Trends in Multi Cloud Data Management Final Condensed 2

A Research Study by Steve Scully
Trends in Multi-Cloud Data Management
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Table of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Research Methodology and Objectives ......................................................................................................... 6
Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Research Study Objectives......................................................................................................................... 6
Research Findings .......................................................................................................................................... 8
About the Respondent Base ...................................................................................................................... 8
The State of Multi-Cloud Data Management ............................................................................................ 9
Current Information Technology Environments......................................................................................11
Technologies Currently Implemented .................................................................................................13
Utilization of the Public Cloud .............................................................................................................14
Multi-Cloud Data Management Strategic Objectives..............................................................................17
Strategic Planning and Desired Benefits..............................................................................................18
Multi-Cloud Data Management Drivers and Inhibitors ...........................................................................20
Drivers ..................................................................................................................................................20
Use Cases .............................................................................................................................................23
Why NOT Multi-Cloud Data Management? ........................................................................................25
Multi-Cloud Data Management Technologies.........................................................................................26
Technology Building Blocks of Multi-Cloud Data Management ..........................................................27
Multiple Products from Multiple Vendors...........................................................................................28
Services ................................................................................................................................................30
Vendors Engaging With and Expecting to Engage With ......................................................................31
Purchasing Trends ....................................................................................................................................35
Identification of Technology Needs .....................................................................................................35
Return on Investment Expectations and Success Metrics...................................................................37
Funding Multi-Cloud Data Management .............................................................................................39
Recommendations for Enterprise IT Users ..................................................................................................42
Enterprises’ Paths to Multi-Cloud Data Management Are Divergent and Incremental .........................42
Disaster Recovery as the Gateway to Multi-Cloud ..................................................................................42
©2019 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is
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Multiple Tools Are Required, but Software-as-a-Service Can Reduce Complexity .................................43
Establish Business Buy-In .........................................................................................................................43
Opportunities for Vendors ...........................................................................................................................43
Solve the Cross-Cloud Data Mobility Problem ........................................................................................43
Be a Partner .............................................................................................................................................44
Provide Automated, Intelligent Data Tiering ...........................................................................................44
Address Business Continuity and Compliance before Data Reuse ..........................................................44
Embrace Containers and Kubernetes ......................................................................................................45
Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................................................................45
About Krista Macomber...............................................................................................................................12
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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Industry……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…8
Figure 2: Capacity of Data Stored / Under Management……..……..……..….………..……..……..……..…..……..…..10
Figure 3: Primary Responsibilities in IT Organization……..…..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…..…..……..10
Figure 4: State of Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..….….……..…10
Figure 5: Technologies Currently Implemented……..……..……..……..……..…..……..……..……..……..……..……..…13
Figure 6: Percentage of Storage Capacity in the Public Cloud…..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……...…15
Figure 7: Public Cloud Use Cases………..……..……..……..………....……....……..…….....……..……..……..……..……..…15
Figure 8: Strategic Planning for Multi-Cloud Data Management……..…….…..……..…….…..…….…..….…………18
Figure 9: Multi-Cloud Data Management Benefits……..……..……..……..……….……..……..…..……..……...……..…19
Figure 10: Multi-Cloud Data Management Drivers……..……..………….……..……..……..……..……..………..……..…21
Figure 11: Projects Prompting Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..………..…..………..…………..…..…..…22
Figure 12: Multi-Cloud Data Management Use Cases……..……..……..……..………...……..……..……..…….……..…24
Figure 13: Why Not Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……..……..……..……………………..……..………..…25
Figure 14: Products in Use Cases Lacking for Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……………………...…27
Figure 15: Product / Vendor Addition Plans……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..………..……..……..…28
Figure 16: Integration Expectations……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…..……..…….…..……..……..……..…….…28
Figure 17: Product / Vendor Addition Plans……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..………..……..…30
Figure 18: Vendors Engaging with for Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……...……..……..……..……..31
Figure 19: Vendors Likely to Engage with for Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……..……..……..…..33
Figure 20: Vendors Likely to Engage with for Multi-Cloud Data Management (Deduped)……..……...….…..33
Figure 21: Identification of Multi-Cloud Data Management Technology Needs……..…….….….….….…..…....36
Figure 22: Multi-Cloud Data Management ROI Expectations……..……..……..……..…..……..……..……..……....…37
Figure 23: Multi-Cloud Data Management Success Metrics……..……..……..……..…..……..……..……..…….....…38
Figure 24: Budgetary Impact of Multi-Cloud Data Management……..……..……..……..…..……..……….……....…40
Figure 25: Budgetary Sourcing for Multi-Cloud Data Management Technologies……..……..……………....…40
Figure 26: Multi-Cloud Data Management Purchase Decision Maker……..……..……..……..…..……..…….....…41
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Executive Summary
Data is the heart of day-to-day operations and competitive advantage for the modern business. At the
same time, today’s enterprises are leaning on a mixture of on-premises private cloud infrastructure (at
core and edge data centers alike), cloud-delivered infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and software-as-a-
service (SaaS); one size does not fit all when it comes to meeting varying requirements for data
accessibility, cost, compliance and specific functionalities.
Data is being generated, stored and accessed across these multi-cloud environments, but products
existing on the marketplace are not equipped to fully bridge these silos from the perspective of data
management. In the words of one IT professional, “We have a cloud management vision, but we don't
have a cloud management strategy. We're waiting for the technology to get there.”
Evaluator Group conducted an online survey and multiple follow-up interviews to better understand
where multi-cloud data management fits into the strategic planning and information technology (IT)
budgeting of enterprises, the technologies that enterprise IT organizations are using to address multi-
cloud data management requirements, and the current gaps that enterprise IT organizations perceive in
their environments, from a data management perspective.
The key findings from the study include the following:
▪ The need for multi-cloud data management is established…

