What comes to mind when you think of ” the cloud”? This term has many different meanings and can refer to various concepts, depending on who you ask. Although this may seem new and many believe that it is a fad that will disappear in the next few years, cloud technology is here to stay. In this blog post, we will uncover why the cloud is predicted to replace on-premise technology.
So what is the cloud?
According to Oxford Dictionaries, cloud computing is: “The practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer”. The cloud can be further defined through 3 different platforms: public, hybrid, and private.
Public cloud environments are typically what most people think of when they hear the word “cloud”. Examples of public cloud include Office 365, Amazon Web Services, Gmail, Netflix. Essentially, data is on a shared, multi-tenant server located within a datacenter. They tend to be easiest to provision, however they are not as secure as a private cloud environment. Some compliance regulations may dictate that data cannot be located within a public cloud environment, so be sure to review the appropriate compliance standards if this applies to your organization.
Hybrid cloud refers to an environment that may have a mix of on-premise and cloud solutions. Many organizations take their first leap to the cloud by moving from an on-premise Exchange server to Office 365’s Exchange Online. However, they may keep the remainder of their infrastructure on-premise.
Of the 3, private cloud environments are the most secure. Data is located on your own private cloud environment behind your own firewall and domain. Because of this, private cloud solutions tend to be more costly.
Why is cloud technology predicted to replace on-premise?
Technology is constantly evolving, to increase efficiency and productivity. Clayton M. Christianson has a best-selling book named “The Innovator’s Dilemma”. He describes how disruptive technology is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market displacing established market leaders (also described in the Harvard Business Review).
For example, there have been many technologies over the years that have fallen by the wayside as new technologies emerge. This includes the answering machine to voicemail as a service, the typewriter replaced by the Word Processor and then the PC, as well as snail mail to faxing and ultimately to email. The list goes on and on – but in the past several years, the trend of cloud technology has become more relevant when it comes to the way that businesses are buying IT.
74% of Tech Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) say cloud computing will have the most measurable impact on their business in 2017.
Moving to the cloud offers a variety of benefits. Most notably, it eliminates the endless cycle of having to purchase hardware because the cloud provides a predictable OPEX, per user per month pricing model. Buying a new server, PCs, switches, etc. can be costly, means facing these capital expenditures every few years. As the need to replace legacy hardware comes about, many organizations compare that cost with moving their infrastructure to the cloud. The cloud also provides the ability to access your data at any time, anywhere – lending to many business’ need for a mobile workforce.
Ask Centrality about Complete Cloud, the all-inclusive cloud technology model that will have you Rethink IT.
