Hybrid Cloud Solutions – Flexible, scalable or risky?

In today’s digital landscape, businesses are transforming to cloud computing to increase efficiency, reduce costs and scale up their operations for the future. While many companies opt for one type of cloud solution, either a full public or private cloud solution, some opt for a hybrid one to meet their business goals.

The benefits of a hybrid cloud solution are obvious:

Flexibility – You can choose where to run a workload based on the specific needs of each application. Therefore, this enables you to respond quickly to your business’s dynamic changes.
Scalability – This enables you to scale up your business without the need for a massive investment in cloud infrastructure.
Improved security – You can keep sensitive data on a private cloud, but it can be sent to the public cloud used by the application, enhancing security and compliance. Regulated industries find this especially useful.

But what about other complexities and security challenges?

According to CSO Online, “The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), an organisation that defines standards, certifications and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, cited misconfiguration and inadequate change control, as well as limited cloud usage visibility as being among the top three threats to cloud computing in 2020.” How much more so 3 years on!

Here are some concerns about adopting a hybrid cloud solution:

Complex security

When a company uses a hybrid model, the approach to security and management can become complex. Without a proper procedure tracking the use of services, the ability to access data will gradually reduce over time. A complicated system can create many loopholes and security issues which means the probability of a data leakage caused by an error or misconfiguration will increase.

Lack of appropriate skill set

There is also a knowledge gap. Yours will be one of many companies that have seen its cloud initiative proliferate beyond initial expectations. This will cause a drastic shortage of cybersecurity resources. Finding the right personnel to manage the existing environment and develop a new one is challenging.

Network connectivity breaks

What about the foundation of any company’s IT solution – the network? Connectivity between public and private clouds in a hybrid cloud framework is essential. Even one mistake in the overall network architecture could lead to the disruption of cloud services.

Why do banks opt for a hybrid cloud solution?

The hybrid cloud solution has become increasingly popular in the banking industry. A survey from IDC reported that 83% of banks surveyed use public and private cloud platforms. Bank of America has collaborated with IBM Cloud to develop a hybrid cloud solution offering the same level of security and economics as their private cloud with enhanced scalability, and Banco Santander has partnered with Microsoft Azure to extend their cloud capabilities, driving the creation of new cloud applications and developing innovative banking solutions. By adopting a reliable hybrid cloud solution, they can host some applications and workloads on the public cloud while securing sensitive data.

Conclusion

A hybrid cloud solution incorporates the advantages of public and private cloud solutions. Companies can manage costs with more flexibility and quickly scale up their business. Despite concerns about adopting a hybrid cloud solution, an increasing number of banks are trying to overcome these hurdles, developing innovative solutions and enhancing customer experience in the new digital era.

How CACI can help

We have highly skilled specialists with over 25 years of experience delivering a wide range of cloud strategies aligned with our client’s business goals. We are trusted by some of the world’s most successful companies in financial services, telecommunications, utilities and government.

In order to offer the best-fit solution for you, we partner with a group of top-tier technology and service providers rather than being tied to just one. So, if you want impartial, professional advice on hybrid cloud solutions, we’re happy to help.

Get in touch with us today.

Notes:
[1] IDC Perspective: Banking on the Cloud: Results from the 2022 CloudPath Survey
[2] Santander partners with Microsoft as a preferred strategic cloud provider to enable the bank’s digital transformation
[3] IBM and Bank of America Advance IBM Cloud for Financial Services, BNP Paribas Joins as Anchor Client in Europe – Jul 22, 2020