Enterprises are no longer struggling with the question of whether to go all-in with public or private cloud; it’s become an acceptable and comfortable solution to implement a hybrid cloud solution for optimized performance and cost savings. That doesn’t mean it always goes smoothly. There are a few common mistakes that prevent a hybrid cloud solution from being a completely ideal situation. Here are the most frequently committed cloud infractions:

Using the wrong approach for security: Most of the breaches that occur, even in the public cloud, tend to happen because of internal processes, not a cloud structural problem. A private cloud solution with poor password management or inadequate patching can be just as vulnerable as any public cloud situation, and lead to a loss of not only money, but also reputation.

Some organizations also assume that a firewall can protect a private cloud environment, which doesn’t do anything to protect against internal problems or outdated patching. A good approach is to create a DevOps plan that allows for expedited processing for patches.

Too much trust in a vendor’s outdated ideas: Many enterprises fall into the trap of only talking with the vendors that they’ve worked with for decades. These vendors may be innovating, but only compared to what they’ve used before, not compared with what’s on the market. While the enterprise may rightly place their trust in a good vendor, the risk is that the parties work together to make a plan without a good view of what’s out there.

Outdated skills: Implementing a hybrid cloud solution requires that the enterprise have the staff to handle new ideas surrounding everything from infrastructure to data storage. If an enterprise has new talent on board that was trained in the cloud, they should be careful not to allow those new ideas to be stifled by the old guard, who may simply try to duplicate the current organization for the hybrid cloud.

Unclear expectations about cost: Cost savings is one of the hot topics surrounding hybrid cloud deployment, but some organizations walk into the transition without a clear idea of what costs will look like and where they could be even higher. Topics like data storage and retrieval, under- and over-provisioning and extra charges are all items that need to be on the radar of the IT team. Some large enterprises may be surprised to find that they’ll need to sift through thousands of lines of charges to find out why their hybrid cloud solution is costing them much more than they expected.

When mapping out a transition to a hybrid cloud solution, it’s important that enterprises have some idea of how common mistakes can affect their migration. When one or more of these issues come up, it’s not necessarily a sign that the organization should abandon the plan and go back to the legacy system. Instead, service providers must come alongside the enterprise to help them anticipate and address these potential problems.

Partners can help large businesses navigate this world of hybrid cloud, and create sticky customers as a result. The benefits of a successful hybrid cloud solution are numerous, including scalability and flexibility. To find out more about how to bring cloud options to your customers, contact eXemplify.