Making Room for a Cloud Computing Strategy

In the 2022 State of the Cloud Report by Flexera, it was reported that 80% of enterprises spent over $1.2 million per year on cloud computing alone. While spending like this is typical for the enterprise organizations, it was also reported that 53% of small/mid sized businesses (SMBs) in 2021 also spent $1.2 million a year on cloud, plowing through the percentage in the 2021 report by 38%.

It’s clear that cloud computing has cemented its position as the go-to way to interact with IT resources, but what is it exactly? Cloud computing is the delivery of IT resources and computing services over the Internet and into the hands of users. This means of delivery is so powerful because of its seamless delivery, removing the need for physical equipment, staff, and need for hardware maintenance. The move to the cloud is no easy task, however- successful cloud adoption requires organization wide efforts and strategizing, as well as a considerable amount of resources to kickstart the process. While the process takes some effort, the payoff for this migration to the cloud is almost second to none.

Cloud Computing Scalability - Among the Many Benefits of Cloud Computing

By far one of the biggest selling points of embracing cloud computing is the opportunity for more scalability and flexibility within an organization. With cloud computing, businesses of all sizes are able to scale their resources and storage up and down at a moment’s notice, resulting in better resource pooling in cloud computing and more flexibility when it comes to approaching instances of high traffic. Compared to the traditional method of physical storing data, cloud computing provides an ultra scalable means of treating data and IT resources.

Looking to implement cloud computing yourself? Here are some of the benefits to be aware of:

Speed in Every Sense of the Word

Time to market, adaptability, data migration - all of these things become faster as a result of cloud computing. Instead of having to deliver IT resources through physical devices and infrastructure, cloud computing is able to ship data through a network of online servers, hardware, software, etc- getting what users need faster than before.

The seamless delivery of computing resources translates to many practices: faster innovation, streamlined development and ops processes, accelerated decision making, and so on. As mentioned above, cloud computing also enables businesses to quickly scale their resource consumption up or down- letting solutions handle traffic faster than ever. 

Stronger Cost Savings

Imagine buying a brand new car, but then finding out that you ALSO have to pay for someone else’s car. Bummer, right? 

With cloud computing, you only need to pay for what you use, similar to the pricing models of AWS. Based on usage, storage, and general resource consumption, cloud computing models are extremely flexible and work with businesses of all sizes, making cloud computing a go-to for many. 

In addition, many providers offer a specific amount of cloud credits to help ease the cost of cloud and a. Usually offered by public providers, these cloud credits usually range from $50,000 to $100,000 and can be applied to different products and services within that provider’s ecosystem, though within the free trial span of typically 1 year at most. Using cloud credits are great for experimenting with different services from different providers, though the chances of getting locked in by a vendor are higher. Insight into the services that you are using is great for optimizing your credits, but using Lyrid can help you leverage the most of your cloud credits and top services, without vendor lock-in! We make sure that you’re saving on costs during your entire lifetime with us, while delivering the best cloud experience. 

With so many different cloud services out there, you’re bound to run into a provider that works for your budget.

A Generally More Secure Experience

With new ways to interact with computing resources and data also comes new ways to breach and access systems. Despite the common misconception that data stored on a hard drive is more secure than online, cloud computing provides users with ultra secure ways to protect their assets, such as through data loss prevention, data backup, and encryption. More often than not, a cloud solution provider will come security compliant and offer users options for how they want to backup their data. Cloud computing security doesn’t mean thinking about your data and solutions 24/7, but optimizing your approach and building a cloud strategy where you don’t have to do that!

Which Cloud Solutions Provider Works Best for You?

Cloud technology is as abundant as the types of fruits around the world, whichever cloud solution works best for you however depends on what approach you want to take towards cloud computing. 

