For decades, organizations have relied on static secrets, such as API keys, passwords, and tokens, as unique identifiers for workloads. While this approach provides clear traceability, it creates what security researchers describe as an "operational nightmare" of manual lifecycle management, rotation schedules, and constant credential leakage risks. This challenge has traditionally driven organizations toward centralized secret management solutions like HashiCorp Vault or CyberArk, which provide universal brokers for secrets across platforms.
Historically, many enterprises have avoided multicloud deployments, citing complexity in managing multiple platforms, compliance challenges, and security concerns. However, as the need for specialized solutions grows, businesses are realizing that a single vendor can't meet their workload demands. In practice, this may look like using AWS for machine learning hardware, Google Cloud for Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), or IBM's industry-specific solutions for sensitive data.