How to Build a Hybrid Cloud Strategy in 8 Steps

Introduction

A hybrid cloud represents a strategic approach that combines the strengths of both on-premises infrastructure and private or public cloud services. It acknowledges that not all workloads, applications, or data are created equal and that organizations need flexibility in managing their IT resources. Using a combination of public clouds, on-premises computing, and private clouds in your data center means you have a hybrid cloud infrastructure.

The primary benefit of a hybrid cloud is agility. The need to adapt and change direction quickly is a core principle of any business. Your organization might want (or need) to combine public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises resources to gain the agility it needs for a competitive advantage.

In this post, we’ll share the key steps your organization should follow to successfully implement a hybrid cloud strategy.

Step 1: Define Business Objectives and Requirements

Setting clear objectives and requirements is the foundation for a successful hybrid cloud strategy. Define organization-specific goals for adopting a hybrid cloud strategy. Common organizational goals include:

• Cost reduction: Optimizing infrastructure costs by leveraging the cloud’s pay-as-you-go model.
• Scalability: Ensuring the ability to scale resources up or down based on demand.
• Compliance: Ensuring adherence to industry-specific regulations.

Step 2: Assess Your Current IT Infrastructure

The assessment phase is a critical starting point for the journey to a hybrid cloud. It involves defining the criteria that make a service a candidate for cloud migration and then thoroughly analyzing existing on-premises infrastructure.

Analyze on-premise infrastructure: Begin by taking stock of the on-premises infrastructure, which includes servers, storage systems, networking equipment, and datasets. Assess these components’ age, capacity, performance, and security requirements and identify areas where upgrades or optimizations may be needed to ensure compatibility with cloud services.

Identify workloads for migration: Not all applications and workloads are suitable for migration to the cloud. During this phase, prioritize workloads based on scalability, performance requirements, and data sensitivity. Consider adopting a lift and shift approach for some workloads while appreciating that others may benefit from refactoring to take advantage of cloud-native features.

Conducting a cloud readiness assessment is pivotal for businesses contemplating a shift to cloud computing. This process comprehensively evaluates an organization’s current IT infrastructure, applications, data, overall business processes, and employees’ skill sets.

Step 3: Choose the Right Hybrid Cloud Architecture

Designing a robust hybrid cloud architecture is key to the overall success of hybrid cloud adoption. It relies on a well-thought-out topology that reflects business needs. Choosing an exemplary architecture can be challenging.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): One popular cloud computing service model, IaaS, provides virtualized resources through the Internet. Cloud providers use this model to host the infrastructure components that would otherwise be in an on-premise data center, including data centers, servers, storage, and networking hardware.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is becoming increasingly popular among the top cloud service models. The reason is the independence it provides to app developers. Using PaaS, developers can build applications without building complex infrastructures to support them. Instead, they can develop and deploy applications on PaaS-based infrastructures.

Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS often refers to building software applications that service providers host. Users access these apps directly from web browsers, eliminating the need to install apps individually on devices.

Step 4: Establish a Cloud Governance and Security Framework

If a hybrid cloud strategy is to be successful, security and compliance considerations must be woven into every aspect. This involves defining clear security policies that address data protection, access control, and regulatory compliance requirements.

Organizations should implement encryption measures, identity management systems, and threat detection tools to ensure robust security and safeguard against unauthorized access and potential breaches. Additionally, compliance with industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2, must be prioritized to meet legal obligations and industry best practices and ensure that cloud environments remain secure and trustworthy.

Step 5: Plan for Data Management and Workload Distribution

It’s crucial for organizations to carefully assess their needs to determine the optimal placement for their data and workloads. Organizations can do this by classifying data based on its sensitivity, access requirements, and performance needs to determine the best placement for each type of information. This process will allow organizations to identify which types of data should be stored in a private cloud and which should be stored in a public cloud.

Data synchronization and integration are also essential to a successful hybrid cloud strategy. Organizations must implement data replication and mirroring strategies to ensure seamless access between cloud environments.

Step 6: Implement Cloud Networking and Connectivity

A hybrid cloud network architecture comprises private servers, public cloud virtual servers, and the network that connects them.

Network performance in a hybrid cloud environment depends on several key components:

• Bandwidth: The volume of data a network connection can handle over time.
• Latency: The delay from when a packet is sent to when it’s received.
• Throughput: The actual rate at which data is successfully transferred.
• Reliability: Ensuring consistent network availability and uptime.

To ensure seamless communication between on-premise and cloud resources, you must establish a robust hybrid cloud environment by utilizing dedicated network connections, such as VPNs or dedicated circuits. A VPN can be used for basic site-to-site connectivity when connecting to a hybrid cloud environment. At the same time, SD-WAN provides more advanced traffic management and optimization across multiple connections.

Step 7: Develop a Monitoring and Optimization Strategy

In the monitoring and optimization phase, the hybrid cloud environment is fine-tuned for peak performance and efficiency, maximizing the advantages of on-premises and cloud components.

Thorough testing is critical to identifying and addressing potential issues before they impact operations. Test scenarios should encompass:

• Performance testing: Assess how your hybrid cloud environment performs under varying workloads.
• Resource scaling: Verify that resources scale automatically and efficiently.
• Disaster recovery: Test data backup and recovery processes to ensure data integrity.

Resource optimization based on real-world usage patterns is key to cost savings and performance improvement. Monitoring and analytics tools can help you gain insights into resource utilization and adjust resource allocation accordingly.

Step 8: Create a Long-Term Hybrid Cloud Management Plan

Effective monitoring and management are essential for maintaining the health and performance of your hybrid cloud environment. Consider the following:

• Establish a DevOps or FinOps team for continuous improvement
• Implement monitoring tools
• Establish protocols for incident response 

To future-proof your hybrid cloud strategy, integrate automation and AI-driven analytics into your management plan. Automation streamlines resource provisioning and workload migration, reducing human error and operational costs. AI-driven analytics provides real-time insights, optimizing performance, security, and resource allocation. By leveraging these technologies, businesses can proactively manage their hybrid cloud environment, ensuring it remains scalable, efficient, and adaptable to future demands.             

Conclusion

We’ve outlined the eight steps to building a robust hybrid cloud strategy, from assessing your current infrastructure to selecting the right platforms, managing security, and ensuring continuous optimization. By following these steps, businesses can create a seamless and scalable cloud environment that balances flexibility, performance, and security.

A well-structured hybrid cloud strategy is not just a technological decision—it’s vital to ensuring your business remains agile, cost-effective, and capable of staying ahead in a competitive market. It allows businesses to leverage the benefits of both public and private clouds, ensuring optimal performance, scalability, and security.

At Plow Networks, we specialize in helping businesses implement and optimize their hybrid cloud solutions. Our expert team can guide you through every step, ensuring your cloud environment aligns with your unique business needs. Reach out today to get started on your journey to a more efficient, secure, and scalable cloud infrastructure.