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AI Navigating Multi-Cloud Complexity

5 min read
Cloud ArchCloud Eng

Cloud Arch

AI maps equivalents across clouds. You own the strategic 'why multi-cloud at all?'

Cloud Eng

Use AI for lift-and-shift prep. You handle the gotchas and rollback plans.

AI Navigating Multi-Cloud Complexity

TL;DR

  • AI can map "AWS X = GCP Y = Azure Z" and suggest migration paths.
  • AI can't navigate vendor politics, contract lock-in, or org readiness for multi-cloud.
  • Use AI for translation and comparison. You own the strategy and the rollout.

Multi-cloud sounds like flexibility. Often it's just complexity — different APIs, different billing, different support channels. AI can help you navigate the technical maze. It can't tell you if the maze is worth entering.

What AI Handles Well

Service mapping:

  • "We use DynamoDB. What's the equivalent in GCP and Azure?" — AI gives you a comparison. You decide fit.
  • Feature parity, pricing differences, migration effort — AI can summarize. You validate.

Migration planning:

  • "We have 50 services on AWS. What's a phased migration plan?" — AI can propose an order. You adjust for dependencies, risk, and business priorities.

Cost comparison:

  • "What would this workload cost on GCP vs. AWS?" — AI can estimate. Real numbers need real quotes, but ballpark helps.

Documentation and runbooks:

  • Cross-cloud runbooks, troubleshooting guides — AI drafts. You correct for your actual setup.

What AI Can't Do

Strategic choices:

  • "Should we go multi-cloud?" — Depends on vendor lock-in fear, compliance, negotiation leverage. AI doesn't know your contracts.

Organizational readiness:

  • Do you have teams who can operate two clouds? Or will you double your ops burden?
  • AI won't ask. You have to.

Vendor relationship dynamics:

  • Sometimes the best move is to stay put and negotiate harder. AI suggests technical options; it doesn't do procurement.

The Reality Check

Most companies don't need "true" multi-cloud (different workloads on different clouds). They need:

  • Avoidance of lock-in (portable architecture, so you could move)
  • Or specific capabilities (e.g., GCP for data, AWS for app hosting)

AI can help with the "how to move" or "what's equivalent." It can't answer "should we?"

Manual process. Repetitive tasks. Limited scale.

Click "With AI" to see the difference →

Quick Check

What remains human when AI automates more of this role?

Do This Next

  1. List your top 5 cloud services in use today. Ask AI: "What's the equivalent in [other cloud]? What are the migration gotchas?" Use it as a reference, not a plan.
  2. If you're considering multi-cloud — Write down the business reason. "Vendor diversification"? "Best-of-breed per workload"? "Compliance"? AI can't validate that. You can.
  3. Build a "cloud translation" doc — Service equivalents, naming, billing models. Use AI to draft. You maintain. Saves onboarding time.