You can’t change what you don’t see, really?

This week we spoke to an analyst and I heard him say “You can’t change what you don’t see”. My thought was immediately “this is based on the visibility concept”. Indeed you cannot improve anything if you don’t know about it. Sounds logic, right? But, what if you see it, but you don’t understand it: to what ‘better state’ should you change it?

Great topic I thought. And I am adding ‘clarity’ as a more appropriate word when it comes to changing something to a better state.

So what is the meaning of visibility and clarity in the digital realm?

They are related concepts, but they refer to different aspects and have distinct meanings in the digital realm.

• Visibility often refers to how easily something can be found or seen.
• Clarity refers to the quality of being clear, understandable, and free from confusion.

 Let’s have a look at what both concepts mean in a cloud computing environment.

Understanding visibility in a multi-cloud environment

Visibility in a multi-cloud environment refers to the ability to monitor and gain insights into the various components, resources, and activities across different cloud platforms that are part of the multi-cloud setup. It involves having a comprehensive view of the entire infrastructure, applications, data flows, network traffic, and security events. The goal of visibility is to provide real-time and historical information about the performance, health, and security of the cloud resources.

Real-time monitoring

Gain a comprehensive view of resource usage, application performance, and operational health across multiple cloud platforms. This enables quick detection of bottlenecks, anomalies, or potential issues.

Proactive issue resolution

With robust monitoring and logging, enterprises can identify and address problems before they escalate, minimizing downtime and service disruptions.

Security and compliance

Achieve better control over data security by monitoring access patterns, identifying unauthorized activities, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

Optimization opportunities

Insights gained from visibility tools can help optimize resource allocation, leading to better cost management and improved utilization of cloud resources.

Achieving clarity in multi-cloud strategy

Clarity in a multi-cloud environment refers to having a clear understanding of the objectives, strategies, and goals for adopting a multi-cloud approach. It involves defining the reasons for choosing a multi-cloud strategy, the benefits it provides, and the challenges it might pose. Clarity also encompasses having a well-defined plan for managing the complexities that come with using multiple cloud platforms.

Strategic alignment

Define clear objectives for adopting a multi-cloud strategy. Determine which cloud platforms align with specific use cases, business goals, and technical.

Vendor diversity

Reduce the risk of vendor lock-in by strategically distributing workloads across different cloud providers. This ensures flexibility and negotiating power.

Risk mitigation

Anticipate potential challenges and risks associated with a multi-cloud approach, such as interoperability issues or data governance complexities, and have mitigation plans in place.

Cost optimization

Clarity empowers enterprises to analyze and manage costs effectively by understanding pricing models, optimizing resource allocation, and making informed decisions about scaling.

In summary, visibility focuses on the monitoring and insight aspect of a multi-cloud environment, while clarity is concerned with the strategic understanding, planning, and management of a multi-cloud strategy. Both visibility and clarity are essential for successfully navigating the complexities of a multi-cloud environment and achieving the desired outcomes.

It’s up to everybody to choose between an operational or a strategic approach. If you choose the latter then here are some best practices:

• Embrace a technology solution equipped with advanced monitoring and analytics capabilities. These capabilities offer real-time insights into the performance and security of your multi-cloud setup, encompassing on-premises, private, edge, and public cloud environments.

• Establish a well-defined governance framework and choose technology that streamlines the set up of this framework with centralized control, policy enforcement, role-based access, auditing, resource management, alerts, integration, and analytics. By choosing a technology that is developed for multi-cloud management you can ensure that policies, security and compliance is efficiently deployed across a diverse virtual environment.

• Foster a culture of collaboration among IT teams, developers, and key business stakeholders. By aligning multi-cloud strategies with overarching business objectives, you unlock synergy and efficiency within your organization.

• Remain at the forefront of industry trends, advancements, and best practices in multi-cloud management. Embracing continuous learning and adaptation safeguards the relevance and effectiveness of your multi-cloud strategy.

Conclusion

In the dynamic world of enterprise IT, adopting a multi-cloud strategy can offer unparalleled benefits, but it requires a careful balance of visibility and clarity. By prioritizing visibility through effective monitoring and embracing clarity through strategic planning, enterprises can navigate the complexities of multi-cloud environments with confidence. With the right tools - such as the emma platform, strategies, and mindset, enterprises can harness the power of multi-cloud to drive innovation, agility, and success in today's competitive business landscape.