By: Kian Ellis Technology Architect, Jody Martin Senior Specialist: Cloud Infrastructure Architect & Pieter Le Roux Lead: Modern Platforms at Altron Karabina

It would be impossible to find a business that is not at least partially exposed to the cloud, or which has cloud in its strategy. The cloud has changed everything, but it is certainly not a one-size-fits-all conversation. What’s best for one business may not be best for yours, and what’s best for one part of your business may not be best for another.

Let’s take a step back for a moment. Almost every business in this country will have some kind of hybrid environment for at least another five years. Many still have physical on-prem infrastructure, private cloud networks and hybrid cloud environments. This is the reality, and while there is a rapid move towards public cloud providers, any cloud discussion must appreciate this reality as a starting point. 

The main big cloud providers are Huawei, AWS, Azure and Google, and each has their own characteristics and strengths. Businesses that engage partners who are not technology agnostic will be steered towards whichever hyperscaler they are partners with. Because moving to the cloud is not a technology destination but rather a business transformation exercise, a technology-agnostic partner is far more valuable to a business. And the truth of the matter is that hybrid and multi-cloud environments are often more suitable than putting all eggs in one basket, so to speak, but more on this a little later.

A partner needs to zone in and focus on business objectives. Many people start with the answer (especially if they are aligned with one provider) and then look for questions. This is upside down. An organisation such as has capability across all the answers, so to speak, and so we are not stuck on one provider only, meaning we can objectively tackle business objectives and problems.

A partner must embed itself deeply to understand the environment, look at the challenges and objectives, and then build the best possible solution - irrespective of the technology or vendors. In other words, it needs to bring broad experience and expertise in all the cloud environments to help businesses transform.

This methodology requires people to collaborate in new ways for better results, and governance forms an important part of this process. While governance in businesses tends to be static, the idea of governance in the cloud is dynamic by its very nature. 

A good partner appreciates that the same governance principles will apply to all four main cloud environments, including security, guard rails, access and permissions, and much more. This governance is built at a high level in the business and used across all the cloud environments.

The next, important step is a partner who has the capability - and proven track record - to advise clients on which cloud provider is best for different workloads within an organisation. Artificial intelligence, development, and the need for affordable infrastructure - these are all different considerations where the various hyperscalers are a better fit for certain functions.

How an organisation approaches this consideration may well come down to the style of the business transformation partner. From an Altron perspective, we have developed our Cloud Placement Framework (CPF) which allows us to build multi-cloud environments underpinned by best practice, and objectively advise on which is best for unique workflows and circumstances. This is one of the benefits of an organisation that works with all four of the big providers - we know exactly which is best for which function, given any myriad of circumstances.  

All major cloud providers are good but …..

To be clear, this is not about which cloud is better. Altron works with all four because all four are good. This is about providing customers with the best-fit solution for their business. For example, if we return to the governance discussion, some cloud providers do not have presence within certain geographical locations, and as you go into different territories with data residency and data sovereignty laws, a partner needs to be able to offer the best advice for organisations. 

It is about understanding where the customer is, which industry vertical they work in, and what their requirements are, and then joining the dots and finding the best fit - and this best fit may well be multiple providers or a multi-cloud environment. 

Understanding this, businesses would do well to seek out partners with years of experience, in dealing with both on-prem physical infrastructure, private clouds and the public cloud and avoid those that sell cookie-cutter technology solutions over taking the time to build personalised transformation roadmaps that are technology agnostic. An organisation such as Altron, which itself has undergone a comprehensive transformation exercise, can lean on many years’ deep expertise across the width and breadth of the organisation to cover business transformation end-to-end, including adding further layers such as security and backup to multi- and hybrid cloud environments.