At Future Processing, we’ve been shaping the technology landscape for over 24 years, growing into a team of around 800 dedicated professionals. As an ISO-certified company and a trusted Microsoft partner for more than 15 years, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional software solutions.

Our expertise extends beyond Microsoft; we are also an advanced AWS Consulting partner, reflecting our deep commitment to cloud technologies. In 2021, we published our own Cloud Report, which highlighted the challenges, benefits and best practices of cloud migration. Our report found that over 75% of C-level executives found cloud migration to be a challenging task, with more than 80% choosing to partner with IT experts like us to navigate this complex journey.

Since then, the cloud landscape has continued to evolve, and so have the strategies for optimising business outcomes through hybrid migration. As part of our commitment to mastering the evolving cloud, we recently put together a roundtable discussion with industry-leading experts on cloud migration.

Roundtable guest speakers:

• Ian Moyse: Event host and Cloud Industry Influencer
• David Terrar: CEO of Cloud Industry Forum (CIF)
• Richard Simon: Chief Technology Officer at T-Systems
• Victor Popescu: Head of Solutions Architecture at SteelEye
• Adam Gaca: VP of Cloud at Future Processing

Multi-cloud strategy and vendor lock-in

Multi-cloud strategies have become a crucial approach for businesses seeking to mitigate the risk of vendor lock-in. By diversifying their cloud usage across multiple providers, organisations can avoid the limitations and potential dependencies associated with relying on a single vendor.

This type of ‘lock in’ to a single vendor is commonplace across the industry, with companies historically having bought certain products in the past, only to find that now, they are not able to (easily) transition away from them. By utilising a multi-cloud strategy, it enhances flexibility, ensuring that businesses are not constrained by the specific offerings or policies of any one single provider.

Adopting a multi-cloud strategy enables companies to choose the public and cloud-native services that fit their operations the best, meeting their business needs while remaining flexible and primed for innovation.

In addition, companies seek to avoid lock-in by creating an ‘abstraction layer’ of technologies and solutions, allowing them to regain control of their governance of all public clouds through automation, delivery, security, observability, and DevOps from public cloud providers. This ensures that organisations maintain a consistent and manageable infrastructure, regardless of which cloud providers are in use.

Benefits and risks of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategies

The primary advantage of a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy is to take advantage of the flexibility this approach offers and choose the most suitable services to suit a company’s business needs.

This allows businesses to:

• select the best cloud environment for each specific workload,
• enhance operational efficiency,
• provide more opportunities for innovation.

This approach is especially beneficial for larger enterprises that need to balance various regulatory, compliance and performance requirements across different regions or sectors.

As Adam Gaca pointed out in our roundtable discussion, adopting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies adds layers of complexity that must be carefully managed. Organisations must ensure that their multiple cloud environments are properly connected via secure and reliable networks, and that they have a robust cloud governance framework in place to manage compliance across these environments.

This can be particularly challenging when dealing with compliance requirements in multiple regions or sectors, as each cloud provider may have different policies and service offerings, which makes managing these environments a challenge. 

While the core concepts of cloud services might be similar across providers, the specific tools, interfaces and features can vary significantly. This means companies need to maintain a skilled team of reliable partners who can navigate the intricacies of each platform effectively, underscoring the importance of careful planning and ongoing management to ensure that the benefits of a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy are fully realised.

Another consideration is the evolving nature of cloud services and the steps providers are taking to address the risks of vendor lock-in. For example, recent moves by providers like Google to reduce (or even remove) costs associated with transferring data out of their platforms reflect a growing recognition of the importance of interoperability.

As cloud adoption continues to increase, these aspects have matured, offering businesses more tools and options to manage the complexities of hybrid and multi-cloud environments effectively. However, these benefits can only be leveraged with a clear understanding of the potential challenges and a well-defined strategy to navigate them.

While logic would dictate that cloud vendors are all too happy to take care of 100% of a company’s cloud services, they are not oblivious to the potential risks of being solely responsible and not being able to offer every single service the business needs. To mitigate this issue, cloud providers offer numerous options for connecting aspects of a business’s cloud to other providers or services, as part of their own offering.

Cloud technology usage statistics from the Cloud Industry Forum’s report

Recent statistics from the 2024 Cloud Industry Forum 2024 Report highlight the widespread adoption of cloud technology, with 100% of surveyed organisations declaring that they are now utilising cloud services in some capacity.

This data reflects a broader trend in the industry, where businesses are increasingly moving towards flexible, multi-cloud environments to meet their diverse needs. The widespread use of cloud technology underscores its critical role in modern business operations and the importance of adopting strategies that maximise its potential.

Key Statistics from the 2024 Cloud Industry Forum Report

What’s more, 37% of businesses said that between 40-60% of their IT infrastructure is hosted in the cloud while 29% of respondents reported that they host 60-80% of their IT assets in this manner.

David Terrar believes that companies’ move towards hybrid and multiple cloud environments makes perfect sense, as there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Going all in with a single provider involves more inherent risk, so spreading this risk across multiple environments is the sensible and (evidently) widespread approach. More options mean more opportunities for innovation and creating value.

