The advantages of being cloud smart

Last year VMware commissioned an eye-opening survey of IT leaders, including nearly 6,000 CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, application developers, cloud architects, and DevOps professionals across the globe. The resulting report, “The Multi-Cloud Maturity Index,” garnered important intelligence on the state of multi-cloud deployments across industries.

As a multi-cloud approach becomes increasingly ubiquitous with efforts to future-proof today’s dynamic and distributed organizations—which, in today’s era of hybrid work, includes most businesses—the findings are prescient and reflect the understanding of IT leaders who have experienced the multi-cloud journey.

The era of multi-cloud is here

Insights from respondents reveal not only a dramatic increase in multi-cloud deployments, but also the central role they play in IT today. A dramatic 95% of respondents believe a multi-cloud approach is critical to business success, with more than half believing the stakes are even higher: 52% say organizations that do not adopt a multi-cloud approach risk failure.

A strong case can be made for multi-cloud. IT imperatives—not the least of which include the development of consumer-facing applications that define the customer experience and the ability to support hybrid work—depend on a multi-cloud approach.

The ability to comply with data sovereignty requirements also commonly requires multi-cloud capabilities. Common business events, including mergers and acquisitions, also require organizations to effectively manage multiple clouds.

More broadly, IT leaders pointed to other mission-critical capabilities that rely on multi-cloud integrations. Nearly all, 96%, report that a multi-cloud approach plays a very or somewhat important role in accelerating time to market, 95% believe the same applies to meeting customer needs, and the same percentage point to its role in recruiting talent.

Cloud complexity is also increasing

Unfortunately, these gains do not come free. Managing multiple clouds, each of which includes its own software stack, is not easy. That’s why it’s no surprise that 70% of respondents’ enterprises are experiencing cloud challenges—unable to draw on the inherent ability of multi-cloud deployments. These organizations have yet to reach the tipping point when the benefits of a multi-cloud approach outweigh the complexities involved.

Notably, enterprises reported they were experiencing cloud challenges, or alternatively experiencing success with a multi-cloud approach, based on a number of criteria. These include the number of public clouds they use, hybrid app usage, cyber security and data sovereignty capabilities, visibility and control over cloud expenses, and DevOps capabilities.

The path forward to being cloud smart is clear

Cloud-smart enterprises benefit from the agility, flexibility, and operational excellence multi-cloud makes possible. Three points are particularly salient regardless of where an organization is in its cloud journey:

• Approach multi-cloud conscientiously: Organizations aware of the complexities involved that approach the cloud strategically with a well-thought-out plan ultimately are able to effectively use multiple clouds with ease and for the use cases they best enable;
• Use trusted and proven technologies to integrate cloud deployments and on-premises systems: Enterprises that build on best-of-breed, software-defined solutions that allow stakeholders to continue using mission-critical on-premises systems in conjunction with multiple clouds—and manage those integrations through a single pane of glass—gain the cumulative compute, storage, and networking power of the cloud; and
• Involve the CEO: More than half, 61%, of the enterprises that achieved cloud-smart status reported that their CEO was “extremely engaged.”

These leaders show that there is a path forward—one which enables them to overcome the complexity of cloud integrations and realize the agility, flexibility, and performance gains a multi-cloud approach makes possible. In the future, leading businesses will be defined in part by the multi-cloud acumen that allows them to work faster and smarter.

Discover how VMware can support your multi-cloud strategy here.