— Roughly 80% of respondents indicated that their organization is already doing some
form of multi-cloud data management, or that it is in a stage of evaluating some
aspect(s) of multi-cloud data management. In follow-up interviews, even those who
indicated that their organization has no plans for multi-cloud data management
reported using some form of public cloud or colocation services in some way, and upon
discussing this further, generally agreed that they likely either have a need or, in the
foreseeable future, will have a need for multi-cloud data management.
▪ …but has not yet been addressed.
— Multi-cloud data management implementations are complex and multi-faceted.
Generally speaking, interviewees acknowledged that there is no “silver bullet” tool, and
that their organization has a way to go in terms of comprehensively addressing their
needs.
▪ Before data reuse, customers are solving for business continuity and cost control.
— Survey results and follow-up interviews uncovered that, by and large, customers are
focused on implementing a multi-cloud data management strategy to obtain data
portability for business continuity requirements, including disaster recovery and failover
use cases. This research additionally underscored that customers are looking for a way
to rationalize their retention data—what is being stored, how is it being stored and
accessed—to control costs and ensure security and compliance. As these “table stakes”
requirements are met, data reuse use cases, such as business analytics, will become
more prominent.
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▪ Amazon and Microsoft dominate mindshare, but migration tools are the missing link.
— Far and away, Amazon and Microsoft are the vendors that respondents most often
reported having engaged with for multi-cloud data management, and that they intend
to engage with for multi-cloud data management. At the same time, however,
interviewees acknowledged the pain points of incompatibility between Amazon’s and
Microsoft’s environments. Several interviewees also noted that third-party tools have a
limited ability to bridge these environments. As a result, cloud migration tools were
most often noted as the products lacking from customers’ environments that they
require for multi-cloud data management.
▪ Containers and Kubernetes as the cure?
— Evaluator Group research, including this study, indicates that containers are finding their
way into enterprises via DevOps teams, and that the implementations of stateful
container environments requiring data management, protection, and governance will
grow. The velocity and scalability of containerized environments will further impact data
management requirements. What is arguably more notable is that multiple interviewees
noted the Kubernetes container orchestration engine as a tool that is helping to
alleviate headaches around application and data portability, and security.
This research report presents findings for the benefit of enterprise IT users and the vendors that support
them. For users, this report provides peer feedback and looks at technology utilization trends expected
over the next 12 to 24 months. For vendors, this report provides insight into customer requirements and
purchasing processes.
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Research Methodology and Objectives

The research presented in this report is for the benefit of two types of consumers of this study:
• Enterprise IT Administrators: A number of factors are at work disrupting enterprise data

management needs, encouraging the majority of enterprise IT organizations to re-evaluate their
data management strategies. Understanding how peers are approaching solving these
requirements is part of that evaluation process.
• Enterprise Storage and Data Management Providers: This group needs to understand
customers’ business objectives and technological needs pertaining to multi-cloud data
management. One size does not fit all, and some customer needs are still being left unaddressed
by products and solutions that are currently available.
Methodology
Evaluator Group conducted an online survey of 204 enterprise IT professionals between October 21,
2019 and November 15, 2019, following up after the survey with 18 in-depth, one-on-one phone
interviews of survey respondents who agreed to be interviewed. The purpose was to gain additional
insights into their unique multi-cloud data management needs, as well as their approaches to fulfilling
those needs. Most interviews were between 45 minutes and 1 hour in length.
Interview respondents represented differing responsibility levels, from senior vice president to
operational administrator, and a range of industries, including telecommunications, financial services,
healthcare, retail, public sector, entertainment and media, manufacturing, and education. Of the
interviewees, 12 were from organizations with 5,000 or more employees.
Comments from these interviews are included throughout this report to corroborate Evaluator Group
findings, and are formatted like the quote below:
“We don't have a clear strategy on managing those [cloud] services that I know of at
this point. We're still building out our cloud services team, still have a lot of growth to
go in that area.”
Research Study Objectives

