Multicloud – A Strategy for Enterprise Success

Multicloud when strategically implemented can help provide flexibility and control to organizations and drive cost efficiencies.

Multicloud has become one of the most convenient and efficient tools for data storage. In the last two years, we have seen how the cloud has facilitated remote access and sharing of information. Today, multicloud has become a default choice for many organizations, with 76 percent of enterprises already adopting it, and 86% expecting to be on by 2023.

But multicloud is far from being perfect – inconsistencies in infrastructure with different cloud providers have led to unnecessary complexities and risks. With the right tools, organizations can leverage core services to overcome these challenges and enjoy potential cost savings, greater data protection, flexibility and other benefits that come along with a modern storage experience enabled by multi-cloud.

Done right, multicloud storage can be an architectural revolution that transforms businesses, delivering on the promise of ease and agility. So, as we work to make this “multicloud by design” more accessible for our customers, here’s a look at what this means for enterprises.

Securing Mission-critical Databases

Never put all your eggs in one basket. This is especially true when it comes to essential data critical for business operations. With data as the new currency in today’s world, the importance of maintaining control over your data cannot be stressed enough. Centralized monitoring and logging that comes from using a multicloud deployment ensures that storage resources are always available and resilient.

To meet increasing customer demand for multicloud capabilities, partnerships and licensing agreements are inevitable. That is why Dell launched Project Alpine, a collection of cloud storage products for block, object and file storage available for purchase from major hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This service enables enterprises to have greater data mobility across either cloud or on-premises arrays, as well as the option to engage a hyperscaler of their choice.

Easing Disaster Recovery

As data becomes more valuable, they are also subject to attacks by bad actors. You may have heard the expression “everything fails, all the time”. It has become the go-to phrase to describe the reality of technology. This is exactly why disaster recovery is an important aspect of any cloud deployment. 

The State Grid Corporation of China partnered with Dell Technologies to build a backup and disaster recovery platform. Their commitment to risk management had fueled their fundamental growth, boosting efficiency by over 200%. In the same vein, an established insurance company needs to keep up with its rate of growth and required improvements to its infrastructure to improve existing disaster recovery and failover capabilities. Alongside extended disaster recovery capabilities, the company saw reduced administrative workloads and a significantly simplified infrastructure experience.

Ultimately, the benefits of a strategic multicloud storage implementation are not standalone – it extends to other areas such as simplified IT experience and cost savings for the greatest business optimization.

Multimillion-Dollar Cost Savings

Organizations want a consistent cloud experience and all the benefits that multicloud promises. However, organizations are unable to realize this promise as they find themselves in a multicloud by default world. With data residing in multiple cloud environments, there is a lack of consistency between these environments which comes at a great cost.

Furthermore, with the amount of data generated each day, storage becomes expensive. A report by Stanford academic Dr. Jonathan Koomey found that companies waste 62 billion U.S. dollars on the cloud by paying for capacity they don’t need. With multicloud, data is stored on multiple cloud storage systems to reduce redundancy. Users can also customize cost and performance options according to individual needs, taking advantage of the best possible prices and pricing structures for each service.

For example, Sentara Healthcare was expanding and facing a rapidly growing pool of patients and needed a way to provide its patients with the highest quality care. By tapping onto Dell PowerMax and multicloud model among an array of other solutions, it was successful in modernizing its IT infrastructure, reducing costs by several million dollars.

In closing, we are yet to know exactly what will be possible in the next five years as transformational investments are being made in IT. Organizations need to be prepared today, but more importantly, only you will know what is best for your organization. The solutions you choose should put you in a position of control, giving you the freedom to run what you want, where you want, and the way you want it. Multicloud, like all technology, is a tool that needs to be strategically implemented. Only then can you take advantage of the full promise of multicloud.

About the Author: Peter Marrs

Peter Marrs serves as President of Dell Technologies for Asia Pacific, Japan & Greater China (APJC). This is a region that spans over 40 markets, including Australia & New Zealand, Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and countries in Southeast Asia. Peter is responsible for the region’s business, strategy, and growth across Dell’s extensive technology portfolio, services and solutions. Committed to talent development, Peter is leading the team to help customers succeed on their digital transformation journeys. An industry veteran, Peter has more than 30 years of experience in IT. He has held global and regional senior management roles across enterprise and client businesses. Peter joined Dell in 2000 in enterprise product development and spent over a decade in leadership roles in APJ. He was most recently the President for APJ Region and now has an expanded mandate to lead One Greater China. His previous roles include Vice President of APJ Enterprise Solutions, Vice President of APJ Client Solutions Group, Vice President of APJ Solutions Sales, President & General Manager of Dell Korea, Executive Director of Solutions Sales for ASEAN and Executive Director, Marketing, Dell China. Peter has also worked at Dell’s corporate headquarters in the US as the Senior Vice President of North America Compute & Networking Sales. Peter started his career in AT&T. Prior to joining Dell, he held leadership roles in sales and marketing at Xerox in New York. Peter earned his Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University and has a Bachelor of Science in Business from Lemoyne College. Based in Singapore, Peter is married with twins. An avid runner, Peter also loves traveling the world to learn about different cultures, and he enjoys collecting vinyl records.