As large enterprises increasingly adopt multiple cloud computing platforms to host business critical software applications, almost three quarters of them are planning to re-evaluate their cloud strategies or implement an entirely new one.

That’s according to a new survey conducted by Forrester Research Inc. on behalf of Dell Technologies Inc. company Virtustream Inc., released today.

The survey describes how shifting business priorities are increasingly pushing enterprises to adopt what is called a multicloud strategy. The strategy sees companies adopt a range of public and private cloud platforms to host different information technology workloads based on each one’s specific needs.

Forrester quizzed 727 cloud technology decision makers at companies with more than 1,000 employees for the study, finding that 86 percent of those organizations already have a multicloud strategy in place today. Those companies said they see innovation and performance as the leading metrics of success above costs. In addition, more than 60 percent have already moved or are moving their mission-critical applications to public cloud platforms.

Those companies are also spending massive amounts of money on the cloud too. Almost half reported spending at least $50 million per year on cloud platforms, and that figure is likely to rise as the vast majority of survey respondents said they’ll maintain or increase their investments over the next two years.

Multicloud strategies are being pursued due to a need for greater operational efficiency, 42 percent of enterprises said.

“No single cloud platform meets all enterprise workload requirements,” Forrester said in the report. “As a result, enterprises are leveraging multiple public and private clouds for different application workloads, with performance cited as the top consideration for most enterprises when matching workloads with cloud environments, outranking even compliance and security.

Respondents cited a number of other benefits to a multicloud strategy, including improved IT infrastructure management and flexibility (cited by 33 percent), better IT cost management (33 percent) and improved security and compliance (30 percent).

The study also found that enterprises are increasingly placing a big value on the level of help and support that cloud platforms can provide.

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