Mastering multi-cloud and addressing challenges in data governance and security: Industry experts deliberate:

Businesses are shifting from single-cloud to multi-cloud environments to meet the increasing demand for integrated data solutions. This trend reflects a broader emphasis on AI, particularly generative AI, which requires substantial data and robust infrastructure—both provided by cloud environments.

To focus on the challenges and solutions in cloud computing and data compliance, Oracle and YourStory organised a roundtable discussion titled ‘Smart Strategies for Multi-Cloud Environments and Data Integration.’

Om Prakash Shanmugam, Senior Vice President - Engineering, VideoVerse; Siddharth Sheth, Senior Vice President - Technology, CitiusTech; Vaibhav Poonekar, Senior Vice President - Engineering, Decimal Point Analytics; Prajakt Deolasee, Chief Technology Officer, Turtlemint; Pramod Kathuria, Founder and CEO, Easiloan; Vivek Parihar, Head of Engineering, Purplle; and Nishit Saurav, AVP and Head - CS Engineering, LogiNext participated in the closed-door meeting.

The discussion addressed a range of industry-specific challenges, including the creation of high-quality live gameplay content for sports teams and federations, as well as the complexities involved in transferring large volumes of medical image data to the cloud in the healthcare sector. Overall, participants identified data fragmentation and standardisation as major obstacles, along with concerns regarding data compliance and governance in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

Multi-cloud strategies and regulatory requirements

Multi-cloud data solutions are essential for complying with regulatory frameworks like the DPDP. Its data protection and security requirements apply to entities such as internet companies, mobile apps, and businesses that handle citizens’ data.

Auditor requirements within the Indian regulatory framework, particularly in the banking sector, have increasingly focused on concentration risk. This risk is assessed at two levels.

At the industry level, regulators have raised concerns about the potential impact on multiple organisations or banks if an issue arises with a specific provider. At the individual bank level, the emphasis is on ensuring sufficient redundancy. For example, if the primary system fails, there is scrutiny on whether the Disaster Recovery (DR) system is also dependent on the same provider. Recent incidents, including cases of circular dependencies leading to critical failures, have further underscored this concern.

Regulators are also examining how organisations manage excess capacity. There is a focus on whether institutions are adequately prepared to handle unforeseen surges in demand, particularly given the rapid changes that can occur in scaling requirements. These considerations highlight the growing importance of robust planning and resilience in system architecture.

If businesses have robust plans in place, it will ensure that their multi-cloud environment can withstand unexpected disruptions and maintain continuous service delivery. This, in turn, will safeguard business operations and reputation.

The participants agreed that cloud companies should invest in educating both auditors and regulators about the benefits of multi-cloud strategies. They also discussed the importance of running the same stack across different cloud providers and the challenges of managing services that are not fully supported by cloud providers.

Oracle Cloud’s approach to multi-cloud strategies was brought to the fore, including the use of physical network connectivity and the ability to run Oracle services within other cloud providers. Maintaining data security and compliance is key while leveraging the benefits of cloud services.

Best practices for mastering multi-cloud strategy

The discussion highlighted customer success stories, including a large manufacturing company that leverages Oracle Cloud for real-time analytics and quality control.The importance of adopting a flexible and cost-effective AI and machine learning strategy was emphasised showcasing the benefits of Oracle Cloud to various industries.

The participants concurred that there is a need to standardise policies across multiple clouds to simplify operations and enhance security. Implementing uniform policies across cloud platforms is crucial. Uniform policies reduce complexity and minimise the risk of compliance breaches, making the multi-cloud environment easier to manage and more secure.

Comprehensive cloud management platforms must be employed to consolidate monitoring and management across environments. These platforms improve operational visibility by integrating data from various clouds into a single dashboard, enabling real-time analytics and proactive management. This centralised approach helps to quickly detect and address anomalies or inefficiencies. It helps in ensuring optimisation of cloud performance on definite intervals and maintaining reliability.

Speakers also discussed the need to enforce comprehensive security measures consistently across all cloud platforms. Advanced security solutions must be integrated that provide continuous monitoring, threat detection, and automated response mechanisms. Moreover, thorough documentation of multi-cloud operations and policies is essential for maintaining clarity and consistency across teams. Documenting cloud architectures, processes, and compliance measures ensures all team members have clear guidelines and can make informed decisions. This practice supports training, troubleshooting, and audits and helps maintain consistency in cloud operations and governance.

Final thoughts

Although a multi-cloud setup is all about freedom and flexibility, it comes with a price–security. Without a reliable security approach, the risks can quickly outweigh the benefits. A single misconfigured setting in one cloud environment could be the entry point for a data breach that reverberates across the entire organisation. And the costs—both financial and reputational—are often severe.

Multi-cloud security must be treated as a strategic priority. Leaders who build a proactive, integrated defense strategy will not only mitigate today’s risks but also create a resilient foundation to face tomorrow’s challenges.