For many small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the cloud is the cornerstone of their IT strategy. By leveraging the cloud, SMBs can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.
 
There are various cloud strategies that SMBs can choose from: single public cloud, single private cloud, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud. But in this blog post, we'll zero in on a multi-cloud strategy and assess whether it's viable for SMBs.

What is a multi-cloud strategy?

A multi-cloud strategy involves using two or more cloud services from two or more providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. This allows organizations to distribute computing resources for their various tasks and workloads.
 
This cloud strategy is popular among companies of all sizes. According to Statista, most companies were using a multi-cloud approach in 2021 and even more will shift to this strategy by 2023.
 
Percentage of businesses using a multi-cloud strategy:

• 90% of large businesses in 2021, and 94% expected in 2023.
• 75% of mid-sized businesses in 2021 and 84% predicted in 2023.
• 60% of small businesses in 2021 and 79% expected in 2023.

What are the benefits of adopting a multi-cloud strategy?

Adopting a multi-cloud strategy prevents unnecessary costs and performance issues brought about by using only one cloud provider. By using this strategy, organizations can enjoy these benefits:
 
●      Cost savings – By using multiple providers, companies can take advantage of different pricing models and discounts.
●      Flexibility – Organizations can mix and match different services from different providers based on various factors, such as pricing, performance, and security and compliance requirements.
●      Ability to adopt any vendor’s “best-of-breed” technologies – Companies are not limited to a single vendor's offerings and/or functionalities. 
●      Reduced risk of IT downtime – An outage in one cloud environment won't affect the services from other clouds, thus minimizing the risk of service disruptions.

What are the challenges of adopting a multi-cloud strategy?

Companies that implement a multi-cloud strategy may encounter the following challenges:
 
●      Complexity – Cloud providers use different tools, APIs, technical terms, and financial models, so you’ll need to learn all of those. You may also find adopting a multi-cloud approach challenging if you want to pass data seamlessly from one cloud to another. This is especially true when one cloud environment is updated, resulting in changes to its user interface, APIs, and security model.
●      Extra costs – Using multiple cloud providers may come with additional costs like data migration fees.
●      Security risks – Since your infrastructure is spread out across multiple cloud providers, there are more entry points that attackers could exploit. You also need to know the optimal security settings and responsibilities specific to each cloud provider. Different providers may have varying default access controls, so you need to manage and update user access from system to system.

Can SMBs leverage a multi-cloud strategy?

It depends on an SMB's specific needs and goals.
 
However, given the challenges of a multi-cloud environment, most SMBs will likely have difficulty maintaining the expertise and resources necessary for a multi-cloud strategy. The good news is that SMBs can augment their in-house capabilities by partnering with a reliable managed IT services provider like SimplyClouds.
 
With our help, you can move to and manage multiple cloud environments stress-free and with little or no technical knowledge. Our cloud platform works well with AWS and any other third-party public cloud, allowing you to manage all of your cloud services in one place. It also has a user-friendly interface that’s suitable for the everyday business user. Learn more about our services by scheduling a free consultation with us today.