Today’s organizations are reflecting on their IT infrastructure and determining whether to remain on-premise or migrate to a cloud-based environment. The conversation often start with trying to first understand the different flavors of cloud infrastructure, such as private vs. public clouds. However, organizations must consider the complexity of their IT needs which may require them to entertain a third option: Hybrid Cloud. To understand how this cloud model may apply, included below are three sample business cases for a Hybrid Cloud Environment.
In an article on enterpriseproject.com, it states “$257.9 billion is the total projected 2020 spending on public cloud, with desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) spending to be the biggest growth category within the overall public cloud market, which Gartner attributes to a significant shift to remote work driven by COVID-19.”
1. An Infrastructure both in the Cloud & On-premise
A non-traditional hybrid design includes connecting an existing on-premise infrastructure to a private or public cloud environment.
On-premise infrastructures provide organizations with the greatest level of control over resources and security. Companies that require regulatory compliance for sensitive data and business operations choose to keep IT on-premise. However, applications or data living outside of the regulatory framework can be offloaded to a cloud-based platform for greater flexibility and cost savings via the pay-as-you-go model.
2. Go 100% Virtual with a Private & Public Cloud Environment
Multi-cloud is an architecture whereby an organization leverages services from multiple, disparate cloud providers. Flexibility and scalability are key attributes of public clouds for those resources that do not need the 24/7 dedicated infrastructure private clouds offer. Organizations may also utilize advanced options such as cloud bursting – a configuration to deal with spikes in IT resource demands – or high-availability and disaster recovery options between private and public infrastructures. The ability to transition between environments yields greater resource availability and business continuity.
The advent of hybrid models began as organizations started migrating from their current on-premise software applications to SaaS based software. From CRM platforms to cloud-based email and even with cloud accounting solutions, the pivot to software-as-a-service helped deliver a 100% virtual model to employees. This deployment type and hybrid model offers the many security, accessibility and visibility benefits of the cloud.
3. A More Complex Infrastructure in Multiple Clouds and On-premise
Complex infrastructure designs will often take advantage of a combination of more than two cloud providers and on-premise solutions for resiliency and reliability. For example, organizations may retain infrastructure that supports custom legacy applications. While they maintain legacy systems, internal teams can be developing a new tech stack within a cloud infrastructure that can integrate with or help transition from legacy systems. All this while providing scalability, flexibility, and high availability.
This type of hybrid environment, a mix of on-premises, public cloud, and private cloud systems, is a pragmatic approach to start utilizing cloud environments. Companies can retain systems that they have historically relied upon while having the ability to build new tools at scale with controlled costs.
Each business case is a sample of how the hybrid cloud architecture might serve business needs. From supporting security and compliance to ensuring the availability of business-critical legacy systems, there are options to meet all needs. As an organization, it is important to discern the appropriate deployment model for your business needs.
When considering a cloud migration strategy, it is important to look at all factors of the infrastructure. As cloud technology continues to evolve, as does security, cost controls, features and integrations, as well as capacity. Hybrid cloud environments will be widely adopted over the coming years. It is important to review how you and your organization will begin to make that change or, if already begun, how to optimize the options available to you to best serve your needs.
To learn more about the best Hybrid Cloud Environment for your Business Case, please email us for a free cloud consultation.
