Many companies are starting to see the value in moving their on-premises IT infrastructure to the cloud. The cloud has a lot to offer. It can make the lives of everyone in a company easier while also increasing efficiency. Before discussing reasons to move to the cloud, we first need to define what the cloud is and how it applies to businesses.
The cloud, also known as cloud computing, is essentially the process of remotely utilizing someone else’s IT resources, resulting in greater availability of these resources. There are many ways to deploy the cloud and several configurations of it. Some of the most common cloud deployment types include public, private, community, and hybrid cloud models. The public cloud is -you guessed it- available to the general public. Businesses requiring exclusive access will most commonly use a private cloud. A community cloud allows multiple authorized organizations to use a single cloud solution. Lastly, a hybrid cloud is typically a combination of a public and private cloud. While all of these are important to know, most companies utilize a private cloud or a community cloud. Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure utilize a hybrid cloud model that combines IaaS and PaaS, and most companies moving to the cloud will use one of these.
Benefits of moving to the cloud:
Cost efficiency
Companies can save a lot of money by using the cloud because it allows them to utilize another company’s IT resources (such as AWS) and circumvent the cost of buying and maintaining their own IT infrastructure. All organizations have to do is pay a subscription fee to the service provider.
Increased Availability
Utilizing the cloud for data backup is a significant reason many companies move to the cloud. Gone are the days when a stolen or damaged laptop meant the loss of all your files. Now, companies can encourage their employees to save documents to the cloud. Instead of confining files to a single machine, the cloud allows users to access their documents from any device by logging into their account online. With cloud backups, everyone in the company can sleep a little easier knowing that an accident or unfortunate event won't mean losing all their work.
Better Disaster Recovery
The cloud also offers a much better solution when it comes to disaster recovery. Natural disasters can occur at any moment, and often, companies can only do so much to prepare. For example, a tornado might hit a company’s building and take out their onsite data center. The company would have to spend time and money to repair the data center, and even then, the chances of still having access to their files are slim. However, for companies using solutions such as AWS or Microsoft Azure, there is hope. These cloud providers have data centers across the globe, meaning that even if multiple centers went offline, users would still have access to their IT resources due to load balancing. Load balancing is a process that involves the distribution of network traffic and resource consumption across multiple servers, or in this case, entire data centers. Moreover, AWS and Microsoft Azure utilize load balancing so that their resources remain available to their customers.
Scalability
Within on-premises environments, companies will need to purchase additional hardware or software to scale their IT infrastructure. However, in the cloud, scaling your IT infrastructure is as simple as upgrading your subscription plan. Both AWS and Azure offer different cloud packages depending on the needs of the organization. Sometimes, start-up companies purchase the basic subscription package, and after some success, they realize that they need enhanced IT resources. In this case, they can upgrade their cloud subscription and instantly have access to more resources.
The points discussed within this article barely scratch the surface of reasons to utilize the cloud. The cloud is growing rapidly, and more companies are starting to see its value. Whether you own a small company or a global enterprise, the cloud has a solution that will work for you.
