Giorgio Nebuloni
Giorgio Nebuloni (Associate Vice President)

IDC attended Frankfurt Cloud Expo Europe 2017 and several conversations with technology providers there confirmed the trend towards multi-cloud. The managing director of a major hosting provider was eager to get a definition for this “Multi-cloud hype” that was driving him crazy. An enterprise infrastructure vendor openly mentioned that their full strategy was now in building a click-to-deploy control plane for multiple cloud environments.

A major service provider proclaimed to be betting the farm on offering a managed approach to multiple hyperscale backends. Colocation companies pitching GDPR-ready infrastructure, keynote speakers scrambling to explain how you can escape the “Multi-cloud Jungle” and software makers promising application and data portability completed the picture.

Multi-cloud craze – much like the Christmas market craze here in Frankfurt – was officially on.

We wrote in August about our belief that Multi-cloud strategies are a must for large enterprises (in a programmatic form) as well as for midmarket organizations (in at least a basic form). Vendors are taking note and ramping up the hype – but not always in the directions buyers are going. So a question we always pose supplier is: which steps do you recommend your customers to take in the journey? Responses vary in quality. In the Christmas market world, it is as if someone is telling Santa Claus to take the plane to Jakarta, someone else is recommending a new set of hoofs for the reindeers and others believe the quality of Santa’s gift bag is the key requisite.

Multi-cloud Infrastructure is a multilayer cake and spans from sapient use of Cloud Code of Conducts for GDPR compliance, all the way down to hardware purchasing models. So finding a starting point is easier said than done. To help buyers get moving (i.e. remove excuses!!), we identified five key actions to start with:

  1. Start from a well-defined pool of resources when using aggregation software.
  2. Standardized “images” across clouds when using deployment automation.
  3. Set up a cross-country plan for into-cloud connectivity.
  4. Define with end users how to formalize cloud use chargeback.
  5. Hire IT generalists that direct your cloud journey.

Those five actions map to the five key dimensions IDC segments and Multicloud readiness with: Cloud Vision, Cloud Economics, Process and Compliance, Technology and People. Many layers of the cake – so prioritization is important!

The above-mentioned action items are described in detail in a report providing real-life examples of organizations (both xSPs Service Providers and End Buyers) that have taken those steps. We are also completing a large primary research effort to assess how European buyers sit in that readiness map – and whether it’s the hoofs or Santa’s bag in need of a revamp.

  • Five Actions European IT Buyers Should Take to Enable a Multi-cloud Strategy
  • Mult-icloud Infrastructure in Europe: How Can Enterprise Providers Nail It?
  • European Multi-cloud Readiness – What Survey Data Tells Us (forthcoming, 1Q18)

For German-based representatives, Carla Arend, Matthias Zacher and Giorgio Nebuloni will help moderate an invite-only Multi-cloud Summit in Frankfurt, on March 12-13, 2018, with the goal of helping senior IT decision makers and CIOs on the multiple dimensions of Multicloud readiness.

If you are interested in more information, feel free to contact Giorgio Nebuloni gnebuloni@idc.com or follow us on social media.

Spread the love