A cloud-first strategy is becoming increasingly popular among organizations of all sizes worldwide. Low-code applications are now being offered through Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions, allowing organizations to no longer have to host these platforms in-house.
Additionally, cloud computing providers are now offering on-premises software and infrastructure as cloud-based services—providing economies of scale, easy collaboration, reliability, and visibility of your technology stack.
Many organizations have chosen to adopt a cloud-first strategy as a result, and if you are still not using the cloud for your business, discover a few reasons why you should consider it.
Cloud First Strategies: What are They?
This approach means choosing cloud-based solutions before considering on-premises options. Instead of building your own technology stack, you can use cloud-based software or platforms. Instead of relying on in-house operations, you can take advantage of the service provider’s infrastructure and receive high-quality services.
It is not necessary to host all of your infrastructure in the cloud. Still, when you are assessing your tech stack, you should consider implementing new elements in it whenever possible. Additionally, to get the best performance from your on-premise solutions—it is vital to identify which of your current solutions should be migrated to the cloud.
In most cases, organizations will use a combination of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). In essence, they are:
- IaaS – Tools that provide access to virtual storage and your network and are the infrastructure that forms the foundation of IT operations. It is mainly used by IT administrators.
- PaaS – Platforms and tools for building and deploying new software solutions. Most commonly used by software developers.
- SaaS – Application products that end-users can utilize to help them complete everyday tasks. Users primarily use this application for business purposes.
Cloud First Strategies for Businesses: The Benefits
Our modern world increasingly relies on the cloud, so many businesses are considering integrating this approach into their IT operations. Rather than building and hosting your own storage facility, systems, etc., cloud-first strategies take advantage of shared infrastructures, which are publicly hosted, but password-protected.
Cloud-first strategies have multiple benefits, including cost savings and productivity improvements. The following factors may make you consider implementing this within your company.
Reduced Costs
It is incredible how much money can be saved by adopting a cloud-first strategy. Building and managing your own hardware for your applications takes time, money, and resources. With upkeep comes equipment and employee costs since these always need to be updated, replaced, or repaired.
Taking advantage of a third-party provider will incur a monthly fee. However, this is usually less than the amount of time and resources spent on managing applications and servers internally. Thus, businesses that adopt a cloud-first strategy see a reduction in hosting, equipment, and licensing costs.
However, before moving your data to the cloud, make sure you use de-duplication software to eliminate duplicate files. This way, you won’t waste storage space or pay twice for storing the same data.
Scalable Approach
With the growth of businesses and the increase in data volumes, scaling becomes more critical. Scalability is one of the factors that distinguish a thriving business from one that is overwhelmed and unprepared for growth. The issue of scaling, however, becomes more complicated, time-consuming, and expensive when data and applications are managed internally.
It can be a huge undertaking for your IT department and your budget to scale from the inside by purchasing equipment and expanding your infrastructure design. Cloud computing offers businesses the advantage of scalability and flexibility—without requiring infrastructure redesigning.
Businesses or enterprises can, for example, secure their data with third-party cloud services that automatically create copies of their entire systems, back up changed and created files, and upgrade their storage plans as their needs increase.
Streamlined and Coordinated
Cloud-based data management is just more straightforward. Backups are made to one location, and restorations are made from the same location. This lets you access all of your backed-up and stored data rather than retrieving it from multiple devices.
Suppose one of your computers loses all of its data, you can just purchase a new computer and restore your data exactly as it was using cloud solutions without going through lengthy and tedious processes.
Additionally, due to the cloud’s accessibility and storage of data, global operations can even be improved and streamlined since files are kept in the cloud and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
Enhanced Recovery Abilities
By storing and backing up your data in the cloud, you can recover your data at any time. Whether your data is lost due to a computer failure, hardware failure, natural disaster, theft, computer virus, or another event, cloud storage will enable you to retrieve it, unlike physical device storage. Even if you’re confident your data is saved and backed up in all the right places, you may not be able to recover it as soon as you need to to keep your business up and running.
The loss of data isn’t the only problem you’ll have to deal with when files are deleted; your business will also suffer productivity losses and reputational damage. With the help of a cloud-first strategy, you can recover your data quickly. In fact, you can even restore your data without any downtime if you cannot risk losing your time or money.
Take Your Business to the Cloud with Laminar Consulting Service
It is imperative to create a cloud-first culture and encourage employee cooperation to achieve a successful cloud-first strategy.
It is important for employees to feel comfortable asking questions throughout the entire process. By being transparent about cloud-based decisions, you can clarify the importance of your strategy and educate your staff about how moving their workload to the cloud simplifies their tasks.
Embrace cloud environments with Laminar Consulting Service and transition seamlessly from your existing technology stack. Migrating applications from an existing infrastructure to a cloud-native environment can be frustrating and complicated—we can help you avoid these pitfalls and frustrations.Experience the difference expert advice can make when you utilize cloud migration services with us. For a free cloud migration services assessment, contact us at 888-531-9995 at Laminar Consulting Services today!
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