Multi-Cloud Challenges: Best Practices and Strategies

With the use of multi-cloud environments on the rise - with 98% of enterprises using or planning to use two or more cloud providers - it is essential that organizations understand the challenges faced with managing multiple cloud providers.

Many organizations adopt a multi-cloud adoption strategy for its advantages and benefits, such as flexibility, scalability, and risk management. However, understanding the challenges faced with managing multi-clouds, such as the complexity of cloud management, cost management, and gaps in multiple cloud provider skills and knowledge, is crucial to successfully managing a multi-cloud platform.

We will explore some of the most common challenges faced by organizations managing a multi-cloud platform, specific job roles facing those challenges, and common solutions to help make managing a multi-cloud environment easier. 

Common Multi-Cloud Challenges

Adopting a multi-cloud strategy can come with a range of challenges, some of them the same and others different, depending on your job role. Understanding the challenges and how to address them can help prevent operational inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities, and cost overruns. Below are organizations' most common challenges and solutions when running a multi-cloud environment.

Complexity of Cloud Management

Managing multiple cloud environments increases complexity as different providers offer unique tools, services, and architectures, making effective governance and aligning with broader organizational goals more difficult. Solutions for managing these complexities involve using systems that operate across different platforms. Still, the best approach depends on each organization's specific challenges and needs, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the teams involved. Flexibility and careful planning are essential to successfully navigating a multi-cloud setup

IT leadership (CIO/CTO) that faces challenges with maintaining governance and aligning with objectives will want to:

• Develop a centralized governance framework that addresses security, compliance, and performance monitoring across all cloud providers;
• Implement automation of key processes to reduce operational overhead; and
• Strategize vendor selection by selecting providers that meet their organization’s specific needs and objectives.

Cloud architects that face challenges architecting systems that work seamlessly across multiple cloud platforms will want to:

• Design for interoperability by using open standards and APIs that facilitate integration between platforms;
• Implement multi-cloud management tools and platforms that provide a unified control plane or offer a single interface to streamline operations and ensure consistent performance across clouds; and
• Prioritize scalability by architecting systems that can easily scale across multiple cloud providers without compromising performance or reliability.

DevOps teams that face challenges with automating deployments and ensuring smooth CI/CD pipelines will want to:

• Automate deployment and infrastructure provisioning across clouds by using tools such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) or Terraform;
• Implement multi-cloud CI/CD tools to streamline code deployment and ensure consistent workflows; and
• Continuously monitor and log to catch issues early and optimize system performance.

Regardless of job role, when facing the complexity of cloud management leaders and organizations should take advantage of multi-cloud management platforms, automation tools, and standardize their security practices.

Security Risks and Compliance

Different cloud providers can have different compliance and security measures that need to be met; this can make it difficult to meet these different compliance standards and to ensure consistent security protocols.

Security officers (CISO) who face vulnerabilities from consistent security policies and compliance across multiple cloud providers will want to:

• Use a centralized security framework to enforce consistent policies and monitor activity across all cloud platforms;
• Adopt a zero trust security model to verify every access request within the multi-cloud environment; and
• Conduct regular compliance audits to ensure all cloud services meet industry regulations, such as GDPR or HIPAA.

Security risks and compliance issues extend across multiple job roles in a multi-cloud environment, including IT leadership, cloud architects, DevOps teams, data engineers, and application developers. All roles will want to regularly audit for compliance, integrate strict security measures, and comply with privacy regulations.

Data Integration and Consistency

Data integrity can be compromised through inconsistencies, latency issues, and other challenges when synchronizing data across multiple cloud platforms or coordinating between different departments (such as IT, security, and finance).

Data engineers who face challenges of data inconsistency and potential security vulnerabilities will want to:

• Implement cross-cloud data management tools, such as AWS DataSync or Azure Data Factory to streamline data transfer and synchronization;
• Maintain data integrity by using real-time replication tools to minimize latency and ensure data consistency across platforms; and
• Apply encryption and other data security measures to protect data as it moves across cloud environments. 

