The enterprise market for cloud computing services has grown enormously over the last decade. Not only are these services more powerful and competitive than ever, but they are also incredibly affordable thanks to the popularization of IT outsourcing. If you feel like your company is not making the most of its cloud solutions (or (…)
The enterprise market for cloud computing services has grown enormously over the last decade. Not only are these services more powerful and competitive than ever, but they are also incredibly affordable thanks to the popularization of IT outsourcing. If you feel like your business isn't making the most of its cloud solutions (or doesn't have any at all), now is the time to make them a vital element of your infrastructure.
However, difficult choices arise when it comes time to implement cloud-based solutions. Every business wants to use the cloud – most simply don't know how. And while every company's digital transformation journey is very different, there are some things you can always look for in enterprise cloud computing services.
What are business cloud computing services?
Let's start at the beginning. The term “enterprise cloud computing” dates back to 2006, with the launch of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Although it began as a storage-only service, AWS really ushered in the market for custom cloud solutions that could meet the complex and growing needs of large enterprises.
Today, we define Cloud Computing Business Services as a computing model that allows businesses to access IT resources from a public or private provider. These resources include servers, data storage, processing power, and network infrastructure. Businesses opt for cloud computing for a variety of reasons, such as cost efficiency, business resilience, and cybersecurity.
Based on their architecture, there are four different types of business cloud computing services:
- Private Cloud : As you can imagine, private cloud architecture is built on resources owned and used by a company. This is the most expensive option for accessing cloud computing services as it requires organizations to develop and maintain their own cloud infrastructure in-house.
- Public Cloud : Public cloud providers are all over the Internet and offer their services to anyone who wants to subscribe to them. The public cloud leverages a distributed infrastructure where common operations (compute, storage, and networking) are deployed separately.
- Hybrid Cloud : Some companies choose hybrid cloud to meet their computing needs. This way, they can combine the low-cost public cloud infrastructure while using private cloud infrastructure to protect sensitive data. Industries that manage large amounts of personal data, such as healthcare, tend to prefer hybrid cloud.
- Multicloud : Multicloud combines a private cloud architecture with public cloud services from different vendors. Although it is very similar to hybrid cloud, multicloud offers another level of flexibility by spreading risk across many cloud computing services.
What to Look for in Cloud Computing
Cloud computing services are based on flexibility, so you can be sure there is a service that meets your needs. If you're thinking about implementing, customizing, or scaling your current cloud-based technologies, these are the things you need to look at.
Storage space
Any enterprise-level company deals with large amounts of data on a daily basis. At first, building your own physical server station may seem like the easiest option. You would have full control over it and could access it at any time. However, the costs of building and maintaining all the software and hardware needed to operate such a complex infrastructure can quickly spiral out of control.
Most of the time, companies use virtual servers that are stored off-site. This prevents them from using local resources (like space and employee time) to manage their storage. With the speed of Internet connections nowadays, the difference between local access data and Internet access data is minimal.
Computing Resources
Some cloud providers focus more on computing resources than on storage space itself. In fact, cloud computing has become a highly sought-after service for companies to run operations and manage projects from anywhere and anytime. This is especially useful for development teams that need to access resource libraries and components at the same time.
Most of the time, cloud services will provide independent infrastructures for each project, making it easier to synergize workflows for your company. Therefore, if your main objective is to facilitate collaboration between teams that perform complex cloud operations, looking for a service that offers powerful computing resources is a priority.
Scalability and flexibility
If you're using enterprise cloud computing, flexibility and scalability are essential. The right cloud environment should allow your business to troubleshoot issues as needed, whether that means scaling up or down services. Because of this, services offered under a flat fee or fixed amounts are often not the best option. Today, most companies choose a pay-as-you-go model so that the organization doesn't have to pay for anything it doesn't use or need.
However, the most important thing is customization. Your cloud computing services partner should be able to create a detailed technology roadmap of your solutions and create a customized approach through which your company can achieve its goals.
Introduction to Cloud Computing
Years ago, companies needed to find and hire multiple experts just to get a basic cloud infrastructure up and running. That is no longer the case. Getting access to custom cloud computing solutions is as easy as contacting an IT outsourcing company . No matter the size or complexity of your project, outsourcing cloud computing services will get you where you want to go.
