EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies: New Report Insights

Tackling the Challenges of Hybrid Multicloud Networks

New EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies report reveals hybrid multicloud complexity is rising. Success hinges on cloud and network team collaboration, unified management, and a strong DDI foundation to boost visibility, automation, security, and efficiency across environments.

The latest EMA report reveals that while hybrid, multicloud adoption is accelerating, many organizations still rely on siloed, inconsistent cloud-native networking tools that add complexity and risk. Unifying and centralizing network management is now a high priority, particularly as IP address space, DNS services, and security policies become harder to coordinate across environments. DDI plays a vital role in building a resilient, secure, and scalable network strategy. Download the EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies report to explore key findings and recommended actions to define a practical roadmap and accelerate your cloud journey.

The Expanding Cloud Landscape

Hybrid multicloud strategies have become the enterprise standard. Cisco estimates that 92% of organizations now use more than one public cloud provider, and Gartner predicts that by 2027, 90% of cloud strategies will blend internal and external cloud infrastructures.

However, while this model offers scalability, cost optimization, and accelerated innovation, it also introduces new layers of complexity. The latest Hybrid MultiCloud report from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reveals the scope of the challenge.

More than a third (38%) of respondents identified security and compliance risks as a leading concern, followed by budget constraints (27%) and skills shortages (25%). Technical issues also loom large, with 29% citing performance degradation when moving applications to the cloud and due to cloud connectivity.

Many teams also face difficulties managing IP address spaces and DNS configurations in fragmented environments – particularly those operating across four or more clouds. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents reported problems with IP conflicts and DNS complexity, while another 24% cited inconsistent networking capabilities across cloud and on-prem networks.

Cloud-native tools often add to this complexity, as organizations rely on a patchwork of provider-specific solutions for routing, load balancing, and automation. This siloed approach hinders unification, making holistic visibility, security, and control harder to achieve as networks scale and diversify.

Strategic Drivers Behind a Hybrid Multicloud Strategy

There are several factors keeping hybrid, multicloud strategies high on the business agenda. The EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies research highlights four primary drivers shaping these decisions.

First is the digitalization of operational technology, such as industrial control systems and IoT. These distributed systems often require low-latency connectivity and local data processing, pushing workloads to geographically closer clouds to meet performance and data sovereignty needs.

The second driver is AI adoption. Enterprises are expanding their cloud footprints to access GPU-as-a-service offerings and deploy AI workloads nearer to data sources at the edge.

Next, long-standing cloud-first directives continue to drive data center offload, increasing reliance on cloud services and prompting diversification to avoid vendor lock-in.

Finally, DevOps and CI/CD practices are pushing for more flexibility and faster delivery. EMA found that organizations using more cloud providers were more likely to cite DevOps, hyper-automation, and high-profile application rollouts as key motivators.

The Key Role of Cloud and Network Teams

Effective collaboration between cloud and network teams is critical to the success of hybrid, multicloud strategies – but only 37% of organizations believe this collaboration is fully effective. EMA identified three core areas where alignment is most challenging: security policy design, integration and automation, and incident response.

The more cloud providers an environment includes, the more pronounced these issues become, with added complexity in untangling management and shared responsibilities.

Without closer cooperation, organizations risk inconsistent implementations, duplicated effort, and weakened security across their cloud and on-premises networks.

How DDI Contributes to Cloud Network Infrastructure

As hybrid, multicloud environments grow in scale and complexity, DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP address management) has become a foundational component. Nearly 40% of organizations now view DDI as essential to managing and securing their cloud networks – particularly those operating across three or more cloud providers.

Centralized Management

As cloud networks grow, centralized management has become a top priority for IT leaders. Organizations are seeking unified control over key functions like security policies, IP address management, DNS services, and traffic routing across all environments.The EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies survey found that those most successful with cloud networking were more likely to prioritize centralized IP address space management. This was found to be particularly important for network engineering, cloud, and IT operations teams, who rely on a consistent, unified view to maintain reliability and enforce standards. Fragmented tools and processes increase the risk of misconfigurations, security gaps, and inefficiencies without centralized oversight in place.

Network Source of Truth (NSoT)

A comprehensive network source of truth is key to managing hybrid, multicloud environments, yet only 27% of organizations have established one. The majority (73%) lack a unified repository for network-related data, limiting visibility and slowing operations. EMA found that organizations with a successful cloud networking strategy were three times more likely to maintain a complete NSoT. Nearly half rely on IPAM solutions to build this foundation, while 42% use network discovery tools. Reported benefits include improved data quality (59%), greater visibility (57%),reduced security risk (54%), and streamlined automation (44%) – all of which are vital to scaling robust, automated, and secure cloud operations.

Network Automation Enabler

Hybrid, multicloud networks are inherently complex, with diverse platforms and proprietary tools. Automation is essential for managing this complexity efficiently. According to EMA, 20% of organizations report a lack of automation as a pain point with their multicloud network. Key automation use cases include performance optimization, such as automated traffic steering and auto-scaling, and security policy updates and compliance checks. Automation also supports provisioning and decommissioning of infrastructure components like VLANs, subnets, and DDI services. Properly implemented automation reduces human error, accelerates response to threats, and improves the consistency and agility of network operations across environments.

Cloud Network Observability

Only 29% of organizations are fully satisfied with their current cloud network observability capabilities. Most rely on a combination of cloud provider tools and traditional monitoring solutions, but performance issues remain a top concern. EMA identified five critical observability use cases: security monitoring (40%), cost optimization (38%), network optimization (36%), incident triage (35%), and troubleshooting (33%). DNS data is perceived as being critical, with 52% using it for threat detection and 50% for performance monitoring. Many also leverage DNS insights for troubleshooting (44%) and detecting data exfiltration (41.5%). Advanced DDI solutions can help meet these expectations across complex, multicloud networks.

The Key Benefits and Outcomes of a Hybrid Multicloud

When managed effectively, hybrid, multicloud networking delivers measurable business value. The EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies’ research found that 51% of organizations experienced improved operational efficiency, while 45% reported both cost optimization and reduced security or compliance risk. Another 42% cited accelerated innovation as a key benefit, enabled by more agile infrastructure and faster deployment of new services.

To unlock the full potential of these benefits, organizations must effectively overcome the challenges of fragmented management, siloed IPAM and DNS, and incomplete network visibility. DDI plays a central role here, supporting automation, observability, and unified control across cloud and on-prem environments.

By simplifying how resources are provisioned, monitored, and secured, DDI enables IT and cloud teams to spend less time firefighting and more time optimizing. Further, it establishes the consistency and control needed to support high-performance DevOps, AI, and edge workloads.

Key Takeaways

The latest EMA Hybrid Multicloud Strategies report highlights the growing complexity of hybrid, multicloud networking and the operational challenges it brings. Success depends on unifying management, improving collaboration between cloud and network teams, and addressing security and performance gaps. DDI and DNS play a foundational role, enabling visibility, automation, security, and control across diverse environments. As organizations scale their cloud strategies, these capabilities are essential to maximize efficiency, resilience, and long-term value.