On October 2013, analysts at Gartner released results from a survey predicting that 28 percent of CIOs expect to source all critical applications and operations via the cloud by 2016, and 55 percent expect to do so by 2020. Unlike the early days of cloud computing, the future includes the virtualization of business-critical applications. “Cloud computing continues to grow at rates much higher than IT spending generally. Growth in cloud services is being driven by new IT computing scenarios being deployed using cloud models, as well as the migration of traditional IT services to cloud service alternatives,” said Ed Anderson, Research Director at Gartner.
A Shift from Private to Hybrid Cloud
Another important point is that while private cloud-based solutions were the favorite among enterprises, there is an increased interest in hybrid cloud deployments. As companies become willing to virtualize part of their processes, they are able to reduce the expensive capital investment and ongoing expenses in hardware, software and specialized staff to manage their overall IT infrastructure. As BMC Software CIO, Mark Settle explains, “very few organizations have the financial deep pockets to go out and build a capability and wait for the users to come.”
Several IT departments do not have the luxury of being able to jump straight into building their own private cloud capabilities. Savvy companies that deploy hybrid models are able to keep an in-house IT infrastructure that supports average workloads, and use cloud resources from public or private clouds, during spikes in processing demand.
Improved Business Performance
Hybrid cloud models allow workflows to be moved between environments while allowing security and compliance to be managed across them. A major business advantage is that the cloud becomes an instant disaster recovery solution for critical in-house applications such as the contract management system. In this case, the safety and security of all contracts is managed in the cloud, not in filing cabinets, so documents are not only protected but also organized in a central repository.
Here are some additional business advantages to consider:
Balance workloads – Costs can be optimized according to your business needs. If the IT manager foresees a big need for computing power for a short period of time, it can be sent to the cloud for faster processing. When extra capacity is available in-house, it can be used to save money from vendor services.
Comply with PCI, HIPAA and/or Sarbarnes-Oxley – Centralize reporting so you can manage version control, events, and access data across of all your locations. By maintaining contract history for auditing that is continuously backed off-site, your company keeps higher compliance standards.
Leverage firewall security – A hybrid cloud computing model ensures the highest level of data of security when it is deployed behind an existing firewall. This ensures not only a high level of privacy for your companys data but also seamless operation with your other corporate systems.
Takeaway
The shift towards cloud computing has begun. As companies continue to evaluate between public and private models, hybrid cloud deployments are gaining popularity as they are able to maximize benefits from both models.