Managing data across multi-cloud environments is challenging for many IT professionals because
currently there is no one product, program, or system that addresses all multi-cloud data management
needs. This research study dives into the technology discipline of multi-cloud data management and
how enterprises are addressing the scope of associated requirements, including archive, compliance,
data availability, data protection, storage optimization, and visibility. Study objectives include:
• Understanding how IT managers from medium and large organizations are approaching issues
regarding multi-cloud data management from a technical standpoint.
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• Understanding the business objectives and evaluation criteria for success that are driving multi-
cloud data management initiatives.
• Understanding the decision-making process for technology purchases related to multi-cloud
data management and how these will be funded.
This study assumes a level of understanding of topics like backup and disaster recovery. There are
multiple studies that show how data is growing in organizations, so this study did not research those
types of metrics.
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Research Findings
About the Respondent Base
For this report, Evaluator Group
analyzed survey question responses
and interview discussions to compile
major findings. Respondents
primarily hailed from large
enterprises, with almost half coming
from enterprises with 5,000 or more
employees and 28% coming from
enterprises with 1,000 to 4,999
employees. Respondents noted a
range of capacities of data that their
organizations are responsible for
storing, managing, and protecting
(Figure 2). A variety of industries
were represented (Figure 1); for
consistency, these industry
categories are common with other
Evaluator Group surveys. The 18
respondents in the “Other” category
noted being from various industries,
including analytics, construction,
hospitality (restaurant), legal, and
non-profit.
Respondents most often indicated a

purview spanning all IT infrastructure
(Figure 3). When asked about their
specific job title or description, more
than 40% of respondents indicated
that they hold IT management roles,
Figure 1: Industry
and more than 35% indicated being a
part of IT technical staff. Less than 6% of respondents noted holding line-of-business roles.
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Figure 2: Capacity of Data Stored / Under Management Figure 3: Primary Responsibility in IT Organization
The State of Multi-Cloud Data Management

Survey respondents most often believed that their organization has begun implementing a multi-cloud
data management strategy, as reflected in Figure 4. It is important to note, however, that multi-cloud
data management spans multiple disciplines. In fact, for survey participants, Evaluator Group defined
multi-cloud data management as a discipline, as opposed to a specific product offering, for managing
data across on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud locations. Evaluator Group also specified to
survey takers that data protection, archive, storage efficiency, availability, compliance, and search
capabilities are all components of an overall multi-cloud data management strategy.
This study uncovered that most (arguably all) enterprises have yet to fully address all of the above
components of multi-cloud data management. In fact, when asked if their organization has adequate
technology building blocks in place to address their multi-cloud data management needs, 57% of
respondents answered “no” or were uncertain.
Survey responses indicate that larger enterprises are further along the multi-cloud data management
path than smaller companies—at least in the perception of the IT-centric stakeholders that Evaluator
Group surveyed. Nearly 50% of the 98 respondents surveyed from companies with 5,000 or more
employees indicated that they are already doing some form of multi-cloud data management, compared
to 39% overall. Another 24% of those respondents indicated that they are currently investigating multi-
cloud data management. At the same time, more than 40% of the 30 respondents that indicated they
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have no plans for multi-cloud data management came from firms with fewer than 1,000 employees—in
contrast to this demographic accounting for 24% of the overall sample.
Figure 4: State of Multi-Cloud Data Management
Follow-on interviews revealed a variety of definitions of “cloud,” including public, private, and hybrid,
but also a prevailing association with and concentration on the major public cloud hyperscalers (Amazon
Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft). This is further addressed in the “Vendors” sub-section of
the “Multi-Cloud Management Technologies” section of this report. While infrastructure—and especially
storage services—were the focus of this study, several interviewees also discussed using or evaluating
SaaS-delivered applications, such as Microsoft Office 365, and the need to manage, protect, and govern
the data associated with these applications.
As explored in more detail in the “Public Cloud Utilization” section of this report, there is a logical
correlation between momentum around multi-cloud data management, and utilization of public cloud
services. Evaluator Group interviewed 14 respondents that believe they are doing or are in an evaluation
phase of multi-cloud data management. Most of these IT professionals reported using more than one
public cloud provider, with the common drivers of business continuity and cost control. At the same
time, interviewees—and even those highly bullish on using the public cloud as much as possible—also
consistently noted that working with multiple public cloud providers creates data silos and management
and governance headaches that, by and large, have yet to be addressed by products available in the
market today. As a result, improving business continuity and reducing the cost structure are the top
benefits expected from a multi-cloud data management strategy (Figure 9). The need for more
automated data tiering strategies to more cost-effectively address growing retention requirements and
to meet varying compliance and security requirements was also frequently discussed. Specifically,
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interviewees mentioned the need to tier data from on-premises systems to the public cloud, and to
migrate and tier applications and data between various public cloud storage services. Again, the
appetite for a single-pane-of-glass tool or framework for management, governance, and portability was
noted. More specifics in terms of the technologies that customers are currently using, and those that
they believe are lacking, are addressed in the “Current IT Environments” and “Multi-Cloud Data
Management Technologies” sections of this report.
Follow-up interviews with four respondents that indicated no plans for multi-cloud data management
were also conducted. Evaluator Group believes that these organizations do have a need and are doing
some form of data management across multiple cloud environments; the sticking points for
interviewees typically came down to matters of rationalizing existing operational policies, and their
definitions of what constitutes multi-cloud data management, production workloads, and secondary
workloads. Further analysis and quotes from interviews are included in the “Multi-Cloud Data
Management Drivers and Inhibitors” section of this report.
The following quotes are from interviewees that believe their organizations are doing some form of
investigating or have near-term plans to investigate multi-cloud data management, specifically.
“For me, multi-cloud data management means that we don't have to be attached to
one vendor specifically as it was in the legacy age. I can choose what vendor I would
like to work with for which topics. I can use both AWS and Azure, and can take
advantage if they launch a new service.”
“Multi-cloud data management is business critical. Any enterprise-level client is no

