In today’s era, there are so many buzzwords being thrown around that even experienced IT professionals can get confused if they do not stay up to date on the latest in the world of cloud-based applications.
One common misconception is in regards to hybrid vs multicloud. As businesses move to becoming cloud users, the data architecture ends up looking like one of these two categories. Many businesses deploy both of these tools in some capacity as their business grows and are they often lumped together but there are distinctive differences between the two applications. A hybrid cloud exists on-premise or on-site in the environment and then connects to a cloud provider whereas a multi-cloud environment means just that, that multiple and mutually exclusive cloud-based systems are being utilizedWhen it comes to deciding which implementation strategy or strategies are best for your business, it changes on a case by case basis. One of the first decisions you need to make is whether or not your business needs to implement a hybrid cloud approach. Remember, a hybrid cloud means you’re making use of both localized hardware like a data center as well as cloud-based solutions. To put it in simple terms, think of saving data to both your desktop and the cloud storage account associated with your email. While these two locations may not automatically sync, the data now exists in two locations. This is crucial when data is frequently updated. Having a backup should something become corrupted and inaccessible mitigates the cost of disaster recovery that can make or break a business. Also, some businesses prefer to keep private data or sensitive data locally stored in the hybrid model – depending on how much they trust the cloud provider’s security measures.So where does multi-cloud come into play? Often, the implementation of multi-cloud comes as a necessity, depending on the types of software and infrastructure a company is using, workloads, and whether the data being collected is both public and private. Security and flexibility also come into play. The field of data science and statistical analytics has continued to grow each year with an ever-increasing demand for predictions and trends to be pulled from data. Now, depending on who, what, where, when, and how data science is being utilized within your company, things can vary quite a bit. For example, there are countless ways in which data is analyzed and countless tools to do so. Depending on the legacy software in place, certain cloud providers may or may not have optimized their platforms for your given usage needs. Thus, businesses often use a variety of cloud service providers for a variety of data-driven needs. When it comes down to it, it’s beyond important to ensure any form of initial cloud migration and cloud usage augmentations are thoroughly planned for. All too often businesses waste time and money jumping to cloud-based solutions without the proper forethought needed since this field is ever-growing and ever-changing.
