For many businesses, a hybrid cloud environment is essential to successful digital transformation. A hybrid cloud is composed of a combination of on-premises infrastructures plus private and/or public clouds. Businesses that use a hybrid cloud environment enjoy numerous benefits such as lower capital expenditure, unlimited scalability, and reliable distributed services across multiple platforms.
With disparate components and systems, however, the setup of a hybrid cloud environment comes with complexities. Aside from compatibility issues, consider five of the biggest challenges of hybrid cloud environments and how they can be overcome.
Compliance and security concerns
Businesses in certain sectors like financial services, government, and healthcare must meet different compliance requirements. With a hybrid cloud environment, such organizations will have to ensure individual cloud systems and the overall hybrid infrastructure’s configuration are compliant with industry regulations.
However, achieving compliance can be tedious and error-prone; it can be overwhelming for an in-house IT team to handle efficiently. The key to solving this challenge is to use automation tools, specifically those that automate the security controls of a hybrid cloud’s individual components.
Managed services providers (MSP’s) like Roebuck Technologies are adept at setting up a hybrid cloud infrastructure where private and public cloud systems interact seamlessly and securely. The right IT partner can also provide the necessary assistance in training employees to reduce noncompliance-associated risks.
Data migrations
Determining which sets of data to move to a hybrid cloud system can be time consuming. Considerations include the compatibility of different cloud brands, features, and components when migrating from one data center to another.
To ensure a smooth migration, IT specialists must understand the current cloud infrastructure, including the programs and data within them, and identify the priority of workloads and applications to be migrated. Assigning a cloud subject matter expert or working with an experienced cloud services specialist can make moving certain applications to the hybrid cloud hassle-free.
Oversight and control
Having a mix of public and private clouds creates challenges for companies to oversee the entire cloud infrastructure as a whole. This, in turn, makes cloud systems difficult to control and secure. Automation tools can centralize cloud management and provide greater visibility into a multiplatform environment.
Governance
Cloud governance refers to the implementation of policies for using cloud resources. In a hybrid cloud system, one of the primary aims of governance should be to make sure the hybrid infrastructure is providing value to the business. Organizations may face challenges in enforcing policies, identifying compliance risks, and tackling other issues. It may be necessary to share responsibilities with cloud providers in creating a governance strategy.
To ensure proper implementation of policies and to optimize the hybrid environment, Roebuck Technologies recommends using a cloud management platform (CMP). CMP is a set of tools that simplifies the management of cloud computing resources, particularly those involved in processes relating to security, policy governance, compliance, and implementation.
Network infrastructure requirements
In a hybrid cloud environment, computing resources are composed of physical and virtual components with different networking design requirements. Issues that must be addressed include acknowledging separate bandwidth requirements, managing network infrastructure for public and private clouds, identifying varying branch networking connections, and ensuring network security.
It is important to confirm cloud providers offer hybrid network solutions that can address these issues, as well as ensure network developers understand scalability requirements based on the unique hybrid cloud setup and applications used by the company.
Adopting a hybrid cloud system can make operations more agile, give users more flexibility, and keep a business ahead of the competition — if it is optimized. Partner with Roebuck Technologies’ cloud services experts to make the most of your cloud setup. Contact our team today.