longer a single-cloud provider customer. The business risk would be too high.”
“Multi-cloud means having multiple cloud providers. You could have public, private,
and a mixture of both. Obviously, this creates management challenges. It's not a
single environment where you can expect some integration. You're dealing with at
least two vendors that are likely competing.”
Current Information Technology Environments

To better understand customers’ current approaches to multi-cloud data management and their go-
forward multi-cloud data management technology requirements, Evaluator Group inquired about the
technologies that respondents currently have implemented within their organizations, as well as their
current utilization of public cloud services.
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Research Study Purchase and Distribution Information

The full study “Trends in Multi-Cloud Data Management” is available for internal use
purchase and also through subscription options. Please contact
Camberley@EvaluatorGroup.com for information and options.
About Krista Macomber

Krista is Evaluator Group’s lead analyst on enterprise data protection and data management, including
data archive, backup and recovery, data classification, indexing and search, and storage resource
management. She has approximately a decade of experience providing research and advisory services
and creating thought leadership content, with a focus on IT infrastructure and data management and
protection. Her vantage point spans technology and vendor portfolio developments; customer buying
behavior trends; and vendor ecosystems, go-to-market positioning, and business models.
About Evaluator Group

Evaluator Group Inc., an Information management and data storage analyst firm, has been covering
systems for over 20 years. Executives and IT Managers rely upon us to help make informed decisions to
architect and purchase systems supporting their data management objectives. We surpass the current
technology landscape by defining requirements and providing an in-depth knowledge of the products as
well as the intricacies that dictate long-term successful strategies.
Copyright 2019 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or stored in a database or retrieval system for any purpose
without the express written consent of Evaluator Group, Inc. The information contained in this document is subject
to change without notice. Evaluator Group assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Evaluator Group
makes no expressed or implied warranties in this document relating to the use or operation of the products
described herein. In no event shall Evaluator Group be liable for any indirect, special, inconsequential, or incidental
damages arising out of or associated with any aspect of this publication, even if advised of the possibility of such
damages. The Evaluator Series is a trademark of Evaluator Group, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective companies.
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A Research Study by Steve Scully

Trends in Multi-Cloud Data Management

The key findings from the study include the following:

▪ The need for multi-cloud data management is established…

Research Methodology and Objectives

• Enterprise IT Administrators: A number of factors are at work disrupting enterprise data

Research Study Objectives

Respondents most often indicated a

The State of Multi-Cloud Data Management

Figure 4: State of Multi-Cloud Data Management

“Multi-cloud data management is business critical. Any enterprise-level client is no

Current Information Technology Environments

Research Study Purchase and Distribution Information

About Krista Macomber

About Evaluator Group

Copyright 2019 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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