Why Would I Need Cloud Services Instead of Traditional In-house Options?
Traditional IT infrastructure is still being opted for by a large number of organizations as it is considered to be more secure and allows an organization to exercise better control over its infrastructure and applications. Traditional in-house operations are those which are characterized by their reliance on the on-premise infrastructure. Such an infrastructure is composed of physical components and other hardware; servers, processing systems, CPU, backups, etc. This model poses several constraints related to software up-gradation and security upgrades. Also, such an approach requires an in-house team to be employed to ensure easy and better management of the hardware and other physical components that are based on the infrastructure.
Cloud computing is a technology that involves the delivery of on-demand resources; computing, networking, processing, storage, etc. The cloud service provider delivers these resources as a service to the client. The cloud service provider owns the storage and related servers and manages the servers and other resources on behalf of the client. The client has the freedom to pay for the resources based on the requirements.
There are different cloud architectures namely; public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud. Cloud services are delivered to the end-user in primarily three ways; software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS).
In fact, it is not easy to make a choice between cloud and on-premise infrastructure. But of course, it is the cloud that has the edge over the traditional in-house operations as we will see in the course of this article. Still, a large number of enterprises rely on the on-premise infrastructure. According to Spiceworks, which is a professional network for information technology, about 98 percent of businesses rely on on-premise IT infrastructure.
Cloud vs Traditional In-House Operations
Now let us see some of the typical points of distinction between the cloud and traditional in-house IT operations.
1) Use Case
You should analyze deeper into your business use cases and requirements and then evaluate whether the cloud serves your business purposes. Implementing the cloud model without evaluating your use cases and business requirements might not serve you any purpose. For instance, a business that is considering switching to the online mode and requires robust availability of services should invest in cloud solutions that can assure a reasonable level of uptime. A large-scale business that has its operations spread across several geographies might deploy some high-performance cloud solutions using multi-cloud and distributed cloud architectures. If factors like uptime and mobility are not a constraint, organizations may deploy the on-premise infrastructure.
2) Cost
In on-premise infrastructure, the payment is upfront and hence the associated expenses are considered as capital expenditures or CAPEX. Costs associated with the cloud are often identified as operating expenses or OPEX. Enterprises that deploy the cloud model often pay for what they use as cloud services are based on a subscription model enabling enterprises to make their payments on a pay-as-you-go basis.
3) Deployment
As far as on-premise infrastructure is concerned, an organization needs to maintain and manage its physical infrastructure which can be quite a daunting task. They should ensure that the CPU does not exceed its load and should also ensure the proper availability of memory. Moreover, they should also see that the redundant hardware and components are replaced. This may require the services of dedicated and experienced staff. As far as cloud services are concerned the service providers can ensure timely upgrades that can enable a user to have access to the latest set of features as well as security updates. The user need not go through the complications of application up-gradation as these are automatically facilitated by the cloud service provider.
4) Flexibility
It is difficult to scale an on-premise infrastructure based on the variability of workloads. It will incur larger overheads to make changes or upgrades in the infrastructure. On-premise infrastructure may pose severe constraints associated with computation and storage. Memory is also a constraint as far as on-premise infrastructure is concerned.
As far as the cloud environment is concerned it is comparatively easy to upgrade the services without requiring you to make any large-scale investments. You can add more resources as the operation scales up. The high computational capabilities enable you to perform operations based on business analytics. Moreover, you need not worry about the cost related to the procurement of any additional hardware.
5) Access Control
On-premise infrastructure can facilitate an organization to exercise greater control over their workloads and applications. This will offer significant merits to an organization that has a major portion of its applications and workloads that are sensitive and proprietary. Cloud services, especially those which are based on multiple vendors might have a number of users who are based on the same virtualized environment. A number of public cloud services often have multiple users in the same shared environment. The shared ownership may pose a concern as far as security is concerned.
6) Hosting
In on-premise infrastructure, the applications and physical servers are all stored on-site. Such a mechanism can pose severe limitations on the possibilities of remote access and collaboration. A cloud-based solution offers several merits; back-up, compute, storage, on-demand availability of workloads, and software upgrades.
Why Would You Need Cloud Over Traditional In-house Operations
Having seen the difference between cloud and on-premise-based solutions, we can say that a cloud-based workspace solution can facilitate the employees based on an organization to get their work done from anywhere. They can access company-specific applications and solutions from their home. It can facilitate easy collaboration among the various employees; provided that they have a connection to the internet and have access to the company workloads and applications.
A cloud-based work management system can also get around the need to make any lump sum investment for the infrastructure and enables a business to upgrade or downgrade its underlying environment and resources.
Unlike traditional in-house operations which require dedicated efforts for management and maintenance, cloud solutions can enable an enterprise to keep their applications portfolios upgraded and foolproof to security vulnerabilities, thanks to cloud service providers who manage such activities on behalf of the client organization.
Companies the world over are on the path to digitization. And what else is the best way to digital transformation than the cloud!
Conclusion
As one ponders over the benefits and limitations associated with the cloud and traditional on-premise solutions, of course, it is the cloud that emerges as the winner.
If you are thinking about making a transition from the traditional on-premise solution to the cloud and require the services of dedicated support providers, you can avail of our services. We also offer support services and solutions for your cloud and platform management.
