The cloud's era of domination is well underway, but the pace of growth has hit a wall, according to a recent CloudBolt Industry Insights (CII) report.

CII reported 79% of senior IT, DevOps, SecOps, and FinOps leaders are hitting a wall with their current cloud tools and platforms, and they'll need new approaches to push beyond that impediment. “Using existing tools and platforms that were never designed to unify a multicloud, multi-tool world has created a breaking point,” the report explained.

That breaking point is the expanding chasm between the tools enterprises need to realize the full value of the cloud and what their current platforms and tools provide, CloudBolt CEO Jeff Kukowski said in a statement.

According to 88% of respondents, this issue needs an overarching platform or tool that connects all the various platforms, services, and clouds to provide clearer visibility and governance across everything in the cloud. “Enterprises at the forefront of the cloud race already realize this; they are embracing this new reality and extending their lead as a result,” Kukowski added.

Why have enterprise needs largely outrun the pace of innovation? Even though cloud strategies have scaled and evolved, the associated complexities have exponentially increased. This has created islands of automation across companies, and each island typically has its own preferences for tools, clouds, and processes, according to CII.

“Yet somehow, the organization is supposed to 'bend' a multitude of tools and platforms to do things they were never designed to do,” including optimizing performance, increasing visibility, facilitating best practice reuse, and overlaying governance to prioritize compliance and security without hindering innovation, the report explained.

“With cloud usage scaling across organizations, new concerns and realizations have developed as companies scramble to accelerate their digital transformations,” the authors added.

Gartner analyst Sid Nag similarly acknowledged the challenges and complexities of multicloud strategies, particularly when enterprises lack a strong management strategy. He recommends a strategy based on four main pillars: aggregation, integration, customization, and governance, which Gartner calls multicloud managed services.