Application developers facing challenges of running efficiently across multiple cloud platforms will want to:

• Use containers (such as Docker) or microservices to ensure applications are portable and can easily move between clouds;
• Write code that is optimized for multi-cloud environments; and
• Incorporating CI/CD pipelines to automate updates and ensure consistent performance across multiple cloud environments.

Project Managers managing risks of compliance and integration challenges from coordinating between different departments will want to:

• Facilitate communication between cross-functional teams by ensuring alignment on multi-cloud goals and objectives;
• Manage risks by proactively identifying and mitigating risks, including security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, and integration challenges; and
• Track progress with project management tools to monitor the progress of multi-cloud initiatives and ensure alignment with timeliness and objectives.

Along with the above mentioned solutions, organizations will want to establish clear data governance policies that will define how data is handled, stored, and moved across all cloud environments.

Cost Management

Each cloud provider has their own pricing model, resource usage pattern, and billing system, which can make it difficult to manage costs across platforms.

Finance/cost management facing challenges with unplanned expenses an inefficiencies will want to:

• Use cloud-cost management tools like CloudHealth or AWS Cost Explorer to monitor, analyze, and optimize cloud spending across providers;
• Optimize resource allocation by continuously monitoring and evaluating resource usage and adjust allocations to reduce unnecessary spending or underutilization of services and avoid over-provisioning; and
• Financial forecasting by using tools to forecast and plan cloud expenses, providing clear visibility into current and future cloud expenditures.

Additionally, you may want to automate budgeting by setting automated alerts and triggers to notify your teams when cloud costs exceed predefined thresholds.

Performance Monitoring

When using different metrics, tools, and dashboards for each cloud provider, monitoring performance across providers can be challenging.

Business analysts facing challenges analyzing the return on investment (ROI) for multi-cloud strategies or challenges tracking cloud service usage that aligns with their organization’s goals will want to:

• Continuously assess ROI to ensure the multi-cloud strategy delivers value and aligns with the organizational objectives
• Monitor cloud usage by using analytic tools to track and analyze service usage, identifying areas for cost optimization and performance improvements across cloud platforms
• Facilitate communication between technical teams and stakeholders to ensure multi-cloud initiatives meet organizational needs.

 

Other job roles facing performance monitoring challenges may also want to use multi-cloud monitoring platforms, such as Datadog or New Relic, that provide comprehensive visibility into the performance of applications and infrastructure across cloud environments. Another solution to performance monitoring is to define clear service-level agreements (SLAs) across clouds for performance expectations and monitor compliance with these metrics.

Skill Gaps and Training

Many professionals develop expertise in just one cloud platform, which can create skill gaps when working across multiple providers. To effectively manage multi-cloud environments, organizations must ensure that their teams have the proper knowledge and training to handle various platforms. Training requires a proactive approach to developing cloud management skills across the workforce.

 

HR and training managers who face challenges ensuring employees have the necessary skills to manage and optimize a multi-cloud environment will want to:

• Create targeted training programs focused on cloud technologies and multi-cloud management skills or establish specialized teams responsible for managing specific cloud environments;
• Encourage continuous learning with certifications and skill development in cloud technologies, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, and
• Align training with their organization’s strategic goals for multi-cloud adoption and management.

 

Another possible solution for organizations to combat skill gaps is to leverage third-party managed service providers (MSPs) to fill gaps in expertise and assist with more complex multi-cloud operations.

Conclusion

Multi-cloud strategies can offer many benefits and advantages for organizations, including cost optimization, flexibility, and avoiding vendor lock-in. However, managing a multi-cloud environment can also come with challenges, including increased complexity, security risks, and difficulties in data integration. Knowing how to address these challenges effectively is essential for running a smooth multi-cloud infrastructure.

Organizations can address these challenges in multi-cloud management with the right strategy, tools, and expertise. At New Horizons, our Cloud Training Solutions give professionals private and customizable training solutions to meet their organizational objectives with free access to course recordings for six months after completion. Head over to check out our cloud courses and strengthen your organization's gaps in skills and knowledge!