AWS has finally acknowledged the growing complexity of cloud environments at scale, introducing a six-step framework called 'simplexity' to break down and manage this complexity. The concept, unveiled by AWS CTO Werner Vogels at AWS re:Invent 2024, aims to ensure systems stay scalable and adaptable. However, critics argue that the framework falls short in addressing the operational complexities of multicloud deployments, which are increasingly common in modern enterprise cloud strategies.

The complexity problem, as defined by AWS, lies in the operational chaos often created by interconnected systems, unpredictable workloads, and the sheer scale of cloud deployments. To tackle this challenge, Vogels' simplexity framework consists of six steps: making flexibility a requirement, breaking complexity into pieces, aligning organization to architecture, using a cell-based architecture design, designing predictable systems, and automating everything that doesn't require high degrees of judgment.

While the principles of simplexity, such as automation, abstraction, decomposition, architecture, artificial intelligence, and finding common layers, are valuable, they primarily focus on managing complexity within a single cloud domain – in this case, an AWS cloud. This approach neglects the unique challenges of multicloud environments, which require organizations to integrate and manage diverse platforms, APIs, tools, and security models from different providers, adding layers of operational complexity.

Experts argue that multicloud deployments come with distinct challenges, such as ensuring data portability between clouds, maintaining unified compliance frameworks, and optimizing workloads distributed across providers. Although AWS offers features that may help extend some control over multicloud setups, its primary focus remains on optimizing cloud-native services and ecosystems rather than providing a unified solution for managing workloads across multiple cloud providers.

The gap in the AWS framework's ability to address the realities of modern enterprise cloud strategies is significant. Enterprises seeking comprehensive multicloud strategies must look to broader tools, processes, and governance models capable of handling the intricacies of managing multiple cloud platforms. AWS and other cloud providers have made some strides in addressing multicloud issues, but they are mostly silent about providing actual solutions.

The need for redundancy, cost optimization, regulatory compliance, or access to specialized services beyond what any single provider offers has led to the increasing adoption of multicloud setups. As a result, enterprises require more comprehensive strategies and tools that go beyond the scope of a single cloud provider. The principles of AWS frameworks – decomposing services, aligning teams to architecture, and automating processes – are valuable but inherently ignore the operational realities of integrating multiple cloud ecosystems.

Experts hope that AWS will iterate on its simplexity framework to provide more clarity on how customers should deal with multicloud deployments. A solution that addresses the complexities of multicloud environments would be a significant step forward in helping enterprises navigate the challenges of modern cloud computing.