In recent years, we have realized that Information Systems (Hardware & Software) are essential for the operation of businesses. We could say that they are the basic tool for every business venture. In fact, during the pandemic, in recent years, the only and reliable solution for continuing operations were services such as e-Shops, emails, but also collaboration – direct communication solutions such as Teams, Zoom, Webex and many other tools that provide these capabilities.
In addition, it seemed that it is important and imperative for businesses to have the ability to implement these services in a short period of time and even more importantly to be able to change them depending on the circumstances.
So what is the best option for installing and managing IT solutions?. What options do we have?
There are three solutions offered in recent years:
Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Solution
Public Cloud Deployment
All services and applications that are installed in the Public cloud environment, have either been migrated from an existing application and services, or have been designed to operate from scratch in the Public cloud.
Advantages of the Public Cloud.
We avoid the initial costs for equipment – software and installation – configuration services for the services-applications that we want to use. In contrast, we use services (VMs, Storages, VPN gateways, Apps) from Public cloud companies and pay for these services according to the time we used them and the type of these services.
The forecasts for the capacity of the resources that will be needed to operate the applications are reduced.
Flexibility and speed. When we need to use additional resources for our infrastructure in the public cloud, we can achieve it within minutes, unlike the procurement of systems. Also, it is immediately possible to reduce these resources either to reduce costs or to reduce services without additional costs.
Reduction of costs for the maintenance of the systems that will run the applications. A significant advantage of cloud computing is the ability to focus less on equipment maintenance tasks and more on our applications.
Finally, there is no need to make any predictions about the capacity of the resources that will be needed to operate the applications.
As a disadvantage for the Public cloud solution, we can mention that it is not easy for many legacy applications to work correctly and in this case the necessary actions to transform the applications or changes to them must be taken.
In short, in the Public cloud solution, the following apply:
Businesses only pay for what they use
There are no initial costs for the services (or otherwise CapEx)
Applications and services can be installed – work immediately or even be removed.
Private Cloud
In the private cloud solution or on premises solution, the installation of services and applications takes place at the company’s premises. Usually, the procurement of products such as Servers, Networking, Security, System Software and possibly Application Software has been preceded and they have been installed at the company’s premises, in the Datacenter. The usual thing for the installation, configuration and maintenance of on premises Datacenters is to use virtualization tools and management tools. It goes without saying that all management and maintenance from the physical level to the Application level is a burden on the company in addition to the initial installation-configuration costs.
Advantages of the On premises solution are:
The data and its security remain on the company premises and this is very important especially for organizations that have this obligation due to compliance rules
In companies where changes to IT systems occur after a long period of time, the private cloud solution has a relatively lower cost.
Of course, the disadvantage of the on premises solution is that there is no flexibility and speed because if we need additions to our infrastructure we will need time – money for the supply – purchase – delivery – installation – configuration and then of course the utilization of this equipment.
In short, in the Private cloud solution, the following applies: The initial procurement of IT products for the operation of applications and services is mandatory. Businesses have absolute control over resources and security. And of course, businesses are responsible for maintenance and hardware updates.
Here we should mention that the Private Cloud infrastructure can be on-premises, or hosted in a company that hosts the infrastructure. (Unlike the public cloud, this solution is not shared with others).
Hybrid Cloud Solution
In the hybrid development solution, we connect our cloud-based services with our on-premises infrastructure. Applications that, either due to regulations or because they are legacy and have difficulties in developing in the public cloud, are maintained in the on-premises infrastructure. In addition, we have the ability to use public cloud services according to the needs of our business.
Simply put, in this solution we have the flexibility to benefit from the advantages of both other solutions. For example, let’s assume that a company wants to use Public Cloud services that can automate data processing and data analysis. However, the company has several legacy applications that are not easy or not allowed to be transferred to the cloud. With a hybrid deployment, the company will be able to maintain legacy on-premises applications (Private Cloud), while benefiting from data and analytics services running in the Public Cloud.
In short, the Hybrid Solution: Provides the greatest flexibility. Businesses determine where to run their applications. Businesses control security, compliance or legal requirements.
From the above, we understand that many factors influence the adoption of IT applications and services through Public Cloud providers and the solutions are not simple and easy.
In fact, POC (proof of concept) services can be provided that will provide answers if the solutions that have been designed (for all scenarios) fully cover the requirements of your business at low cost. Moreover, due to the advantage that there will be no initial procurement in Public cloud solutions, the solutions can be tested at a very low cost.
Regardless of this, we believe that the Hybrid cloud solution model is the safest route for implementing IT Cloud solutions in businesses.