In an age of ever-increasing data creation, businesses are craving insights that can give them a leg up on their competitors.
But what’s impeding many companies from driving positive business outcomes through their data is deciding how they’ll store it.
This doesn’t mean shifting from on-premises storage solutions to cloud infrastructure, but rather how to tie a growing number of data sources together in a way that doesn’t inhibit them down the road.
The answer is tapping into the analytics power of a multi-cloud strategy. Here are three ways companies can benefit.
Cost-Effective Scalability
The debate between on-premises storage solutions and cloud infrastructure has been put to rest. For the vast majority of companies, it’s not feasible or productive to store all their data in-house. On-premises storage requires an upfront investment, making it considerably more expensive than the pay-as-you-need flexibility of cloud storage solutions.
However, the enormous volumes of data generated today make a single cloud architecture nearly as cumbersome as the on-premises solutions of the past. The beauty of multi-cloud is that it connects several public and private cloud networks within one network architecture. This allows companies to maintain affordable data management costs without losing flexibility in how they deploy workloads or collect data from new sources.
Avoid Vendor Lock-In
The traditional problem that companies faced (and still face) in using mono solutions like legacy business intelligence software, on-premises architecture or single-cloud storage is that they put all their eggs in one basket. And because all the research in the world can’t forecast future problems with a particular tool, it’s easy to get stuck with a broad, ill-fitting platform.
Furthermore, the expense of moving data around between clouds and on-prem environments is enormous. This is just another way vendors lock you in with analytics. Conversely, with multi-cloud analytics, your data can live where it’s more cost-effective – without creating a data silo.
Today, thousands of different services offer effective and nuanced solutions. This might make things increasingly complicated for decision-makers, but it’s a small price to pay for tailored workflows that move the business forward. A multi-cloud strategy allows IT leaders to choose the best-of-breed solutions for their companies’ needs instead of worrying about getting stuck in a vendor contract or having important data isolated from regular business use.
A Single Source of Truth Greater Business Agility
It’s no secret that organizations need to move quickly in their initiatives to stay ahead of competitors and innovate for the future. While a multi-cloud strategy can make some matters more complicated for analytic professionals, it has the potential to streamline operations across a business. If you’re not analyzing the data across your cloud or on-prem, you’re not getting a full view.
Because, depending on the sensitivity and frequency of use of a data volume, a public or private cloud might make more sense. This affords analytic decision-makers with ultimate data portability as well as the discretion to leverage solutions when necessary.
The nature of a detailed multi-cloud environment also means that companies enjoy 100 percent uptime. The combination of these things means that if analytics leaders can strike the right balance of cloud analytics solutions, the entire business will operate with more fluidity and at a reduced cost while positioning themselves to adapt quickly to business changes in the future.
It’s clear that data volumes and cloud sources will continue to grow. A multi-cloud strategy frees organizations from the inevitable limitations that come with single cloud or on-premises storage. Businesses won’t find the perfect blend of tools right away, but when they do, it’ll be hard to imagine achieving growth without them.