Skills and expertise for hybrid and multi-cloud implementation

Adopting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies requires companies to be technological experts in a wider range of skills and expertise than if they were to simply use one single solution. After all, being an expert in one technology is much easier than being an expert in many. This means that businesses need to maintain staff with a diverse set of skills, which can be more costly, yet ultimately effective in achieving their business goals.

While having certified professionals on board is crucial, the real differentiator is how these skills are applied within an organisation’s specific context. The processes that companies apply when utilising their skillsets are key because, as Richard Simon touched on in our roundtable discussion, “the processes are the glue that holds all of your company’s skills and expertise together.” There are so many different ways of doing each task, therefore, the standardisation of processes and approaches is key to a successful adoption strategy of hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

When implementing these processes, an incremental approach to cloud adoption, which aligns with existing capabilities and business objectives, can lead to more successful outcomes. The first step is to identify what tools and processes need to be implemented first for an agile, quick adoption that is beneficial to customers, then build out from this point.

Read more about various aspects of cloud adoption:

• How to implement cloud computing?
• Cloud collaboration unveiled: transforming modern workspaces
• The Cloud FinOps Guide: mastering cloud finances

Challenges in re-architecting

Adam Gaca provided some insightful thoughts on the challenges of re-architecting applications for the cloud, which he described as a complex and multifaceted process that requires careful consideration and strategic planning. 

One of the primary challenges lies in evaluating the complexity of existing applications and determining their suitability for cloud migration. Not all applications are easily transferable to the cloud, and businesses must assess whether re-architecting will deliver tangible benefits in terms of:

• performance,
• scalability,
• cost efficiency.

Another significant challenge is the need to balance cost considerations with business outcomes. While moving to the cloud can offer substantial benefits, such as improved agility and faster time-to-market, the initial costs associated with re-architecting can be high.

For example, there have been a number of key ‘risks’ in recent years, including the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, as well as the pandemic. Companies who felt the need to remove various operations due to these issues were faced with the task of deciding where to migrate their tools and services, but this came with heavy cost and time considerations. To work smartly, the cloud was an obvious answer, but cost considerations and deploying the required level of skills and expertise are key.

Organisations must consider the return on investment, weighing the long-term advantages against the upfront expenses. For example, ‘lifting and shifting’ applications to the cloud may resolve immediate business issues, but without careful planning, it can lead to higher ongoing costs if the applications are not optimised for the cloud environment.

The process of re-architecting often requires significant changes to an organisation’s existing infrastructure and operating model. This can introduce risks related to service continuity and data integrity during the migration process. Additionally, there may be a need for new skills and expertise to manage the re-architected environment, which can further complicate the transition.

Businesses must consider the potential impact on end users, who can potentially be negatively impacted by any disruption to critical services during the re-architecting process, affecting customer satisfaction and business operations.

Path of cloud adoption

Adopting a cloud strategy is not a one-size-fits-all process; it requires a tailored approach that takes into account the unique needs and constraints of each particular organisation. For many businesses, especially those with complex legacy systems, a gradual, step-by-step approach is most effective. 

As Victor Popescu described in our roundtable discussion, it is important to move aspects of the business bit by bit, ensuring that key core aspects are migrated first and automated successfully, then building on these as effectively as possible. Business continuity is key, as it’s not possible to ‘pause operations’ until the migration process is complete. Companies can be successful by ensuring they have a great architect to oversee the move, who then puts in place a core team of skilled senior staff to implement the migration.

Company shareholders need to understand the value of this transition in order to feel comfortable in assigning the necessary funds for the move. This requires effective communications of the cloud adoption strategy and a detailed roadmap of the transition that doesn’t affect current operations (as much as possible). It is important to demonstrate the value of the migration, ensuring that as the organisation becomes more comfortable with the new environment, it can gradually adopt more advanced cloud-native practices.

Summary

The massive increase in hybrid and multi-cloud strategies is evident, driven by the need for businesses to achieve greater flexibility, resilience, react to world events and avoid vendor lock-in. However, cloud-first approaches come with their own set of challenges such as cost and skills implications, mitigating interruptions to current services, governance, and the sheer complexity of managing multiple cloud environments. 

Re-architecting applications for the cloud further amplifies these challenges, requiring a balance between cost, technical feasibility and business outcomes. While it is clear that a multi-faceted cloud strategy is the best way forward in this modern world, to realise the benefits of this approach requires complex and careful planning and integration. The technology is already here, and now companies must ensure they choose the best path to harness these valuable cloud tools to suit their operations.

If you would like to watch our full roundtable discussion with our four industry-leading cloud experts, follow this link to head over to our IT Insights Hub. 

With over 20 years of expertise in data harmonisation, digital solutions, consulting, AI, and cloud services, Future Processing is the ideal partner to bring your digital initiatives to life. We work closely with you to understand your vision and transform it into reality. Interested in discovering how our industry-leading services can benefit your business? Reach out to us today, and let’s explore the best solutions tailored to your unique needs.