Top 8 Multicloud Management Tools

Today, most enterprises are using multiple public cloud and private clouds as part of their cloud deployment. As a result, more and more of them are looking for multicloud management tools that can help them monitor, govern and optimize their cloud usage.

According to the RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud Report, 84 percent of enterprises have a multicloud strategy. And a majority (58 percent) use both public clouds and private clouds as a part of that multicloud strategy. In addition, enterprises now say that they run a majority of their workloads in the cloud.

Not only do companies already access a lot of cloud services, their reliance on the cloud is accelerating. Organizations said they were increasing their public cloud spending by nearly a quarter in 2019, and private cloud spending was increasing by 8 percent.

Given those dramatic increases, it’s probably not surprising that survey respondents said that optimizing their cloud spending is their number one priority, and governing their cloud usage is a close second.

That’s where multicloud management tools come in. These tools allow organizations to centralize their monitoring of cloud spending and usage, apply governance policies, secure access, and enable self-service. Some also include cloud migration and/or backup and disaster recovery features. Many of the leading CMPs are available from small vendors that focus solely on multicloud management, but larger technology companies are beginning to acquire many of these smaller vendors.

Key Tips for Selecting Multicloud Management Tool

When shopping for a multicloud management solution, consider the following questions:

• Which cloud platforms does the solution support?At a minimum, you should look for a multicloud management tool that supports AWS, Microsoft Azure and VMware. The best tools also support dozens of other types of environments, including Kubernetes.

• Do you need a tool that integrates with DevOps workflows?DevOps continues to grow in popularity, and some of the leading CMPs are addressing this reality with tools that support containers, continuous delivery, microservices and related approaches. Many also integrate with DevOps automation tools.

• Which other tools will your multicloud management tool need to integrate with? You probably already have a number of tools that you use to monitor and manage your IT environment. It’s usually more efficient to select a CMP that integrates with some or all of those existing tools rather than starting over from scratch.

• Does the tool meet your security, governance and compliance needs? Some tools are better than others at implementing policies, and some companies have more complex needs than others. Make sure the multicloud management tool you select will be a good fit for your unique requirements.

• How advanced are the CMP’s analytics capabilities? As cost control becomes a major focus, organizations need multicloud management tools with powerful reporting and optimization capabilities. Some even incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Top Multicloud Management Tools

Keeping those questions in mind, here are eight of the top multicloud management tools that you might want to consider:

Jump to:

• BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
• Embotics Commander
• Flexera (RightScale) Cloud Management Platform
• HyperGrid
• Micro Focus Hybrid Cloud Management
• Morpheus
• Scalr
• VMware CloudHealth

BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management

Value proposition for potential buyers

Organizations that use other BMC Software products would likely be interested in the vendor’s Cloud Lifecycle Management platform. It’s designed to simplify full-stack deployment with self-service features and integration with popular DevOps tools. And Forrester named it a “Strong Performer” in the Forrester Wave for hybrid cloud management.

Key values/differentiators

• Includes a self-service portal that allows users to request their own services
• Applies corporate policies for automated ITSM governance and continuous compliance with relevant regulations
• Supports all public clouds and a wide range of on-premise infrastructure
• Provides an intuitive dashboard for monitoring service health and simplified scaling

Embotics Commander

Value proposition for potential buyers

Used by organizations like NASA, Fanatics, Nordstrom, Pega and Flexential, Embotics Commander is one of the most well-respected multicloud management tools on the market today. It was named a “Leader” by both Gartner and Forrester, and it is highly rated by customers.

Key values/differentiators

• Supports multi-hypervisor and multicloud environments
• Includes automated provisioning and orchestration capabilities, as well as integrated governance
• Incorporates cloud expense management
• Designed for use in environments utilizing microservices, containers, DevOps and hybrid IT

Flexera (RightScale) Cloud Management Platform

Value proposition for potential buyers

In late 2018, Flexera acquired RightScale, one of the leading providers of multicloud management tools. Today, Flexera continues to offer RightScale’s solution as Flexera Cloud Management Platform (CMP). It has received excellent reviews from enterprise users, and Gartner and Forrester have both named it a “Leader.”

Key values/differentiators

• Provides a single-pane-of-glass view of all public and private cloud resources
• Uses “blueprints” to simplify and automate cloud orchestration
• Includes the Flexera Optima cloud spend optimization software
• Based on plug-in architecture that is easily extendable

HyperGrid

Value proposition for potential buyers

Although it is a smaller, younger vendor, HyperGrid boasts an impressive list of enterprise customers that includes the US Navy, IBM, Fordham University, Synopsys, Henry Schein and others. It promises an “intelligent” cloud management platform with a full range of capabilities that extends to migration and disaster recovery planning. Gartner considers it a “Visionary,” and Forrester calls it a “Strong Performer.”

Key values/differentiators

• Includes proactive budget monitoring and reporting
• Monitors and controls security settings while also ensuring audit readiness and continuous compliance
• Provides cloud migration and disaster recovery planning capabilities
• Supports AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and VMware

Micro Focus Hybrid Cloud Management

Value proposition for potential buyers

The Micro Focus Hybrid Cloud Management solution boasts that its customers experience “95 percent less time to satisfy development resource requests,” “89 percent less time to meet an IT resource request” and “59% higher productivity for fulfillment teams.” It has also received very positive reviews from analyst firms, and it incorporates features designed for DevOps environments.

Key values/differentiators

• Offers cloud brokering and governance capabilities, as well as end-to-end process orchestration
• Meets the needs of DevOps shops with support for continuous delivery, continuous deployment, containers and microservices architecture
• Provides a self-service portal with integrated ChatOps
• Allows users to create templates that they can use with any cloud service

Morpheus

Value proposition for potential buyers

Branding itself as the solution “where CloudOps meets DevOps,” Morpheus promises multicloud management tools designed to keep developers, IT operations and business professionals happy. The company claims that customers have used its solution to provision more than 250,000 cloud apps and that users can get it up and running in less than an hour. Its customers include McDonalds, AstraZeneca, BlackRock, Penn State and others. Gartner considers it a “Leader.”

Key values/differentiators

• Provides AI-based reporting tools to help optimize cloud costs
• Includes fine-grained role-based access and other capabilities to improve governance
• Supports more than twenty different clouds
• Incorporates self-service tools that enable faster provisioning and deployment

Scalr

Value proposition for potential buyers

Scalr claims that its Hybrid Cloud Management Platform is “the only CMP designed for enterprise scale.” It has a lengthy list of well-known customers, including NASA JPL, Xerox, Samsung, BlueCross BlueShield, Gannett, the FDA, Sephora and others. It aims to help enterprises standardize usage and control costs while also allowing users to choose the cloud services that best meet their needs without vendor lock-in. Both Gartner and Forrester named it a “Leader.”

Key values/differentiators

• Provides a single pane of glass to monitor cloud usage
• Incorporates conditional security and compliance, as well as granular role-based access control
• Integrates with other IT and DevOps tools, as well as multiple clouds
• Enables customized provisioning portals

VMware CloudHealth

Value proposition for potential buyers

VMware purchased CloudHealth Technologies in 2018 and continues to offer the company’s multicloud management tools under the CloudHealth brand while also integrating them more tightly with VMware products. Enterprises that use other VMware tools should investigate CloudHealth as a multicloud management option.

Key values/differentiators

• Consolidates disparate cloud-related management data for easier monitoring
• Includes analytics tools for evaluating cloud usage from a business perspective
• Offers intelligent governance and automation capabilities
• Helps organization optimize cloud usage and spending