Cloud-based solutions are a technological revolution—sorry, Windows XP—but things can get pretty convoluted when you're using cloud services from multiple providers that don't play nice. Cloud orchestration solves this problem by coordinating multiple cloud systems and workflows in one unified, end-to-end business process.
Here, I'll walk you through the basics of cloud orchestration, give you a rundown of the tools you can use to implement it, and show you when you might want to consider Zapier as an alternative.
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What is cloud orchestration?
Cloud orchestration is the automated management and coordination of multiple cloud services and applications across one or more cloud platforms. Unsurprisingly, this word salad is best illustrated with an example.
Think of a simple web application that needs to process user-uploaded images. When a user uploads a photo, cloud orchestration automatically coordinates multiple services: first, the image is stored in a cloud storage bucket (like Google Cloud or AWS S3), which triggers a serverless function (like AWS Lambda) to resize the image. The function then kicks the resized versions back to storage, updates a database record with the new file locations, sends the user a notification via email, and logs the activity in a monitoring service for analytics.
Without orchestration, a developer would need to manually configure each service integration, navigate errors between services, and manage the sequence of operations across X number of cloud platforms. The more complicated the workflow, the more services and platforms you'll have to deal with.
With orchestration, the storage service knows to trigger the processing function, the function knows which database to update, and if any step fails, the orchestration platform can automatically retry the operation and alert admins if it fails again.
Cloud orchestration can vary in complexity. If you're targeting dev-heavy tasks like resource provisioning, application deployment, and container management, you'll want a dedicated tool for the job. But if you're instead looking to manage workflows between a bunch of apps that live on the cloud, Zapier does that without requiring you to code.
Key components of cloud orchestration
Cloud orchestration is really an umbrella term covering a range of cloud-related processes and use cases, and what it looks like in practice will depend on your business's tech stack. But there are several fundamental elements that form the backbone of most cloud orchestration platforms.
This will get a bit technical, so take a deep breath.
Orchestration engine: The core platform or tool that automates and coordinates workflows, tasks, and resource interactions across cloud services and environments
Resource management: Involves provisioning, allocation, scaling, and deprovisioning of cloud resources, such as virtual machines, storage, and networks, to match workload demands
Workflow automation: Defines and executes automated sequences of tasks, often using scripts, templates, or infrastructure as code (IaC) to streamline deployments, updates, and operations
Service integration: Facilitates connections between various cloud services, APIs, applications, and infrastructure for seamless interoperability
Monitoring: Tracks performance metrics, logs, and usage to enable analytics-driven adjustments, auto-scaling, and usage optimization
Security and policy enforcement: Implements governance rules for access control, compliance, encryption, and threat detection to ensure your operations and data are watertight
Load balancing: Distributes workloads dynamically across resources to ensure high availability and performance under taxing conditions
Recovery and backup: Automates backup processes, failover mechanisms, and recovery workflows in case something goes awry
If all these words make you want to take a nap, it's possible you don't need full-on cloud orchestration, and instead you're looking for workflow orchestration. Zapier is an AI orchestration platform that lets you connect all your cloud services, so you can build automated systems across your existing tech stack.
Cloud orchestration vs. cloud automation
Cloud orchestration and cloud automation usually go hand in hand, but they're not the same thing. Here's a quick breakdown of the key differences:
Cloud automation refers to any process that automates manual tasks by using software to perform repetitive cloud operations. There's a huge variety of cloud automations, but they tend to handle individual, well-defined tasks that can be repeated reliably without manual oversight. This means they usually only work within a single cloud service or environment.
Cloud orchestration comes into play when you want to automate cloud operations across multiple cloud platforms that don't integrate seamlessly (like Azure and AWS). Automation is part of cloud orchestration, but the latter is a broader approach that involves full coordination of cloud tasks, services, and systems.
Because we keep talking about orchestration, I'll use a musical metaphor here. Think of cloud automation as the individual musicians in an orchestra. Each one has a set role and instrument, but you need a conductor to make them all work together as a cohesive, symphony-playing unit.
