Hybrid Cloud, A Plan for Deploying and Managing Applications

A hybrid cloud strategy is essential for every organization that is undergoing a digital transformation

A hybrid cloud strategy is the way organizations determine which applications and data should reside on which parts of hybrid cloud infrastructure. Simply, hybrid cloud defines what goes on in public cloud infrastructure, and what goes on in private cloud infrastructure. Also, a hybrid cloud strategy is a plan for deploying and managing applications and services on multiple clouds – public and private. For organizations undergoing a digital transformation, a hybrid cloud strategy is essential.

As companies embark on their application and data modernization programs and look to the cloud and infrastructure required to support their plans, most land on a hybrid cloud strategy with application and data workloads balanced across both public and private clouds. 

To gain flexibility and efficiency in their IT capabilities, enterprises rightly see the cloud as the key to moving forward. But more than ever, today's cloud options are neither simple nor clear-cut. While the goal to move to the public cloud drove the first wave of adoption, the diverse needs of applications can be better satisfied by a mix of different environments including traditional data centers, edge, and SaaS. So it isn't surprising that the majority of enterprises expect to run their applications across a constellation of different environments, involving many different cloud providers, each with its unique value proposition. Thus hybrid, multi-cloud diversity reflects the reality of their businesses.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud 

Agility 

The primary benefit of a hybrid cloud is agility. The need to adapt and change direction quickly is a core principle of a digital business. Your enterprise might need to combine public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises resources to gain the agility it needs for a competitive advantage.

Cost Savings

Many organizations set up hybrid clouds to save on IT costs. However, the hybrid cloud infrastructure itself requires a lot of capital, equipment, and human resources for installation and maintenance. 

Optimize Workload Resources

Organizations can use hybrid cloud systems to leverage the optimal computing environment for every workload. Process complex workloads in the public cloud where additional capacity is low-cost and easy to access, but keep your simpler workloads on-prem or in private cloud infrastructure.

Essential Strategies for Hybrid Cloud at a Glance

Choose a Consistent Architecture

To build a hybrid cloud, organizations invest in hardware, commercial software, and development work. What's unique about hybrid cloud infrastructure is that you can leverage existing investments while providing a foundation for modernization. To achieve a good level of flexibility and portability, organizations should incorporate consistency into their architecture while adopting a public cloud.

Ensure the Environment Meets Policy and Governance Requirements

IT policy compliance includes everything from legal compliance, to industry standards, to internal organizational policies. When moving data and workloads to the cloud, maintaining compliance in a unified and consistent way is critical to reducing business risk. By integrating governance into hybrid clouds at every stage, systems and employees can make architectural changes without violating critical requirements.

Address Chances to Improve Process and Culture

Use your hybrid cloud roadmap as a chance to identify and augment wins elsewhere; perhaps beginning to build a CI/CD pipeline in phases and the process, shifting the organizational mindset around testing, security, and other areas that might have historically been treated as functional afterthoughts.

Streamline Tracking and Management

Using multiple tools across a heterogeneous environment causes unnecessary complexity and reduces the end-to-end visibility that your operations teams need. You need a single management solution that works across your infrastructure and application suite so that you can keep all your systems running smoothly.

Automate your Infrastructure

IT automation is particularly important in a hybrid cloud environment. Automated management promotes self-service and reduces IT labor, reduces the risks associated with human error, simplifies policy enforcement, enables forward-looking predictive maintenance. At the end of the day, a hybrid cloud that is well automated is easier and cheaper to build, maintain, and operate.