Only 25% of enterprises consider their hybrid, multi-cloud networking strategies to be fully successful. In EMA’s latest report, “Enterprise Strategies for Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Networks,” 354 IT professionals shared insights into how their organizations are building and managing complex cloud environments. The research dives into the tools they rely on, the infrastructure they use, and the biggest challenges they face as they work to mature their cloud networking strategies. Check out these webinar research slides from EMA Vice President of Research, Shamus McGillicuddy, to get key findings from this new research. Don’t miss this opportunity to better understand how enterprises are navigating the evolving hybrid, multi-cloud landscape—and what success really looks like.

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Enterprise Strategies for Hybrid,
Multi-Cloud Networks
Shamus McGillicuddy
VP of Research
Network Infrastructure and Operations
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)
Sponsored by:

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Watch the On-Demand Webinar
• Enterprise Strategies for Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Networks On-Demand
Webinar: https://info.enterprisemanagement.com/enterprise-
strategies-for-hybrid-multi-cloud-networks-ss
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc.

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Featured Speaker
Shamus is a Vice President of Research at EMA,
where he leads the network infrastructure and
operations practice. He has nearly two decades of
experience in the IT industry. His research focuses on
all aspects of managing enterprise networks,
including network automation, AIOps-driven network
operations, multi-cloud networking, and WAN
transformation.
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 3
Shamus McGillicuddy
VP of Research
Network Infrastructure and Operations
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)

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Sponsors
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 4

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Research Methodology: Survey of 354 Cloud Networking Stakeholders in Hybrid,
Multi-Cloud Enterprises
Sample Size = 354
Job titles
38% Infrastructure subject matter experts
(admins/engineers/architects)
5% Software developers/engineers
25% IT/cloud-related managers
21% IT/cloud-related directors/VPs
11% CIOs/CTOs
Groups
21% IT or network operations
18% Cloud/DevOps/Site reliability engineering
18% IT project/program management
14% IT security/cybersecurity
11% IT executive suite
11% IT architecture
8% Network engineering
Top industries
29% Banking/Finance/Insurance
19% Manufacturing
13% Health care/pharmaceutical/hospitals
12% Retail/Wholesale/Distribution
6% Professional services unrelated to IT
6% Transportation
4% Education/Research
Region
68% North America –
United States and Canada
33% Europe –
France/Germany/United Kingdom
Company size (employees)
18% Midsized – 1,000 to 2,499
56% Large – 2,500 to 9,999
25% Very large – 10,000 more more
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 5

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The State of Hybrid,
Multi-Cloud
Networking

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The IT Organization is Back in Charge
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 7
Lines of business drive only 13% of cloud strategies
These companies tend to fail with their cloud networks
Only 21% of companies have siloes between IT infrastructure
groups and cloud groups
Cloud leadership now comes from:
46% 42% 41%
IT executives Cybersecurity/
IT security
IT infrastructure
and operations
have cloud Centers of Excellence that bridge silos
37%
42% have erased silos – prevalent with security-driven cloud strategies

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What Drives Multi-Cloud Adoption?
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Technical Initiatives
OT/IoT
AI development/training/inference
Data center offload/cloud-first
DevOps and CI/CD practices
Hyper-automation
53%
50%
50%
47%
42%
Business Factors
Flexibility/Scalability requirements
Cost optimization
End-user experience optimization
Need for accelerated innovation
Compliance/data sovereignty
52%
48%
44%
37%
35%

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Cloud Networking Remains Challenging
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 9
Only 25% say they are
completely successful
with implementing and
managing their hybrid,
multi-cloud networks
Top 4 technical cloud networking pain points:
1. Performance issues 30%
2. Cloud networking product maturity 29%
3. Network address issues – IP overlaps, DNS complexity 24%
4. Inconsistent capabilities across cloud and on-prem networks 24%

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Cloud Providers’ Solutions Dominate Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Networks
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 10
Figure 36. Which of the following do you find challenging when using the native
network functions and network services that your cloud providers offer?
62%
“CSPs are critical suppliers of
our cloud networking solutions”
61%
“We use cloud provider
solutions for cloud network
observability”

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Building Better
Hybrid, Multi-Cloud
Networks

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Reduce Management Complexity: Successful Organizations Prioritize Integrated
Management Across Clouds
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 12
Figure 16. To what extent is it a priority to manage each of the following in a centralized and unified manner across
all your cloud providers, cloud regions, and data centers?

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Establish an Effective Source of Truth About Cloud Networks
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 13
What is it?
How?
Tools
involved
Capture all network-related data and make it available to cloud and network operations
Organizations with a “comprehensive” NSoT twice as likely to have successful cloud networks
Best practice: 46% have central platform that syncs with systems of record
Good practice: 44% have a federated system in which various systems of record exchange data
Worst practice: 10% have siloed systems that are referenced manually
61% DCIM
53% Network controllers
49% IPAM
47% CMDB

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Improve Cloud Network Observability
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 14
Only 29% are fully satisfied with cloud network observability tools used
61% use cloud providers’ tools (less satisfied)
57% use NPM/network observability tools (more satisfied)
51% use network infrastructure vendors’ tools
Monitoring priorities:
49% Cloud-to-cloud interconnects
45% Data center-to-cloud interconnects
35% Site-to-cloud
Packet monitoring for:
66% NDR
52% Performance monitoring
49% Troubleshooting
42% Compliance
DNS traffic analysis for:
53% Threat detection
50% Performance monitoring
Spotlight
on key
data
sources

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Recognize the strategic value of private data centers
Not everything belongs in the cloud
Successful networks = plans to leverage private infrastructure
Emphasize service resiliency with network design
Focus on partnerships between network and cloud teams
Collaboration problem areas:
Do not rely on internet for on-prem-to-cloud interconnects
Other Best Practices
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 15
• Security policy management
• Integrations and automations
• Security incident response
• Network troubleshooting
• Infrastructure deployment

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Check out the full report for deep(er) dives into
Network automation
IPAM and DNS
Network observability
Application connectivity
Infrastructure solutions and architectural choices

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The Enterprise Strategies for Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Networks Report is Now Available!
Learn more:
https://bit.ly/ema-multi-cloud-
networks
© 2025 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 17