Choosing what fits for your business requirements
Post Covid, most organisations have embraced cloud, as it offers accessibility, scalability, customisation and reliability.
With the increasing number of innovative cloud technologies, it is not a single or few options anymore to select from. Instead, there are hundreds of technologies can be used in development, deployments and CI/CD implementations. It has become more complex with the use of cloud based platforms and environments for deployments where it gives better user experience as well as cost benefits for the organization.
For new-gen startups, cloud is a boon, as you don’t have to go for upfront Capital Expenditure (CapEx). You pay for what and how you use. This Operational Expenditure (OpEx) model gives them freedom to scale up and down as per the workload or customer traffic. The model works equally well for old gen companies who are open to adapting new technologies. You can try out new architecture without high investments.
With the wave of AI & ML entering our daily work life, which I believe could lead to next revolution, the cloud now moves from good-to-have to must-have for any organisation to future proof the business and sustain in long run. These AI & ML tech is made possible by cloud, which otherwise would have costed 10x or more in on-premise infrastructure.
But all good things come with side effects. In cloud, all services are chargeable.
The orchestration of the use and cost has to be finely balanced by the FinOps team.
This brings us to the next page, so is cloud an only go-to option to future proof?
When choosing service technology, you have three options: cloud computing, hybrid, and on-premise. However, deciding between the three options is complex and more complicated when you consider the number of vendors and providers to choose from. Understanding the three solutions helps you select the most appropriate for your business.
Which Solution is Right for You?
When it comes down to it, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to business communications. Each business has its own unique needs and requirements based on its size, number of locations, budget, and more. A couple of questions to ask yourself when deciding:
- Do you already have the in-house infrastructure in place that you plan to keep? You may want to consider a hybrid solution that utilizes that infrastructure in addition to offering cloud flexibility.
- Is there significant or undetermined growth ahead? A cloud-based solution offers the ultimate in scalability, generally allowing for unlimited growth.
- Are your IT resources scarce? When utilizing a cloud solution, the vendor is responsible for operation and management.
- Are there certain industry rules and regulations your company must comply with? You may not be permitted to store all of your data on a public cloud. If that’s the case, a hybrid option that utilizes a mix of on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud solutions may make the most sense.
- Are you working with a limited budget? Cloud solutions usually offer the most affordability since many upfront costs, such as equipment and space, are avoided.
Not sure which solution you need?
Cloud computing is an application-based software infrastructure that relies on the internet, the cloud. It delivers on-demand computing services on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Instead of buying computing infrastructure or a data center, cloud computing allows you to rent access to computing services. These can include software, servers, storage, database, analytics, networking, and intelligence from a cloud service provider.
Using cloud computing eliminates the costly upfront fees for having your infrastructure and the complexity of owning and maintaining that infrastructure. On the other hand, the cloud service provider benefits by renting the same service to different clients.
Cloud computing has its share of cons, which include:
- Vendor Lock-In – One of the greatest disadvantages of cloud computing is that you may face vendor lock-in when migrating from one cloud provider to another. The problem primarily arises when providers use different platforms for their service delivery.
- Minimal Control – Since the service provider owns and controls cloud infrastructure, you have less control from a hardware perspective.
- Data security – While cloud providers offer robust security, there’s a shared responsibility model. Some businesses are uncomfortable with sensitive data residing on off-site servers.
- Dependence – You’re reliant on the cloud service provider for many aspects of your operation.
- Cost management – Without careful management, cloud costs can spiral due to the ease of spinning up new instances and services.
A hybrid cloud combines either public or private cloud computing with on-premise services. This type of cloud computing gives you full advantage of on-premise technology investment while addressing low latency issues. For example, Azure Stack by Microsoft allows you to replicate your entire Azure environment on-premise.
With hybrid cloud, your business enjoys the flexibility to choose the optimal service for each application and move a workload from cloud to on-premise, depending on your circumstances. Additionally, a hybrid cloud allows you to meet your technical and business objectives more efficiently and cost-effectively than you would with on-premise or cloud alone.
Using hybrid cloud may pose the following drawbacks:
- Infrastructure Compatibility – With dual levels of infrastructure, it’s possible that your on-premise control and the public cloud controls are running on separate stacks.
- Implementation – Setting up a hybrid cloud requires strong network capabilities, storage, and servers. All of this need high-level accuracy to prevent any possible issues that may arise after that.
- Complexity – Managing a hybrid environment can be complex, requiring skillful IT personnel or partners.
