From VMware to vendor diversity: Building a resilient multicloud strategy

VMware has earned a reputation for reliability, but its acquisition by Broadcom in 2023 has sparked concern across the business IT landscape. As VMware becomes more tightly integrated into Broadcom’s product ecosystem, many organizations worry about increased vendor lock-in and a loss of long-term flexibility. In response, businesses are rethinking their virtualization strategies and turning to a multicloud approach for greater flexibility and resilience. 

This article explores how the risks of vendor lock-in are prompting organizations to move away from VMware and highlights the key advantages of adopting a multicloud strategy. It also provides a practical, step-by-step guide to help you transition from a VMware-centric setup to a more robust, vendor-diverse cloud environment.

The dangers of vendor lock-in: Why more businesses are leaving VMware behind

Relying too heavily on a single provider can put businesses at a disadvantage, creating challenges such as:

• Reduced bargaining power: If your business depends heavily on a single provider’s technology, tools, or ecosystem, that provider knows you have limited alternatives. This weakens your position during contract renewals and can lead to higher costs, stricter terms, and reduced flexibility.
• Migration hurdles: A provider’s ecosystem is often designed to work primarily — or exclusively — with its own tools and platforms, making it technically challenging and expensive to move data and applications to a different brand’s environment. These obstacles can hinder your ability to adapt or modernize your infrastructure.
• Innovation bottlenecks: Being locked into a single ecosystem can limit your access to emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics services, that your competitors may already be using to gain an edge.

The multicloud advantage: Why it’s becoming the smarter alternative

Adopting a multicloud strategy means using multiple cloud providers at the same time to meet different technical needs, business goals, or compliance requirements, resulting in several benefits, including:

Improved resiliency and risk mitigation

Running workloads across multiple cloud platforms lowers the risk of a full-scale service outage. If one provider goes down or changes its policies, the disruption to your operations is minimized, helping ensure business continuity.

Enhanced innovation and flexibility  

With access to multiple cloud providers, businesses can choose the best tools and services for each specific need without being limited to one ecosystem. For example, a multicloud setup might use AWS for scalable infrastructure and Azure for deep integration with Microsoft applications.

Cost optimization

A multicloud strategy lets businesses align each workload with the most cost-effective provider. For example, compute-heavy tasks can run on platforms optimized for high-performance processing, while long-term storage may be assigned to providers with lower pricing tiers. Such an approach helps lower costs without compromising speed or reliability.

Stronger compliance 

With a multicloud setup, businesses can meet specific regulatory requirements, such as HIPAA for healthcare or GDPR for companies handling EU data, and minimize infrastructure costs. Sensitive information can be stored in secure, compliant environments, while less critical data is placed with lower-cost providers.  

Your 5-step roadmap to building a vendor-diverse multicloud strategy

The roadmap below outlines five key stages to help you shift from a single-vendor model to a more flexible and resilient multicloud architecture:

1. Assess and strategize: Start by evaluating your existing applications to check their compatibility with a multicloud setup. Next, outline clear business goals— whether reducing costs, improving disaster recovery, or adopting new technologies — to guide your strategy. Application compatibility and strategic objectives are the two main factors that will guide the decisions you make throughout the transition.
2. Build your governance framework: Before transitioning to a multicloud setup, use the insights from your assessment and goals to establish clear policies. Define standards for security, compliance, and cost management that apply across all cloud platforms. A solid governance framework helps reduce risk, prevent unexpected costs, and keep your cloud operations aligned with business priorities.
3. Choose partners, not just providers: Avoid one-size-fits-all solutions and evaluate cloud vendors based on their specific strengths, not just brand reputation or convenience. Look for providers that meet your technical and business requirements to create a multicloud setup that’s both efficient and purpose-built.
4. Plan a phased migration: Transitioning everything at once often lead to missteps, such as data loss, misconfigurations, or security gaps. Instead, begin with low-risk, high-value applications to gain early wins and practical experience. As your team grows more confident with the process, you can migrate more complex workloads.
5. Centralize management and monitoring: Juggling different cloud systems can get complicated fast. That’s why centralized tools are essential; they provide a unified view of everything, from application performance and security checks to cost tracking.

A vendor-diverse multicloud setup gives your organization the freedom to adapt and grow. With the flexibility to choose the right tools for each task, you can stay competitive in a digital landscape that’s constantly evolving.
Need help planning your move from VMware? Liberty Center One’s cloud experts can assess your readiness and guide you through every step of your multicloud transition. Contact us today to get started.