-ready: Modernize with cloud-managed infrastructure designed for simplified automation and continuous delivery.
• Operate cloud-smart: Connect to the clouds of your choice, stay in control, and optimize everywhere to deliver better outcomes.
• Accelerate cloud-native: Say yes to application innovation without sacrificing governance, compliance, and security

You want to learn more? Register to one of our upcoming webinars to see our hybrid cloud solutions in action.

AMER webinars, EMEA webinars, APJC webinars

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