7 characteristics of successful hybrid cloud strategies
Hybrid cloud is the infrastructure of choice for enterprises that want the benefits of public cloud, while still supporting and running on-premise and private cloud workloads. According to the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report, 93% of enterprises globally have a multi-cloud strategy. A hybrid cloud environment simplifies digital transformation by providing interoperability, workload portability, and strategic flexibility.
By keeping a few proven strategies in mind, you will increase the potential of your cloud solution. A well-planned implementation strategy will help you avoid potential pitfalls including incompatibilities, nonportable solutions, and increased IT security risks. To make sure your enterprise is on the right path, consider the following seven areas when building your hybrid cloud strategy.
Businesses invest heavily in hardware, development work, and commercial software. Hybrid cloud architecture is unique in that it allows the use of existing investments while providing the foundation for modernization. To achieve this level of portability and flexibility, you must build consistency into your architecture as you adopt the public cloud. By standardizing on a common operating environment, you can reduce the complexity of your transition to the cloud while keeping your business running on your existing foundation.
Orchestration connects tasks across your infrastructure to create cohesive workflows, regardless of where they are running. If you lack effective orchestration between on-site and cloud systems, you risk not being able to connect to business-critical applications and data sources as your cloud solutions evolve. Consistent orchestration allows you to use cloud resources without introducing burdensome complexity. With a holistic orchestration strategy, including container orchestration, your applications and services become portable—so they can run in any cloud without introducing costly rework.
