Valtix Survey: 95% of Organizations Say Multi-cloud is a 'Strategic Priority' but Only 58% Have the Security Architecture to Support It

92% of companies commit more budget to multi-cloud security in 2023

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Valtix, the industry's first multi-cloud network security platform as a service, today announced findings from its 2023 Multi-cloud Security Report, which found that 95% of companies are pushing toward a multi-cloud environment, but only 58% believe they have the security architecture to support it. Respondents in the survey of more than 200 U.S. IT leaders cited complexities, gaps and other challenges between the overall strategy and the infrastructure they ultimately create.

The survey found that multi-cloud activity continues to rise with 93% of respondents currently having workloads and data on more than one cloud. Of those not yet in a multi-cloud environment, a full 94% expect to be multi-cloud within 12 months. Companies are embracing multi-cloud twice as fast this year compared to Valtix's year-ago survey. At that time, only 62% of organizations were multi-cloud, with 84% expecting to get there within two years.

"Multi-cloud continues as a strategic priority for most organizations in 2023—yet it also remains a concern for nearly all organizations," said Vishal Jain, co-founder and CEO of Valtix. "Very few companies have the tech, talent and confidence they need to put in place a comprehensive security infrastructure across multiple clouds. While many companies are still unintentional in their cloud choice, leaders are increasingly looking for proactive ways to leverage multi-cloud to benefit the business."

According to the survey, organizations cited several 'unintentional' factors that have accelerated their journey to a multi-cloud environment, including (1) shadow IT (51%), (2) different ISVs that support different clouds (48%), and (3) mergers and acquisitions (47%).

Even as adoption accelerates, 28% of IT leaders surveyed strongly believe multi-cloud is a "bad idea," citing issues such as (1) difficult to consistently secure (38%), lack multi-cloud security and management tools (35%) and (3) lack of multi-cloud reference architectures (32%). Only 57% of IT leaders are sure that multi-cloud security is achievable with current resources and technology, but admit they need to embrace it anyway, as 95% consider multi-cloud a "strategic priority" this year.

Other findings:

• Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) fail to define portability standards: As businesses increasingly leverage CSPs for this cloud transformation, IT leaders surveyed were not hopeful CSPs will define portability standards anytime soon. A full 97% of IT leaders believe that CSPs should help define standards to enable better multi-cloud portability. However, 58% surveyed believe security standardization in a multi-cloud environment is a 'myth' and never achievable. Nearly all (90%) of organizations surveyed evaluate third-party security technology in addition to the security tools CSPs provide.
• Multi-cloud is a budgetary drain: Managing multiple distinct security architectures with multi-cloud security is prohibitively expensive for 86% of organizations.
• The rise of the cloud security architect: The Cloud Security Architect is growing as a common role with 86% of organizations currently employing an in-house cloud security architect. Moreover, 89% of organizations require every cloud project to adhere to a cloud security reference architecture.
• Cloud security posture management viewed as a commodity: 67% of IT leaders view CSPM technology provided by the cloud providers as being critical to their success. Only 53% of organizations are looking to make a new CSPM technology investment in 2023.

A complimentary copy of the full report can be downloaded at https://valtix.com/lp/2023-multi-cloud-security-report/.

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About the Survey
Valtix commissioned an independent research firm to survey 200 IT leaders in the US about the problems they face with multi-cloud security, the tools they're using, the tools they want to use in the future, and the skills they need to scale and secure on multiple cloud platforms. The survey, which was conducted in January 2023, used a random sample of US IT leaders and has a margin of error of +/- 6.9% at the 95% confidence level.

About Valtix
Valtix is on a mission to protect every workload, every app architecture, across every cloud. Deployable in just 5 minutes, Valtix was built to combine robust multi-cloud security with cloud-first simplicity and on-demand scale. Powered by a cloud-native architecture, Valtix provides an innovative approach to cloud network security called Dynamic Multi-Cloud Policy™, which links continuous visibility with advanced security controls. The result: security that is more effective, adaptable to change, and aligned to cloud agility requirements. Join 4 of the top 10 pharmaceuticals and leaders across every industry – sign up free in minutes.

Media Contact:
Michael Gallo / Jacqueline Meyler
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Lumina Communications
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SOURCE Valtix