As the adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud environments continues to grow, businesses are faced with the complex task of managing and optimizing their infrastructure across various platforms, including its resilience and recoverability. To shed light on the current landscape, we are excited to announce the release of our new research brief “State of Hybrid and Multi Cloud in 2024“. This research brief is cut from the Data Protection Trends Report for 2024 which surveyed 1,200 IT organizations on a wide range of data protection challenges and strategies. It provides an in-depth analysis of the latest trends, challenges, and key findings shaping the future of cloud computing. In this blog, we will focus on some of the research brief’s key takeaways and highlight the most significant findings.
Human Error Takes a Toll
According to the brief, a staggering 33% of businesses suffered outages in 2024 due to human error. While technological advancements have made managing cloud environments easier, the potential for human errors should not be overlooked. From misconfigurations to inadvertent data deletions, these incidents highlight the importance of robust training, diligent management, and the implementation of proper security protocols.
Recently, Unisuper, an Australian pension fund account had all of their data deleted from their Google Cloud environment. The result was over 600,000 users losing access to their accounts for almost two weeks. Thankfully Unisuper had their backups stored with another cloud provider allowing them to recover confidently in the face of this disaster. Google apologized for the mistake and worked diligently to restore the data, emphasizing their commitment to data security and privacy. This incident highlights the importance of data protection measures and serves as a reminder for organizations to have proper backup and recovery procedures in place, even when leveraging trusted cloud service providers. Our new research brief highlights what enterprises are doing to maintain business continuity whether they are dealing with cyberattacks or human error.
Operating System Issues
The brief also revealed that operating system issues were responsible for outages in 32% of the cases. The complex nature of hybrid and multi-cloud environments requires seamless orchestration between different operating systems. Any compatibility issues, software vulnerabilities, or lack of maintenance may lead to service disruptions. To mitigate this risk, organizations must prioritize regularly patching and updating operating systems, considering interoperability, and leveraging comprehensive monitoring tools.
Public Cloud Unavailability Strikes Many
Amid the rise of hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, a surprising finding from our report showed that 31% of businesses faced outages due to public cloud unavailability. Organizations rely heavily on public cloud service providers for scalability, agility, and access to a wide range of services. However, it is crucial to remember that even large cloud providers experience occasional disruptions. To guard against such incidents, businesses need to form a resilient architecture that includes disaster recovery plans, redundancy measures, and alternate cloud providers where appropriate.
Check out our recent LinkedIn Live where we go in-depth on these findings:
What’s Next
“The State of Hybrid and Multi Cloud in 2024” paints a clear picture of the current cloud computing landscape and the challenges faced by organizations. The key findings emphasize the significance of investing in cloud expertise, proper training, and comprehensive security measures. While the hybrid and multi-cloud approach offers immense potential, it requires careful planning and management to achieve a reliable and efficient infrastructure.
As the cloud evolves, organizations should adapt their strategies to mitigate risks, optimize their environments continually and understand that cyberattacks are not the only challenges they need to protect their environment from.
Veeam Data Platform gives organizations confidence in managing and protecting data in their hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Organizations can achieve enhanced data availability and freedom, scalability, flexibility, resource optimization, and improved disaster recovery capabilities.
With a myriad of ways to have your data in a hybrid environment, Veeam provides just as many ways to support your organization in the cloud. Veeam offers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) coverage in addition to Kubernetes, VMware Cloud Solutions, and On Prem/Edge. All of these services are aligned to one goal: keeping your data resilient and recoverable.
Download the State of Hybrid and Multi Cloud in 2024 research brief today to gain a comprehensive understanding of the state of hybrid and multi-cloud computing in 2024 and what trends are shaping cloud migration and modernization behavior today.
Click here to download the full 2024 Data Protection Trends Report.