Cloud adoption has reshaped how businesses operate. Flexera’s 2025 State of the Cloud report found that over 50% of all corporate workloads are currently in public clouds,1 giving teams the flexibility to innovate and collaborate from anywhere. But achieving that flexibility – and gaining actual results from your digital transformation efforts – demands reliable, secure connectivity to keep your cloud systems running smoothly.
At TMC, we help organizations plan, design, and manage the infrastructure that makes cloud adoption seamless. Read on to explore the most popular cloud connectivity methods and get tips for finding the best solution for your business.
What Is Cloud Connectivity?
Cloud connectivity is the process of linking your IT environment, whether it’s on-premises, cloud-native, or hybrid, to cloud service providers so that your data, applications, and users can move securely and efficiently between systems.
Strong connectivity impacts everything from:
- Performance: The right cloud connectivity method can give users faster access to cloud apps and workloads.
- Security: Cloud connectivity solutions often protect data by enabling encryption, segmentation, and governance controls for sensitive information.
- Scalability: Cloud connectivity makes it easier to integrate new apps or expand capacity as your business grows.
- User Experience: Reliable connections ensure that applications perform consistently, no matter where your teams are located.
Not sure if you have the best cloud connectivity solution in place? TMC’s consultants can work with your teams to identify the most effective connectivity model – one that balances speed, security, and costs with your growth goals.
Common Cloud Connectivity Methods
The way your business connects to the cloud will ultimately depend on your performance needs, budget, and security priorities. Common cloud connectivity methods include:
Public Internet
Public internet is the easiest and most affordable way to access cloud services. It’s usually used for smaller workloads or less sensitive applications. However, because these connections share bandwidth with general internet traffic, they can experience higher latency and offer less control over security.
Direct Connect / Private Links
Private connections, such as AWS Direct Connect or Azure ExpressRoute, offer dedicated links between your network and a cloud provider. These connections don’t send traffic over the public internet, which means improved reliability, stable performance, and stronger data protection for critical workloads or regulated data.
VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) builds an encrypted tunnel between your internal network and the cloud. It’s a cost-effective way to secure traffic without requiring a dedicated circuit, making it ideal for smaller environments or as a temporary solution during cloud migration. However, they can be harder to scale for large enterprises with multiple users and applications.
SD-WAN
Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) gives businesses more control over how network traffic is routed. It automatically directs traffic across the best available path, resulting in over 60% of enterprises using SD-WAN reporting improved cloud app performance within the first year of deployment.2
Carrier-Neutral Exchanges
Carrier-neutral exchanges connect organizations to multiple cloud providers through a single access point. This setup simplifies network management and helps reduce costs by centralizing cloud interconnectivity, making it helpful for businesses with multi-cloud strategies that need flexibility across providers.
What Is Hybrid Cloud Connectivity?
Many companies rely on on-premises systems and cloud services alike to run their operations, with 73% of enterprises using this hybrid cloud approach in 2024.3 Hybrid cloud connectivity bridges on-prem and cloud environments, allowing legacy infrastructure to integrate with newer platforms.
Hybrid connectivity allows businesses to maintain control over sensitive data and workloads that must remain on-premises while still taking advantage of cloud scalability for other functions. It also helps businesses in regulated industries, such as healthcare, government, and financial services, comply with data residency requirements.
What Is Multi-Cloud Connectivity?
Enterprises are increasingly adopting multiple cloud providers – such as AWS for analytics, Azure for applications, and Google Cloud for AI workloads – to reduce vendor lock-in and gain more flexibility across their IT environments. Multi-cloud connectivity makes this possible by enabling seamless performance across all providers.
Effective multi-cloud connectivity depends on three main factors:
- Consistency: Apply standardized network and security policies across all providers.
- Security: Manage identity, encryption, and monitoring from a centralized point.
- Resilience: Reduce dependence on a single provider’s availability to minimize downtime risks.
TMC helps clients build vendor-neutral multi-cloud strategies that maintain strong governance and optimized performance across all platforms. Our consulting team helps you architect an environment where every cloud works together, supporting your business goals without creating new silos.
5 Cloud Connectivity Best Practices
Ready to find a cloud connectivity solution for your business? Here are a few best practices to set you on the right track:
1. Assess Your Infrastructure
Identify any bandwidth issues or security vulnerabilities in your current network setup before migrating workloads to the cloud. A network assessment can help you address problems early and avoid downtime once your new connections go live.
2. Prioritize Security
Security should be built into every part of your cloud architecture. Make sure to implement security tools like encryption to protect data in transit, network segmentation to isolate your critical assets, and governance policies to control access.
3. Align With Business Goals
Aligning your technology investments and business outcomes can help you invest where it matters most. If uptime and low latency are essential, consider dedicated private links. If flexibility and cost efficiency are your top priorities, SD-WAN or carrier-neutral exchanges might be better options.
4. Plan for Growth
Cloud usage is rarely static, especially with new AI tools and cloud-native apps emerging every day. A hybrid network design can help you prevent performance bottlenecks and support business agility as new demands arise.
5. Leverage Vendor-Neutral Expertise
According to Flexera, 75% of business leaders say lack of expertise is their top cloud adoption challenge.1 Independent consultants like TMC bring an unbiased perspective to cloud connectivity planning, evaluating providers based on your requirements and negotiating contracts to ensure you find a solution that supports your immediate needs and long-term goals.
Embrace Cloud Connectivity With TMC
At TMC, we combine decades of IT infrastructure experience with independent consulting to guide your cloud strategy. From hybrid models to multi-cloud connectivity, we design solutions that reduce risk, control costs, and set your organization up for long‑term success.
Ready to strengthen your cloud connectivity? Get started with TMC today.
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