How can enterprises handle the complexity of multiple clouds — and reap unprecedented benefits? In a series of virtual roundtables, 30 IT leaders articulated the challenges and delivered insightful recommendations. Credit: Gremlin / Getty Images In June 2020, CIO held its first CIO Think Tank, a series of virtual roundtables that brought together 30 IT leaders to unpack one of the most important issues in enterprise technology today: managing multiple clouds. The roundtables also featured IDC Research Director Deepak Mohan, IDG B2B Editor-in-Chief Eric Knorr, and cloud executives Deepak Patil and Bradd Lewis from Dell Technologies. The objective of these discussions was to identify the key challenges associated with multi-cloud management and to offer a roadmap for IT leadership — as well as the technology industry — to overcome those obstacles. All participants drew on their own experience and knowledge to describe strategic and tactical approaches to selecting, provisioning, and maintaining multiple clouds for maximum business and IT benefit. Download this 10-page PDF for a distillation of these lively discussions and benefit from the Think Tank’s insightful recommendations: CIO Think Tank Roadmap Report: Setting the Multi-cloud Agenda Multi-cloud is so new and evolving so quickly that the panel participants were not in universal agreement about its definition. Yet a consensus emerged: Multi-cloud has evolved to embrace not just multiple public IaaS (infrastructure as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) clouds, but also private, on-premises clouds. The only substantive disagreement was whether SaaS (software a service) should also be included; most thought it should be. All 30 participating IT leaders were in the financial industry, where security, availability, and regulatory compliance are paramount. With the intent of providing guidance amid constant cloud flux, this report captures and consolidates the thinking of forward-looking IT leaders in a complex multi-cloud world. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP Generative AI’s ‘show me the money’ moment We’re past the hype and slick gen AI sales pitches. Business leaders want results. By Julia White Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers capture real economic value with zero trust Unleashing economic value: Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange transforms security architecture while cutting costs. By Zscaler Nov 30, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Sponsored by SAP A cloud-based solution to rescue millions from energy poverty Aware of the correlation between energy and financial poverty, Savannah Energy is helping to generate clean, competitively priced electricity across Africa by integrating its old systems into one cloud-based platform. By Keith E. Greenberg, SAP Contributor Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation feature 8 change management questions every IT leader must answer Designed to speed adoption and achieve business outcomes, change management hasn’t historically been a strength of IT orgs. It’s time to flip that script by asking hard questions to hone change strategies. By Stephanie Overby Nov 30, 2023 10 mins Change Management Change Management IT Operations Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe