Multi-cloud deployment has emerged as a prominent strategy for organizations seeking to optimize their IT infrastructure and leverage the benefits of multiple cloud platforms. As the digital landscape continues to evolve rapidly, service providers must stay informed about the latest statistics and developments in multi-cloud deployment to effectively cater to their clients’ needs.
In this article, we present a compilation of the ten most relevant and insightful statistics and quotes that shed light on the trends and challenges surrounding multi-cloud deployment. These statistics and quotes provide valuable insights into the growing popularity of multi-cloud strategies, the benefits they offer, and the key considerations for service providers to keep in mind when navigating the complex multi-cloud landscape.
Top 10 cloud statistics for service providers
- Multi-cloud remains the standard
The majority of organizations continue to employ a hybrid, multi-cloud approach, although there has been a slight shift towards utilizing a single public cloud, with usage increasing from nine to eleven percent in the past year. According to the survey by Flexera, a significant 87 percent of respondents confirmed having a multi-cloud strategy, while 72 percent opted for a hybrid approach, integrating both public and private clouds.
- Managing cloud spend overtakes security as a top cloud challenge
Against the backdrop of ongoing global economic volatility, 2023 signifies a significant shift where managing cloud expenditure has surpassed security as the foremost challenge for all organizations. This emerging trend underscores the heightened importance of effectively forecasting and optimizing costs through the implementation of FinOps practices. Additionally, as observed in previous years, a notable hurdle that persists is the scarcity of resources and expertise, which poses a significant challenge for organizations.
- Multi-cloud adoption drives adoption of emerging technologies
The adoption of multi-cloud computing is driving the increased utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT), which, in turn, fuels the rapid adoption of remote and hybrid working as a new business culture. Multi-cloud serves as a facilitator for the swift progress of emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR), the metaverse, cloud-based virtual gaming, and advanced quantum computing. Projections indicate that by 2028, the multi-cloud market is expected to evolve into a multimillion-dollar service industry.
- Organizations say multi-cloud is critical for success
As per a survey by VMware, nearly 19% of organizations have recognized the business value of multi-cloud. Concurrently, an overwhelming 95% of organizations say that multi-cloud architectures are now crucial for achieving business success. 52% believe that organizations failing to adopt a multi-cloud approach are at risk of failure. The survey findings indicate that organizations expect to more than double the number of public clouds they rely on from 2020 to 2027. Established companies demonstrate a more proactive embrace of multi-cloud, whereas younger, high-growth challengers exhibit a “less is more” mindset in their approach to multi-cloud.
- Cloud complexity
The escalating complexity of multi-cloud environments has reached a tipping point. Tech executives across the board acknowledge a wide range of business implications stemming from the growing complexity of data within their cloud ecosystems. These implications encompass both external challenges such as cybersecurity concerns and internal obstacles like leadership skepticism and underutilization of business applications by staff. An overwhelming 98% of global tech executives affirm that their businesses have been affected by the mounting complexity of data across the cloud, reveals Netapp survey.
- Challenges in public cloud
IBM’s report on the state of multicloud finds that among the challenges organizations encounter in the public cloud, the complexity of cloud security stands out as the most formidable one. Leaders within organizations are not only concerned with security and optimizing cloud expenditure but also grapple with understanding the impact of cloud resourcing on application performance. On the other hand, laggards and the majority of organizations face greater difficulties due to a lack of skills in effectively managing the cloud. The skills gap and ensuring efficient cloud expenditure are tied for second place as the top challenges faced in the cloud.
- Threat intelligence and information sharing
A recent report by Cloud Security Alliance states that – “Information sharing and having a central mechanism to learn about threats to Financial Services is a common pain point mentioned in open feedback within the survey as well as the interviews conducted. The greatest concern is the speed at which new vulnerabilities are discovered and the transparency to when changes made by a cloud service provider could possibly influence the security or required auditing necessary by financial entities. The other challenge is the collection of relevant threats to cloud environments and having broader industry sharing.”
As per the report, financial entities expressed concerns in terms of information sharing, transparency, and the collection of relevant threats within cloud environments. They expect service providers to address these pain points to enhance security and auditing practices in the financial services industry.
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- Support for multi cloud security
According to recent research by Valtix, 95% of organizations consider multi-cloud as a key strategic priority in 2023. However, only 58% express a strong sense of confidence in having the appropriate architecture to support multi-cloud security in the future. Additionally, a significant 97% of IT leaders believe that cloud service providers (CSPs) should play a role in defining standards to enhance multi-cloud portability, yet only 56% are optimistic about the timely implementation of such standards.
The top challenge highlighted by the study is the difficulty in securing multiple clouds, with 38% of respondents expressing concerns about consistent security. Other prominent issues include a lack of adequate multi-cloud security and management tools, cited by 35%, and a shortage of multi-cloud reference architectures, indicated by 32% of participants.
- Most companies have yet to embrace cloud FinOps
A survey conducted among cloud FinOps practitioners points out of the 572 respondents who provided an answer regarding the maturity level of their cloud FinOps efforts, 37.1% were in the early stage referred to as the “crawl” stage, focusing on establishing the fundamental elements.
Another 41.7% were in the intermediate stage known as the “walk” stage, where practitioners had implemented practices but had not yet fully perfected them. In contrast, only 19.5% of participants were categorized as being at the advanced stage of maturity, referred to as the “run” stage, where cloud FinOps had become a routine part of their business operations. The remaining respondents fell into a segment labeled as “pre-crawl,” indicating they were in the initial stages of their cloud FinOps journey.
- Trust in cloud service provider
IT leaders say that data protection and interoperability/openness are the two most important capabilities they look for when it comes to trusting a cloud provider. Enterprise cloud decision makers around the world consider “strong capabilities for protecting and controlling my data in the cloud” (40%) and “working well with existing security solutions and other security vendors” (38%) as the top ways cloud providers can gain trust.
In conclusion, multi-cloud deployment has become a prominent strategy for organizations seeking to optimize their IT infrastructure and capitalize on the advantages offered by multiple cloud platforms. By understanding the growing popularity of multi-cloud strategies, the benefits and challenges they bring, service providers can make informed decisions and successfully navigate this dynamic and evolving domain.
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