Businesses have been turning to the cloud to both increase profits and cut costs, but the idea that simply having a “cloud” will improve productivity or cut costs is a myth. The truth is that moving to the cloud can only save a company money if done right and that means understanding the different cloud solutions that are available. Businesses can opt for one of three deployment approaches: private, public, and hybrid. Each has advantages and drawbacks that vary in importance based upon the specific business and upon the different needs within each business. Here is a look at each of the cloud options available along with a few tips for understanding the benefits of each.
Private Clouds
With a private cloud, all resources are devoted to a single client. Private clouds are the most secure and customizable solutions, but also the most expensive. They are often hosted on private servers on the premises of the business that uses them, though they can be remote. Private clouds are most popular with large companies and in industries with significant compliance requirements (e.g. banking, health care).
Public Clouds
Public clouds are the most affordable solution because everything is shared among multiple users. Adding to the savings is the fact that public clouds are often self-managed and thus don’t require heavy investments in IT personnel. Because they are shared, public clouds tend to be less secure, less customizable, and more prone to failure. Good examples of public clouds are Google Drive and Dropbox.
Hybrid Clouds
In an effort to combine the benefits of public and private clouds, hybrid clouds were developed. The idea behind a hybrid cloud is simple. Companies can place mission critical or high-security items on private clouds and place less critical resources on public clouds. The result is a hybrid solution that is customizable, secure, and more affordable than a strictly private solution.
Choosing a Solution
Cost and security are the two largest factors influencing the decision as to which type of cloud solution to pursue, but they aren’t the only factors. Here are several other considerations that business will need to weigh before deciding on a cloud solution.
Control
The more control you want over your infrastructure, the more you will want to lean toward the private cloud. With a private cloud, business can usually choose the programming languages used, server brands, and more.
Flexibility
Private solutions tend to be less flexible because of their high cost and thus the need to maintain a particular infrastructure that has already been invested in. Companies must adhere to specific software and hardware lifecycles in order to contain costs with private clouds because there is no pay-as-you-go pricing.
Convenience
Public clouds are usually more convenient because they require no onsite equipment, are highly scalable, and have relatively user-friendly software solutions. There is, however, a tradeoff between convenience and choice. The public cloud is more convenient because everything is taken care of, but is also less flexible because someone else is making the software and hardware decisions.
The Hybrid Tradeoff
It is important to note, when choosing a hybrid cloud, that you don’t get some of the advantages of public and private clouds along with some of the disadvantages of each – you get all of the advantages and disadvantages. What differs is the amount that each advantage and disadvantage contributes to overall costs and benefits. For instance, if you can keep most of your data on a public cloud, then you get most of the cost benefits of avoiding the private cloud. It is up to each company to weigh how much a particular advantage or disadvantage applies to its needs. When choosing how to allocate needs between private and public clouds, it is often useful to talk to someone in the know, such as cmitsolutions.com, who can go over specific benefits and drawbacks as they relate to your business and its needs.
A Basic Approach to Cloud Services
Trimming IT costs is critical to business success, but going about it without a strategy or thorough understanding of a company’s needs is a recipe for disaster. To truly get the most savings and productivity benefits from a cloud service, it is essential to understand the regulatory and privacy needs of a company as well as how much customization is required. Once a company’s representatives understand what they need, choosing a hybrid cloud solution is often as easy as choosing components from a shelf. As with many things in life, most of the work lies in the preparation, not in the execution.
