Enterprises need an integrated system that can respond to the different needs of their business. Ara Aslanian, CEO at Inverselogic, explains how a hybrid cloud is the first step towards system integration.
As emerging technology innovations speed up digitization, data produced through daily workstreams becomes more distributed. Every enterprise is looking for solutions that can connect and integrate different sub-components into a single system and provide sustainable gains in productivity and efficiency.Â
Since last year, the pandemic has accelerated this search process by rushing many businesses into digitization. Enterprises struggling for survival have little knowledge and time to conduct an overall IT upgrade methodically. Due to the consideration of security and consolidation of the total cost of ownership (TCO), cloud migration and cloud infrastructure updates have become one of the top items on their lists. According to Synergy Research, as of the end of Q2 2021, corporate spending on cloud infrastructure services has increased 39%Opens a new window compared to the second quarter of 2020, reaching $42 billion.Â
See More: Leverage Cloud To Transform Engineering and Build an Agile Model
Public Cloud Vs. Private Cloud
Many companies might choose the public cloud for their first-time migration trial due to the two major edges the public cloud has: easy access and lower cost. Public cloud service is usually made available for everyone by third-party providers, including small and middle-sized providers and known names such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Most of these platforms offer out-of-box services that don’t require much maintenance or extra spending to build matching IT infrastructure as a private cloud does. However, the drawbacks of the public cloud are also evident to companies with higher security and data ownership demand. For these companies, the most significant security challenge with cloud storage is the lack of control over their data, both in terms of whether it is securely encrypted and who has access to it. It can be difficult for businesses to know precisely which third-party devices can access their data in cloud storage, and the pandemic and growth of remote workforces have made this even more difficult to police.Â
Private cloud, also known as on-premise cloud, can largely mitigate the concerns on security issues. The system and software are purely owned and controlled by the company, and the owner would have full visibility to the usage and distribution of the data. But inevitably, a private cloud comes with a high cost of investment, financially and operationally. Furthermore, as the private cloud is built to fulfill specific needs, its flexibility and scalability are both tight. For enterprises that are still expecting foreseeable growth and change, this solution might end up having a low return on investment.Â
The drawbacks of both private and public cloud appear significant for enterprises in today’s business and technology environment. With the unpredictable pandemic shifting the status quo of the way people work and live every day, having an integrated system that can respond to different needs becomes essential for businesses to realize sustainable long-term growth.Â
See More: Cloud vs Network Teams: The Great Divide Could Be the Reason for Hybrid Cloud Failures
The Shift Towards Hybrid Cloud
As an outgrowth of this trend, a third option that integrates both solutions has also emerged, hybrid cloud. A hybrid cloud is a combination between private cloud systems and a public cloud. In some cases, companies will choose to place their computing and storage units on-site and use the cloud to store off-site backups. Among the existing options of cloud solutions, the demand for the hybrid cloud has been steadily climbing up over the past years. The market worth for hybrid cloud is projected to reach $173.33 billion by 2025 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 22.5%, according to a report by Market Research Future (MRFR).
Hybrid cloud preserves the benefits from both public and private cloud solutions, such as higher potential access performance, lower latency and lower costs, especially when the hardware is already paid for. Many businesses that are required to have on-premises systems for any reason can still benefit from this technology for long-term storage and cloud backups. It also helps companies offload some portion of their workloads. When companies need to comply with regulatory requirements, such as NIST and CMMC guidelines or meet specific performance requirements, hybrid cloud can help with cost management, secure backups, long-term data archiving, and storage.
But there are also some drawbacks to this solution. A hybrid cloud requires more complex maintenance and management since the elements are scattered around. Unlike a public cloud with virtually unlimited resources, the hybrid cloud has a high dependency on local hardware resources, which could be very limited, and this increases the risk of downtime.
Closing Thoughts
The mega-trend towards system integration is irrepressible, and the increasing prevalence of hybrid cloud among businesses is one of the many presentations. Even so, IT leaders and business owners should always prioritize their business’s unique needs based on its scale, short-term and long-term goals, as well as overall budget. When a new layer of protection or update is added, there will always be an impact on business productivity at first. But balancing the right tools and controls will safeguard against the loss of direction and enhance data protection and business efficiency.
Did you find this article helpful? Tell us what you think on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d be thrilled to hear from you.