First, we have to talk about what forms cloud computing services come in. Typically, cloud services come as:

• Software as a Service SaaS - hosting cloud computing capabilities as a software hosted on a server provided by a 3rd party provider.
• Platform as a Service PaaS - hosting cloud computing capabilities through a pre-defined platform, letting developers focus on building and testing instead of requiring them to spin up an environment.
• Infrastructure as a Service IaaS - the most simplest option for many, organizations migrate their hardware to a provider, receiving technical support and capabilities hosted in data centers

The power to choose doesn’t just apply to the form of cloud computing, but also how you approach cloud computing from a strategic perspective. Here are the cloud deployment models that you can choose from:

Public Cloud

Public cloud is a cloud deployment in which third-party providers offer compute resources like storage and deployments over the Internet, sharing said resources with other organizations. Within a public cloud, all hardware, software, and other related cloud infrastructure are managed by the provider, removing the need for maintenance and staffing and therefore removing operational costs. Popular public cloud providers include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Private Cloud

The private cloud is an environment created solely for a single customer, with the host being the company utilizing the cloud or a third-party provider. Private cloud users have full control and access over their environments, data, and security. Think of public cloud as an apartment building and private cloud as an owned house - public cloud (and all its utilities) are shared by multiple tenants, whereas the private cloud is owned by a single tenant. Because private clouds require dedicated infrastructure, an in-house team is needed to upkeep the environment. While you’ll be paying more with a dedicated private environment, you’ll get your own personal space, letting you tweak and personalize everything according to your business requirements, cloud budget, and computing strategies. Popular private cloud options include AWS, Google Cloud, and IBM.

Hybrid Cloud

If the public cloud is an apartment building and the private cloud is an owned home, then the hybrid cloud is the homeowner association that deals with both entities. As the name suggests, a hybrid cloud is a mix of public and private clouds, as well as different environment locations like data centers. Hosting the same capabilities as the two aforementioned clouds, hybrid clouds let the user migrate from different environments seamlessly, making easier resource allocation and cost savings more accessible while removing potential vendor lock-in. The hybrid cloud approach also poses a more secure option for cloud users by mixing up on-premise and online cloud deployments. 

The go-to approach for many hybrid cloud enthusiasts is incorporating Kubernetes, one of the most open-source container orchestration platforms on the market. The reason for this is because Kubernetes is ultra flexible in how and where it’s used. Because the hybrid approach employs both private and public clouds, Kubernetes offers the flexibility needed to switch between different environments, scaling your solutions and clusters up and down as needed while providing health monitoring to provide an optimized cloud deployment. Kubernetes not only speeds up development and deployment within an already optimized cloud environment, but can also lead to stronger business outcomes like a faster time to market and more consistent uptimes. 

The only caveat for this Kubernetes case is how complex it can be. To learn more about how to make Kubernetes and a hybrid cloud approach more intuitive, visit https://www.lyrid.io/product-tour-kubernetes!

Multi Cloud

The multi cloud approach is similar to the hybrid cloud, but takes a combination of two or more public/private clouds and includes them into a single environment. Hosting similar cloud capabilities, the multi cloud approach also avoids vendor lock-in and lets organizations hone in on the features that would best address their needs. And like a hybrid cloud approach, the multi cloud approach benefits greatly from integration of Kubernetes, making anything built on the environment ultra flexible!

Crafting the Perfect Enterprise Cloud Computing Strategy

Becoming cloud smart and finding the perfect cloud solution for your business is definitely something that your organization must continually work on. But for those just starting out, a good approach towards implementing a cloud computing strategy would look like this. 

The first step towards a cloud computing strategy is to look at your current strategy. What does your current tech stack and situation look like? What can be improved and what would a cloud computing approach do to address those problems? For most companies, resource usage optimization is a top priority and reason why they move towards cloud computing. These questions also apply to how secure and resilient your systems are, what would you gain from a cloud computing approach in terms of safeguarding from breaches?

The perfect cloud computing strategy is only as good as the team practicing it. Engaging with your team and seeing how receptive they are to this migration and how much effort they can exert to this migration is a big point. With this migration also comes new needs. How much money are you willing to spend to migrate? Do you need to hire new staff to maintain these systems? What legacy tech within your organization would you have to remove/replace?

These are just a few of the things you should consider before making the move to cloud computing.

Cloud Computing from Lyrid

Cloud computing hosts many benefits and around the globe support, but can also be a confusing thing to navigate. For many, the step towards cloud computing is like their first time driving - scary but exciting. Cloud computing can be equally as exciting and less scary with Lyrid!

Lyrid is the premier cloud option for your hybrid cloud needs, letting you escape vendor lock-in while receiving all the benefits of popular clouds like AWS and GCP. To learn more about cloud with Lyrid, visit us at https://www.lyrid.io/