Multi-tool/multi-cloud environments reaching the limit of their efficacy

CloudBolt Software released its latest research report, examining industry sentiment in specific dimensions of hybrid cloud/multi-cloud, and aiming to uncover unmet cloud needs that hinder cloud innovation.

The report is based on responses from over 500 senior IT, DevOps, SecOps, and FinOps leaders from around the world.

The responses from this global audience revealed compelling evidence that multi-tool, multi-cloud environments have reached the limits of their efficacy – 79% said they are hitting a wall using their existing tools and platforms. These limitations are caused by too many groups across an enterprise using too many different tools and clouds, with 80% struggling to achieve comprehensive visibility into cloud usage and spend. Further complicating matters, these disparate tools and preferences are spread across islands of automation, which in turn create security vulnerabilities.

A manager of managers to address unmet cloud needs

In order to leap over this wall and shed these limitations, a whopping 88% say they need a “manager of managers” – an overarching solution to bridge the siloes, unify the overall multi-cloud/multi-tool strategy, and actively govern everything from a single place.

The key reasons why enterprise leaders almost unanimously agree that an overarching solution is needed include:

• Sprawl – 78% of respondents said they have too many cloud tools throughout their enterprise. These tools are spread across siloed teams that make unilateral choices and employ their own approaches, with little alignment and reuse of what works across the enterprise.
• Security – 4 out of 5 respondents said their current cloud approaches have created new security vulnerabilities that put their companies at further risk, ranging from Zombie VMs and unsecured workloads to shadow IT.
• Cost – 78% initially said they believed they had achieved cost savings using cloud versus their on-premises data centers. However, when pressed further, almost the same number (80%) said they actually struggle to achieve comprehensive visibility into costs and spend across all tools, resources, and clouds. A lack of visibility across a highly complex multi-tool, multi-cloud architecture almost ensures that companies don’t know what cloud is costing – or how to optimize it. This correlates with recent research released by Andreesen Horowitz that showed cloud has actually been more costly than most companies acknowledge—the combination of hard costs, valuation cost, and opportunity cost, can actually be twice as much as the company was spending on their on-premises data centers.

“Our latest CII report reveals the growing chasm between what enterprises need in the new cloud order and what their current platforms and tools can provide,” said CloudBolt CEO Jeff Kukowski.

“What got multi-cloud, multi-tool enterprises to their current state will not get them to the next level as they seek to further automate and accelerate digital transformation. What’s needed is a flexible, overarching framework that can connect all the disparateness, rationalize it, provide real visibility across everything, and govern with protective policies that don’t restrict innovation. Enterprises at the forefront of the cloud race already realize this; they are embracing this new reality and extending their lead as a result.”