Sunday, 14 April 2019 Blog ehdf

Will businesses that avoid multi-cloud today struggle to catch up?

When you look around and observe the pace at which organizations are moving towards the Cloud for scalability, flexibility and efficiency, the numbers are only increasing. To stay competitive, businesses need to be agile and the Cloud provides many tangible benefits. According to the Cisco Global Cloud Index, it projects that Middle East and Africa Cloud Data Center traffic will grow 440% by 2020. It also suggests that by 2020, 95 percent of all workloads in Middle East and Africa will be processed in the Cloud, compared to 78% in 2015.

From being able to go to market quicker, to applying the mechanics of Big Data and AI, or ensuring that there is a continuous process for higher IT security, multi Cloud and its benefits are entering every single realm of businesses. And those that lag behind will most definitely not be in a position to brace themselves for growth and innovation.

There is also an influx of technology trends that are setting the growth path for Data Centre operations as well as Cloud services in UAE. These include aggressive digitization, connected devices and the high penetration levels of mobility into the work force which makes it critical for companies to ready themselves for multi-Cloud adoption. Any slow-down in implementing the right systems and process will have a negative impact on their ability to stay competitive.

Many companies are working towards market expansion to grow their business. However, several laws and regulations as well as organizational policies determine the way they conduct business. In order to circumvent any negative impacts, it is necessary to have their data located in designated locations which can be addressed by adopting a multi-Cloud approach and partnering with a Cloud Hosting Company. Failure to do this limits the possibilities of geographical expansion and lowers the service options for end users who are looking to achieve optimum performance.

Some organizations find it a daunting task to move to the Cloud, however, they have the option to partner with a Cloud Hosting Provider who can analyse, implement and manage their needs. Cloud Hosting Providers help in reducing operational costs and also align the business expansion with multi-regional services. Many of them are also equipped to provide Disaster Recovery services which are helps in reducing down-time.

Simultaneously, the pay-as-you-go option is particularly relevant to small, medium business as well as start-ups and the Cloud Hosting Providers helps them move away from CAPEX to an OPEX model. It is also very important that organizations keep their data and systems safe, ensure timely security updates, have real time monitoring and trace and respond to incidents. Cloud Hosting companies are equipped to provide infrastructure, manpower and skills that are needed to remain secure.

To summarise the benefits and adoption of multi-Cloud, it provides a much more efficient IT infrastructure, enables greater flexibility, avoids vendor lock-ins, reduces IT costs and improves security and compliance and organizations must move quickly to ensure that they reap the benefits.