Over the years we have seen the cloud debate moving from Infrastructure to Services and Applications.
More and more CIO’s and CFO’s have started looking at the cloud as a medium to transform the way existing applications are running and experienced by the user or a way to innovate and support new activities. Today, they are more open to assess the added value of migrating their existing applications to the cloud.
For instance, there are a lot of questions companies need to ask themselves prior to embarking on such a journey. For example
- What is the added value of moving it to the cloud?
- Will it reduce costs?
- Will it improve the agility and responsiveness of the company?
- Will the benefits be enough to justify the cost of that migration?
- What cloud model is ideal for your business? Etc
Today, majority of companies have adopted the hybrid cloud model, with the core agenda being security, governance and to keep a tab on the cost.
A lot of companies across the globe use the cloud for:
- Web Hosting
- Email Hosting
- Disaster recovery and Backup
- Security and Monitoring
- Application Hosting
- Content Management
- Data Management & Archiving etc
At Sysfore, we use a phase driven approach to help our clients migrate to the cloud.
We give you the Top 10 reasons why you should migrate from physical IT infrastructure to cloud.
1. Security
Security has remained the topmost concern for many organisations owing to deployment of data on shared resources. However, the kind of capability delivered by cloud technology is incomparable to any traditional on-premise infrastructure. Security in cloud systems is governed by the highest level of recognized data protection standards managed by professional IT experts. While cloud vendors have strong systems in place to protect data centers, it is simultaneously the responsibility of clients to ensure that appropriate firewall, and strong passwords are in place.
2. Economies of Scale
A simple concept of economies of scale is applicable in cloud computing as well. The cost savings that cloud technology brings in is unquestionable. It is almost impractical for an organization to hire staff of world class experience and deploy multiple servers of high capacity to meet their needs. On the contrary, a cloud vendor can easily offset these cost concerns by having a long clientele.
3. Shift your CAPEX to OPEX
When you outsource your hardware or software requirements with cloud computing, you significantly reduce the risk of managing your infrastructure. Your capital and operational expenses dramatically reduce as you need you need lesser internal IT resources. Cloud vendors like Azure follow the pay-as-you-go model which makes it easier for companies to manage their expenses and increase savings.
4. Real-time synchronization
Most of the leading cloud service providers have developed mobile and tablet applications which allow the users to access cloud solution remotely and on-the-go. Productivity solutions like ERP and HRMS deployed on cloud are easily accessible on smart phones and other gadgets through applications. This enables employees to work together seamlessly bridging the communication gap while the clients get all information in real time.
5. Scalability
Every business has fluctuating demands. This can be a time consuming and costly process for any company. The productivity of an organization can be scaled up by investing in hardware, software and increasing the size of the workforce. However, one has to analyse if the same productivity is required all year round? You end up making capital investment which is redundant for your business or possibly becomes antiquated before realizing its full potential. Cloud computing offers you elasticity of scaling up or down as and when the need arises. Your business is not required to make permanent changes in the infrastructure and therefore, saving both time and money. Thus, the cloud service delivers high performance and improves your response time.
6. Flexibility
Cloud technology offers you the flexibility of operating under open standards. You have the flexibility to choose multiple vendors to meet your different business requirements, you have the freedom to choose the programming models, languages, operating systems and databases .As a result, many organizations are moving existing applications to the cloud today
7. Reliability
Cloud services come with guaranteed reliability and minimized downtime as compared to your on-premise systems. It is the cloud vendor’s responsibility to keep the systems up 24 x 7. Even if maintenance has to be carried out, it is done without affecting the businesses dependent on it. A cloud vendor specifically considers all types of failures like overflow, timeouts, and network failure etc before deploying the solution. On the other hand, with on-premise system, you are completely left to fend for yourself.
8. Focus on your core business
When it comes to cloud computing, the average IT staff in the company may not be equipped to deal with specialized software related issues. In this case, cloud vendors are highly qualified to provide you solutions through various modules and provide readily available support. With cloud computing, the time spent on managing IT is drastically reduced and you are left with enough time to pursue new opportunities and focus on your core business.
9. Upgrade easily
Once you get hands on experience with your cloud services, you could perhaps look at upgrading your storage, backup, network capabilities etc. You can actually increase the capability of your hosting service depending upon the traffic on your application or server. In case of a public cloud, you can incorporate dedicated servers to manage critical applications.
10. Integration
Almost all cloud solutions are inter-operable. It means if you have deployed cloud solutions across different business units with different operating system or your customers/vendors use a different operating system as yours; there is nothing to worry. Cloud only bothers about data and not the operating system. Thus, all your compatibility issues are ironed out with cloud and you can impeccably integrate across and outside the organization.
For information on how Sysfore can help you with your Cloud Migration, reach us at info@sysfore.com