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A8: We’ll continue to see #multicloud growth with specialization as #cloud platforms mature. There are still workloads in private data centers that are ripe for moving. Tech vendors are expanding cloud use to power #SaaS offerings, so there’s runway for growth.

I think the question is -- what will enterprise cloud adoption look like in 3 years? How much workload moved vs today? A lot of enterprise cloud programs stall, not outright fail, but flail. Big difference. There's lot of hand waving but no real business benefit.

If it is about right workload for right cloud - then trending up. If its about single app getting fragmented across multiple clouds - I'm skeptical ... there's too much ops friction for this to come true

@cloudDay_2 Will there be less flailing by mid decade?

A8: It will be a rather mature market, and customers will benefit from fierce competition in the space, particularly with more proven deployments across sectors.

hard to predict with any certainty. You need a business imperative to change the org and the ways of work. We've seen old tech never die, persist for years. There would need to be a real effort by boards to pay down debt.

A8: The future of cloud is enormous. I would be remiss if I didn't pitch my @eweek piece from last week about hyperscale quarterly revenues: Multi-cloud will grow along with overall cloud adoption but represent only a portion of overall adoption. https://www.eweek.com/cloud/cloud-q2-22-res

I'd love to see competitive pressure drive consistency in capabilities, and reduce costs. But given how the hyperscalers also own mega businesses in different sectors, I feel external forces will drive the decision in a different direction

@ramsba Nirvana is where apps and business services can seamlessly span multiple clouds and will be the litmus test for #multicloud maturity.

A8: Portability will get easier. Data egress costs will come down (come on lets be bold, we have the Easy Button). Multicloud will get simpler as a consequence.

@BMCSoftware Yeah happening in some select usecases e.g. autonomous driving / VR. But for mainstream and core business apps, I doubt if this will happen...

@cloudDay_2 Michael, I addressed challenges of large initiative 'lift and shift' in referenced @eweek piece. Frequently see adoption bog down as migration work becomes apparent. https://www.eweek.com/cloud/cloud-q2-22-results/

A7: (1) Multicloud does not solve vendor lockin (2) Multicloud does not mean you are free to move workloads on a whim (3) Multicloud does not magically provide resilience or solve complexity...infact it only makes it worse

A7: Myth: It’s all about the costs. While cost efficiencies are part of the equation, having a #multicloud strategy isn’t strictly about $$ but about optimizing fit for your needs. It’s about efficiently & effectively delivering your service or application first & foremost

@bmcsoftware Indeed. I think cloud was sold early on as a cost saver, but it's never been the real value. Instead, think scale and function.

A7: Flexibility will result in efficiencies. Multiple engagements can grow to unnecessary or mismanaged spend.

@ramsba yes. no magic bullet. and abstraction and layers only create more complexity, latency, cost. Best execution venue still wins.

@bmcsoftware ...and I have my cloud-provider's bill to prove it :-)

A7 That's there's an easy button to make it happen. https://www.crowdchat.net/s/96a7k

@bernardgolden We all want that button! Does it have AI? :)

Next version of button

you're going to have multiple cloud providers in your shop regardless of best intent. There are no central IT dictates -- BUs will do what they want because they can.

@bernardgolden LOL

@cloudDay_2 That BU piece is golden. Seen too many cases where BUs are simply given autonomy to choose cloud & region as the need dictates. Tough job for central IT team if there needs to be one

Autonomy is like entropy, there is only one direction in reality, central teams need to accept this and plan for it. More governance, less mandates

A6. Unless you are a company that was formed in the last 3-5 years, hybrid cloud is the normal - onprem + lots of public cloud. Public cloud piece here could be multicloud, single cloud etc.

A6: In my experience, large enterprises are rarely 1-cloud only shops. The reality is that most customers are "hybrid multicloud" - i.e., they have some applications & infrastructure in data centers that they manage & the rest are spread across multiple public cloud platforms.

@bmcsoftware This does appear to be true: "The reality is that most customers are "hybrid multicloud""

Now unless the onprem piece is <10% of the problem, you want to have consistency in operations - so naturally cloud providers focus there ... 2 viewpoints here. Cloud-Out (vs) Onprem-in - choices will differ depending on center of gravity

There's too many BS terms floating around, generated by vendors that want to sell old stuff. @JamesMaguire

@cloudDay_2 True that!

A6 As others have said, all enterprises have significant on-prem environments, so "hybrid." What I find interesting is how many enterprises are planning to completely exit their own data centers and move everything to public cloud.

A6: Hybrid cloud strategy invites multicloud solutions. Multicloud vendors focus on hybrid, because prospects looking at the hybrid model are primed for change and a partner.

@cloudDay_2 The marketing teams will be up in arms desperately seeking to show differentiation - but agree with you 100%. Too much focus on terminology and we haven't even touched "Edge" yet

We live in a hetergenous world with lots of old and new. Important we leverage the old, not dismiss it, but actively seek to pay down tech debt and build new, leveraging the latest, greatest. Talent is attracted to the latter, not the former.

A6: Biggest challenge with hybrid is orgs would love to make on-prem cloud-capable, but legacy environments (and esp) control plane make that very challenging. That's why hypercloud providers exist!

I'm more interested in cross-cloud solutions than multi-this or that. Focus on security, policy, governance, standards, cost -- that's critical to create value from tech investments.

@cloudDay_2 +1

@bernardgolden It's easier said than done for those companies. Hybrid is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Vendors use hybrid to rationalize their old stuff -- survive another day. There's no doubt there are enterprise requirements at the edge, in remaining DCs and in the public cloud.

A5: My advice - cost optimization is not a 1-time event. Orgs planning to move from on-prem to #cloud need to look at costs & optimize not only their choice of cloud platform but how best to adopt their chosen platform and continuously adapt.

A5: If a company is in the optimization phase without a solid architecture or operating model underneath, then I'd start with the arch / ops first. But assume they have the arch, team structure and operating model down ... then few things that I've seen across co

Arch - choose what u want to consume cloud-native, vs what will be layer on top

A5: Devise cloud strategy and architecture based on vendor strengths and in-house needs in your niche. Align with a true partner that is forming public partnerships with other cloud providers.

A5: I always suggest separating app-specific functionality and artifacts from core systems (monitoring, security components, IAM, etc.). Ensure consistency across core systems and then let app-specific choices be made to achieve specific functionality

Team - invest in a cloud center of excellence COE for good X-functional decision making.

Ops - have a good mix of domain expertise and programmability. If you strive too far right or left, you'll have a mess.

A5: If your use cases warrant multicloud, embrace it. Optimize for the business outcome rather than platform feature / function type tradeoffs.

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A5 Example of app-specific functionality is database choice. I don't think there's any advantage in a company operating its own, say, MySQL implementation rather than letting an app use a managed MySQL service. More important is ensuring sec reqs for database imp

A5: In a #datacenter world it was all about one-time or periodic #Capex optimization. With #multicloud, it really becomes a challenge of continuous Opex optimization - so you're not surprised by that cloud bill at the end of the month.

@BMCSoftware Spot on - The "continuous" part of this is the hard part. Doing this one time is great but waking up next day to see a completely different set of optimizations screws this up.

A5 @bernardgolden great point. Don't use least common denominator thinking to stay "cloud neutral", its about being "cloud leveraged" to help your business get the best outcome

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A5 reskill your people, ruthlessly standardize, set policy, enable the business to succeed.

A5 Establish the right metrics so you can tell if multicloud is the right option for your company, and if your implementation is actually yielding the results you are after.