Hybrid cloud environments are growing increasingly complex, and legacy management solutions aren’t designed to manage modern cloud infrastructure management today. Tool sprawl, siloed teams, and other common problems are hindering innovation at speed and scale, reinforcing the need for a hybrid cloud solution and unified lifecycle approach to infrastructure and security management.
According to the 2025 Cloud Complexity Report, a majority of companies (52%) rank managing hybrid and multi-cloud among their top three infrastructure challenges, along with cloud security and backups (47%) and reactive cost management and visibility (42%).
The primary reasons for these infrastructure challenges were:
- Cloud environments are diversified: On average, companies rely on at least two cloud providers, predominantly some combination of AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle.
- Infrastructure is split: 58% of organizations have applications divided between the cloud and on-premises.
- Platform teams are juggling too much technology: 97% of organizations have multiple tools and services to manage their hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
- Internal specialists work in silos: 73% report that their platform engineering team and security personnel do not work as a unified function.
Collectively, these problems add costs, increase risk, and keep the business from moving with the agility today’s marketplace demands.
»From tactical, to transformative
But not every company is drowning in complexity. In fact, there are many enterprises overcoming the barriers and moving beyond the “tactical” stage.
The “transformative” organizations are empowering developers with self-service capabilities, delivering consistent multi-cloud security and governance across all their environments, continually optimizing resources, and ultimately leveraging infrastructure as a competitive advantage. And now, these standouts are looking to the next frontier: Among the transformative organizations surveyed, 56% are prioritizing AI-driven automation.
But while high-performing businesses know AI is set to be a critical driver of cloud innovation in the future, they also know its full potential requires more than just capable technology. There are also people, processes, and skills challenges that enterprises must consider. For example, 58% of high-performing companies are investing in developing internal AI and machine learning talent to help with cost optimization, security, and performance.
They’re also deepening collaboration between those responsible for infrastructure and security, with a focus on establishing security as a continuous and automated part of the development lifecycle. And along with upskilling and automation, these enterprises are establishing clear ownership across teams.
»How to take back cloud control
The catalyst for a quick transition from tactical to transformative is a unified cloud infrastructure management platform, one that empowers internal teams to oversee the lifecycle of infrastructure and security of every workload, regardless of the underlying environment.
A single system reduces tool sprawl and drives deeper collaboration between internal specialists to remove operational complexity and keep teams focused on high-value work. In fact, the majority of respondents (51%) cited better visibility and monitoring of hybrid and multi-cloud usage as a top benefit from their unified lifecycle management platform, as well as better team collaboration and workflow standardization. Meanwhile, 37% cited improved cost management and 44% reported better regulatory compliance across multiple underlying ecosystems.
Businesses don’t become transformative overnight. Establishing end-to-end control over infrastructure and security is an ongoing effort – spanning Day 0, 1, and 2 challenges. To learn more about how businesses are staying ahead and the importance of a unified management platform and a hybrid cloud strategy, download the full 2025 Cloud Complexity Report.