Cloud orchestration is the conductor: it brings siloed workflows together into a unified business process, managing handoffs between different cloud services, adjusting resource allocation based on overall system needs, and handling exceptions when one automation fails and affects others downstream.
Types of cloud orchestration
Because not all businesses use cloud services the same way, there are generally three different approaches to consider when implementing cloud orchestration at your company.
Single-cloud orchestration: I've talked a lot about how orchestration can unite different cloud platforms, but you can also orchestrate processes within a single ecosystem, such as Azure, Oracle, or Google Cloud. These platforms typically have native orchestration capabilities (e.g., Azure Resource Manager for Azure), but you could also use Zapier to build intra-cloud workflows or connect your cloud platform to other apps.
Multi-cloud orchestration: When dealing with multiple cloud platforms, the complexity ramps up considerably. You'll need a platform-agnostic orchestration tool that can manage different APIs, services, and architectures. This model is best for enterprise-level companies or those who refuse to be bound to a single vendor.
Hybrid cloud orchestration: You'll want a hybrid approach to cloud orchestration if your workflows span both cloud services and on-premises infrastructure. If you work in a sensitive industry (like healthcare) where sensitive data has to be stored locally on a private server, you'd use orchestration to bridge that data center with public cloud services.
It's not as though you're bound to just one of these models. You might leverage a single-cloud orchestration tool to manage all your AWS services, then tag in a multi-cloud or hybrid solution when your operations leave the AWS bubble.
Cloud orchestration tools
Orchestrating the cloud is about as complicated as it sounds, so you'll want to take advantage of software that handles it for you. These tools range from application-level workflow automation to deep infrastructure management, and which one you choose will depend on your technical requirements and organizational complexity.
Zapier: Zapier isn't a typical cloud orchestration tool, but it is an AI orchestration platform, leveraging AI agents, workflows, and templates to orchestrate apps across the cloud. So…cloud orchestration. If you want to connect cloud services at the level of application integration, Zapier will work better than any other tool out there. But if you need to operate at a deeper layer—provisioning servers, managing containers, coordinating deployments, and handling resource dependencies—you'll have to use dedicated cloud orchestration software.
Kubernetes: Speaking of dedicated cloud orchestration software, Kubernetes is the de facto standard for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized cloud applications. While mainly focused on containers (applications packaged with all their dependencies into single deployable units), Kubernetes has evolved into a cloud-native orchestration platform with extensive ecosystem support through operators and custom resources.
Terraform: Devs who prefer the flexibility of code should look closely at Terraform, an infrastructure-as-code tool that lets you provision and manage cloud resources across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other ecosystems. One of its key selling points is that you can write automation scripts that work across different cloud environments.
Single-cloud orchestration tools: AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, and Google Cloud Deployment Manager are all native orchestration tools built into a specific vendor's cloud platform. While these limit your orchestration potential to one cloud ecosystem, they're still indispensable and likely the best choice for organizations committed to a single provider.
Other cloud orchestration tools include Red Hat Ansible, Docker Swarm, and Apache Airflow.
Orchestrate your business with Zapier
If you're panic-Googling cloud orchestration, there's a fair chance that what you're looking for is actually something like Zapier: not a traditional cloud orchestration platform, but a tool that orchestrates apps that live in the cloud.
With Zapier, you can bring fragmented cloud services together into a unified, automated system. When data gets updated in one cloud service, automatically propagate those changes throughout your entire tech stack without manual intervention or complex API integrations.
For example: AI-driven lead routing that enriches and scores prospects before assigning them to sales, or support triage that classifies tickets, escalates urgent ones, and drafts new knowledge base entries automatically. Zapier, AI orchestrates the flow of data and decisions across your apps, so your cloud systems act like a cohesive whole.
Learn more about how to build an automated system on Zapier, or check out these templates to get started.
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