Top 3 Challenges Organizations Face in a Hybrid Cloud Environment

In today's technology-driven world, organizations are rapidly adopting hybrid cloud environments to optimize their IT infrastructure. However, this transition is not without its challenges. The integration of public and private cloud platforms poses unique obstacles that organizations must overcome to fully reap the benefits of a hybrid cloud environment. From ensuring seamless data migration to maintaining data security and managing costs, these challenges require careful planning and strategic execution. In this article, we will explore three of the most common challenges that organizations face when adopting a hybrid cloud environment. By understanding these challenges and implementing effective solutions, organizations can confidently adopt cloud patterns and practices that align with their specific business goals and work toward achieving increased efficiency, agility, and scalability.

Most companies do not have an IT organization that is geared toward managing a hybrid cloud environment. These companies may have multiple clouds as well as an on-premises infrastructure, and each environment is managed and run by entirely different leadership teams. To make matters worse, the on-premises infrastructure is split into separate storage, server and networking teams, each often with its own leadership and agenda, and the end result is silos and lack of leadership. Silos and lack of leadership hinder hybrid cloud adoption, innovation and the ability to adapt quickly to improve business outcomes.  A successful hybrid cloud strategy means ensuring your employees are receiving the necessary leadership and training needed to accomplish their goals in an integrated way across a single hybrid cloud operating model.  A successful hybrid cloud is not just about buying new tools and implementing automation:  The successful transition to a hybrid environment requires adopting a new leadership and organizational mindset and aligning to the needs of the business.

According to Cisco Systems, 2022 Global Hybrid Cloud Trends Report, May 2022, 33% of respondents said that increased operational complexity is a prominent challenge in deploying a hybrid cloud environment. With workloads running on different hardware across all environments, organizations must find a comprehensive way of managing workloads regardless of where they reside.  Adopting cloud methodologies and applying them to on-premises datacenters is one way of simplifying operations:   Adopt the same processes throughout. Another way to simplify operations involves transformation of the on-premises data center to a cloud by migrating away from virtual machines and running those workloads in the new world of containers. By leveraging CDW’s App Modernization services, we help you refactor your custom monolithic applications into small, manageable containerized microservices that can easily move among cloud resources, achieving flexible, scalable infrastructure that responds to rapid growth.

Effectively managing costs across multiple clouds in a hybrid IT environment is a significant challenge for many organizations, but the way to optimize costs is to get a clear picture of your data architecture and design a strategy that aligns with your business and IT goals.

As a first step, ask yourself questions such as:

• Is it cost effective to be running in the cloud?
• What does your business need to achieve?
• If I’m a startup, is it economical for me to have a huge capital outlay and build a large data center?

Organizations must evaluate the cost-effectiveness of operating on-premises versus utilizing cloud service providers to make informed decisions and optimize costs. Without understanding the bigger picture, organizations run the risk of wasting their time and resources trying to keep operations running. 

CDW can help you transform your on-premises data center into a cloud-based infrastructure. This means you can leverage the same familiar processes you've been using with other cloud providers, streamlining your operations and maximizing efficiency. With CDW's innovative technology, solutions, and services, you can deliver unparalleled value to your customers and employees, driving your business to new heights. Don't just imagine the possibilities – reimagine how you operate with CDW and unlock the true potential of your organization.