Are you a small or midsize business (SMB) that wants to take advantage of enterprise-level resources? How about an enterprise that wants to keep pace with new technology? Going off premise isn’t always the right choice – but let’s be serious, it usually is. See why.
1. Do You Need Flexibility?
Grab your yoga pants, because off premise cloud computing provides ultimate flexibility. Companies dedicated to providing services like cloud computing have relatively infinite resources to pull on compared to companies working in-house.
But before we elaborate – take those yoga pants off. We were speaking metaphorically. Nobody wants to see that.
As we were saying. Cloud computing provides increased application management, deployment, uptime, and agility. That’s not to mention the customizability of processing power, networking solutions, scalable storage, and the ability to pay only for the resources you use. Cloud computing also gives employees an optimized ability to collaborate, which provides greater transparency and business continuity as a whole.
Don’t be discouraged by the buzzwords – we’re talking about real results.
According to a survey conducted by Aberdeen Group, adding flexibility to company infrastructure is the third leading reason companies move to the cloud (the top two reasons both involved financial savings). After implementation, about three-fourths of businesses experience easier application management, while almost half have faster application deployment.
In short, cloud computing gives companies flexibility by providing:
- Scalable storage
- Tailored networking
- Multi-site collaboration
- Improved application management and deployment
- The ability to only pay for the resources you need, as your needs change
- Optimizations like disaster recovery (DR), custom backups, high availability (HA), and more
2. What About Compliant Data?
You may find that a cloud provider can meet your security and compliance requirements better than you can – and at a lower cost!
Cloud service providers have teams devoted to keeping your data compliant, and will have their own compliance to meet as well. With increased uptime, you will also be less likely to breach regulations requiring data availability.
According to Mathieu Gorge, CEO of VigiTrust, the main concern about being compliant on the cloud is knowing where geographically your data is stored, and who specifically has access to it. With a private cloud, these questions and many others can easily be answered. Unfortunately, with a public cloud this is often not the case, which is why public clouds should typically be avoided by companies following regulatory compliance (check out this article for why private clouds are more secure).
Private cloud providers can specify:
- Who can see your data
- Who specifically is looking after it
- How your data will be sent to the cloud
- Where geographically your data is located
- If your data is segregated from other organizations’ data
3. More Bang For Your Buck?
According to Aberdeen Group, companies cite financial savings as their #1 motivator for moving to the cloud.
Savings come from eliminating or minimizing:
- Thousands of dollars in electric bill costs
- Legacy system skills depletion
- Hardware replacements
- Maintenance costs
- New licensing fees
- Downtime
IT Specialist Derrick Wlodarz writes that cloud servers need less than half the maintenance that physical servers do, while providing unparalleled uptime. For legacy system users, cloud computing also makes systems more adaptable, helping fight off skills depletion. With the flexibility to scale resources to your changing requirements, companies also save money by only paying for the resources they need, as they need them.
See this article for a detailed analysis of how going off premise can be so much cheaper than staying in-house.
4. 24/7 Monitoring and Support?
Cloud hosts tend to have teams of experts dedicated to monitoring and managing your data.
When your business is run in-house, it might be easy to have software in place that monitors the status of your systems. However, keeping actual staff members available 24×7 to perform necessary support runs an entirely different cost. With off premise cloud computing, this is just part of the package. This means that burdens like maintenance, system upgrades, cooling equipment and more are all taken off your shoulders and given to the cloud provider.
Going off premise can also have advantages for companies running on legacy systems. While skills depletion is always a concern for these companies, certain cloud hosts can provide additional support for systems like AS400/IBM i, AIX, and Power Systems. You can also take advantage of other services your provider offers. For instance, at Protos Technologies we offer full support and disaster recovery solutions as an integrated part of our private cloud.
5. Summary
In short, going off premise means:
- Minimizing downtime
- Eliminating extraneous costs
- 24/7 monitoring and support
- Fighting legacy skills depletion
- Minimizing maintenance needs
- Teams ensuring your data is compliant
- The ability to pay for only the resources you need
- Enhanced ability to collaborate from remote sites
- Increased application deployment, uptime, and agility
- Customizability of processing power, networking solutions, scalable storage, and more.
That being said, it is always best to speak with a specialist before making the leap.
Think it could be time to use off premise cloud computing? Contact us today, or call at 317-707-3941.