Cloud computing provides a great deal of
benefits for many businesses due to its constant availability, pricing
structure, and its penchant for being the most easily scalable computing
platform. It offers a lot of options that can help an organization control its
computing costs when they are constantly fluctuating the amount of resources
they need.
Some businesses, however, don’t, or can’t
afford to trust that resources found in a public cloud can work for all of
their business’ needs, but require the kind of accessibility a cloud solution
provides. For these companies, only a hybrid cloud will do. Today, we will take
you through the hybrid cloud, how it fits into a business’ IT infrastructure,
and what hybrid clouds are typically used for.
What Is a Hybrid Cloud?
The hybrid cloud is the use of a combination
of computing and storage products from public cloud providers and private,
self-hosted cloud systems. Since there is no single point of failure, the
hybrid cloud is a great solution for any organization that uses variable
systems.
Today’s business uses quite a lot of
technology resources. From email to collaboration to application deployment to
storage; there are a lot of moving parts. For most of these parts, there are
now public cloud services that organizations can use to cut down on the large
capital costs, set up, and management of computing systems that, while they may
not hold too much sensitive data, are still critical for the sustainability of
an efficient business.
Why do Businesses Use Them?
The modern business is doing more with less.
As a result, businesses are looking to take advantage of cost-cutting actions.
With the amount of IT that most businesses use, they would need additional
hardware for every process. The capital costs of a new server are substantial,
not to mention the setup and management of that hardware and the software systems
used to facilitate business. This can put a major dent in a business’ ITT
budget, and with the variable nature of costs, present major problems for CIOs
and other decision makers when trying to budget their organization’s IT
expenses.
Public cloud services typically charge
organizations by the user (on a monthly basis), providing a clear expectation
of what the IT costs are. The availability to scale the amount of users up or
back is also real easy, as is the setup and management of the solution as a
whole. Typically, it is baked right into the cost of the solution.
This is where the hybrid cloud solution comes
in. A business may find that they need to have more control over certain parts
of their IT resources and storage. This is difficult to do when you use public
cloud resources that are managed by the service provider. For these systems,
providing a faster (and often more secure) system that is hosted onsite is the
right play.
Some businesses only need a system for a short
amount of time. For the company that already has its core processes handled
through an onsite, private cloud solution, the hybrid cloud gives them the
ability to add onto their existing infrastructure in times of need and scaling
back when that is appropriate. It provides a great deal of flexibility to
organizations that get busier in certain seasons.
How Do You Go About Getting Them
Both to Work for you?
The main question many have about hybrid cloud
adoption is how do you get them to work together? Since hybrid cloud platforms
are used by companies that work in the legal, medical, or financial sectors,
those examples are the best to look at if your business is considering a shift
to a hybrid cloud platform. Each of these industries are heavily regulated, and
deal with a lot of sensitive information. As a result, they need to keep
compliant, and to keep costs down, they utilize public cloud services for the
systems they can use them for.
Is your business looking to utilize public cloud computing on top of the private cloud resources that you already have in place? Let the IT professionals at Emerge help you find the right solutions for your organization’s needs. Call us at 859-746-1030 to learn more.