- Networking – Networking between on-prem and cloud can be complex and can introduce latency and potential points of failure.
- Security – A larger attack surface may be created if not properly secured.
On-premise software and hardware infrastructural setup run within the confines of your organization. Therefore, you have total control of the infrastructural design and deployment as the data is in your private network, only accessible to authorized teams in your organization. This type of service delivery utilizes your native computing resources and a licensed copy of the software from an independent software vendor.
What does not work for on-premise?
- High Installation Costs – On-premise software requires high initial installation costs and additional costs for equipment, supplies, software maintenance, and updates. Plus, you need in-house expertise to manage it.
- Time-Consuming – Unlike cloud computing, where you can start using the services almost immediately after subscribing, on-premise solutions may require you to wait longer for system installation and start-up.
- Scalability – Scaling is challenging and requires considerable planning. You must anticipate growth and purchase hardware accordingly.
- Availability and disaster recovery – Achieving high availability and robust disaster recovery often requires complex and expensive configurations.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When looking for the best software deployment solution for your business, there’s no wrong or correct answer between on-premise and cloud solutions.
The decision to choose between cloud vs on-premise vs hybrid approach depends on various factors. That includes cost, data security, scalability, performance, business continuity, and compliance.
The most important thing is to consider the aspects of your organization and its needs. From there, you can adopt a design that satisfies your organization’s needs most efficiently and cost-effectively.
One of the major considerations when thinking about whether to move to a cloud or hybrid-based infrastructure is the financial implications. Capital expenditure (CapEx) is a one-off cost (likely to be for on-prem) and Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is the day-to-day costs a company incurs to keep everything going.
Here are some general steps to help guide that decision:
- Evaluate business needs
- Assess current infrastructure
- Consider regulatory and compliance Issues
- Calculate total cost of ownership (TCO)
- Evaluate security needs
- Assess scalability and flexibility
- Evaluate vendor options
- Run a pilot project
- Consider long-term impact
I feel the cloud gives a playground to test out new things. Once you monitor and evaluate the solution, you should consider the option to go for cloud, hybrid or on-premises infrastructure. This would give us best of both worlds. Wherever there is need of new age technology, go for cloud or hybrid, else go for on-premises.
This approach gives us better control over security and costs.
Some definitions for your quick reference–
On-Premise – With an on-premise solution, hardware and applications are stored at the organization’s place of business or another location they choose, usually within a data center.
Hybrid – A hybrid solution involves a mix of in-house resources and cloud services. Often referred to as the “best of both worlds,” a hybrid solution allows companies to have control of on-premise hardware with the flexibility and scalability of the cloud. Alternatively, a hybrid solution can also be one that uses a mix of public and private cloud services based on the company’s needs.
Cloud – Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centers and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis from cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google (GCP), Alibaba cloud, IBM, Salesforce, Adobe etc. Information can be stored on a public cloud or a private cloud.
Cloud-Public – Utilizing a public cloud, a business shares hardware and storage with other organizations. Information is stored in the provider’s data center but remains separate from other organization’s data.
Cloud-Private – A private cloud consists of resources only used by one organization. Data resides on that company’s intranet or a hosted data center where it’s protected with a firewall.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – This is the most basic category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure—servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, and operating systems—from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Platform as a service (PaaS) – Platform as a service refers to cloud computing services that supply an on-demand environment for developing, testing, delivering, and managing software applications. PaaS is designed to make it easier for developers to quickly create web or mobile apps, without worrying about setting up or managing the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage, network, and databases needed for development.
Serverless computing – Overlapping with PaaS, serverless computing focuses on building app functionality without spending time continually managing the servers and infrastructure required to do so. The cloud provider handles the setup, capacity planning, and server management for you. Serverless architectures are highly scalable and event-driven, only using resources when a specific function or trigger occurs.
Software as a service (SaaS) – Software as a service is a method for delivering software applications over the Internet, on demand and typically on a subscription basis. With SaaS, cloud providers host and manage the software application and underlying infrastructure, and handle any maintenance, like software upgrades and security patching. Users connect to the application over the Internet, usually with a web browser on their phone, tablet, or PC.
Edge computing – Edge computing allows customers to run VMs, containers and data services at edge locations. By bringing the power of cloud computing to IoT devices closer to where the data resides, companies can use machine learning and AI to unlock new business opportunities. Connecting IoT devices and systems closer to your users, the data, or both allow for real-time insights and experiences, delivered by highly responsive and contextually aware apps.