How many clouds do you operate in? Just a few short years ago, leaders could list them on a couple fingers or at least one hand. Now most organizations, even small businesses, are finding themselves forced into a labyrinth of public and private clouds.

About 94 percent of organizations buy from multiple providers, according to a recent report from Cisco. The public to private cloud ratio actually nears a 50-50 split. The primary driver is software developers who have moved their applications to subscription-based cloud services.

There is not just one cloud that everyone uses. Some are public. Some are private. Few talk to each other. That’s led to the rise of an increasingly robust multicloud platform and strategy that tie everything together. Unlike the hybrid cloud which brought together your cloud with their cloud, the multicloud bridges your cloud with theirs and theirs and theirs and theirs … you get the idea.

It was a key topic at the recent Cisco Partner Summit that I attended with leading technology professionals across the world. Through new partnerships like the one just announced between Cisco and Google, we gain more multicloud software capabilities that work in any cloud environment ̶ private or public. 

Here’s a look at what a multicloud migration does:

• Lets your applications talk to each other.
  This is becoming essential as organizations operate digitally in the Internet of Everything world. Organizations depend on multiple public cloud applications that need to talk to each other. For example, your ERP needs to connect with your CRM and then to your back-office application or collaboration tool.
  
• Improves the end user experience.
  The multicloud focuses on enabling users to connect and consume cloud services in a consistent manner. With multicloud infrastructure, users gain faster access to the data and apps they need by leveraging the data center closest to them and requiring minimum server hops. Organizations can have the same or better end user experience in the multicloud as when they had all their applications on-premise and tied together.
  
• Fewer costly upgrades.
  With multicloud infrastructure, organizations can use cost-effective public cloud networks for some business data and apps and keep their high sensitivity, high security workloads in the private cloud. The multicloud platform also drives out waste that naturally surfaces with multiple clouds supporting separate workloads.
  
  Most, if not all, applications that reside in the cloud also are automatically upgraded and patched without time consuming involvement from your internal IT staff. And it’s not just the application; now the underlying operating system can remain current.

The multicloud is the new cloud and the future of cloud computing. With the assistance of specialized network engineers, organizations can simplify their cloud environment without compromising their choice. They gain the flexibility to distribute their workloads across multiple cloud environments efficiently while mitigating the risks associated with individual cloud environments.