Dave Funnell, manager: Cloud Provider at VMware.

When implementing a multi-cloud strategy, it is important to understand what success looks like in real business terms. Cloud in itself is just another way of delivering IT resources to support business applications. Many companies see cloud as an answer in itself – it is not, but it provides enablement for the delivery of environments to support applications.

This is according to Dave Funnell, senior cloud provider manager at VMware, who will be presenting on ‘The increase in multi-cloud will mean increased complexity for managers. How will they manage the challenges of integration?’, at the ITWeb Cloud, Data Centre & DevOps Summit, to be held on 24 February as a virtual event.

Funnrll says applications are clearly the currency upon which a business is operating and key to the innovation and differentiation a business requires to thrive in current economic climate and future post-COVID world. “There needs to be a more holistic approach to migrating to a cloud operating model, strategically taking into account the lifecycle of both the existing and newer cloud native applications.”

Failure to understand how best to consume cloud environments, regardless of whether they are private or public, says Funnell, will lead to time and cost overruns in any cloud project and potentially the requirement for the repatriation of application workloads.

Speaking of the pain points to avoid, he says there is often the assumption that adopting cloud will simplify IT operations, bringing the ease of consumption, the flexibility of resource consumption, the move to a consumptive based opex model from capex, the off-loading of various IT operation facets, such as infrastructure to the cloud provider – all of these aspects speak to simplification.

"Cloud is inherently building more complexity into IT operations."

Dave Funnell

“Unfortunately, the reality is the total opposite. Cloud is inherently building more complexity into IT operations, and as we move forward, clients are demanding even more options from providers, which builds in even greater complexity,” he explains.

So how do you go about providing a consistent operational framework in this complex environment? How do you ensure cost optimisation, predictable performance, adhere to security best practices, provide data governance and compliance, along with all the networking aspects?

This, says Funnell, is where companies need to be focusing their efforts, rather than engaging in over-drawn migration projects that add value to the business, but soak up resources and focus.

All too often companies see cloud as a destination, a nirvana if you like, and think that once they reach this cloud nirvana all their operational issues around IT will vanish.

“Obviously nothing is farther from the truth,” he adds. “In fact, as many attempt to ‘lift n shift’ their existing application environments they become mired in long, drawn out projects, taking many years rather than a few months. This leads to a cloud fatigue and the view that cloud is not delivering the expected benefits. The reason for this is a lack of understanding about how to best optimise a hybrid multi-cloud model for the benefit of both the existing application estate and the newer cloud native application environments.”

During Funnell's talk, attendees will gain an understanding of the latest analyst predictions and guidelines for the successful migration to a cloud operating model. He will also unpack the benefits of a hybrid multi-cloud strategy, as well as how a business can leverage it to innovate and differentiate in the post-COVID world.

Finally, he will discuss the pitfalls to avoid as a business moves to a cloud model.