9 Reasons Businesses Choose Cloud Computing

BY MATT BRICKEY

According to the latest research from IDG, 90% of organizations expect to have workloads deployed in the cloud by the end of 2019. Of those, 42% anticipate a multi-cloud environment comprised of a combination of public, private, and private/hosted clouds with a provider.

Statistics like these suggest we’re way past the tipping point for cloud computing and fast-approaching an era in which Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) becomes the norm. But if you’re still not sure the cloud is right for your workloads, the following nine reasons our customers choose cloud computing may help. We’ve even thrown in a few tips and resources that can help you maximize your return.

Why Businesses Choose Cloud Computing

1. Cost Effectiveness – Virtualized resources remove the capital expense of procuring and maintaining equipment as well as the expense of maintaining an on-premises data center: cooling, physical security, janitorial services, etc.

In addition, cloud service providers deliver economies of scale and expertise for a faster return on investment (ROI). For example, did you know that data centers already consume more than 2% of the electricity consumed in the US? All of that power requires significant cooling. Larger data center operators have the bandwidth to invest in high-efficiency cooling systems that reduce power consumption and costs. 

2. Speed to Market – These days, almost every organization is doing some sort of software development designed to enhance market position. Cloud computing allows the organization to quickly provision resources for development and testing across a number of different types of environments.

Once these applications are ready for roll out, developers can quickly transition code to a live production environment for a smoother product launch. Because these environments are highly scalable (see Reason #3), the organization doesn’t need to worry about inaccurately estimating capacity requirements.

Working with a managed service provider like TierPoint to manage your live environment can also help you maximize uptime and performance for greater customer satisfaction. And while we’re focusing on your infrastructure, you can be focusing on creating “killer apps” for your customers.

3. Scalability – Estimating data center capacity requirements is one of the most difficult tasks an IT leader faces. Over-estimate and you end up sinking capital into capacity you don’t need. Underestimate and you end up crippling the business’s ability to respond to opportunity.

Cloud computing resources (compute, cloud storage, and network bandwidth) can be scaled up, down, or off to meet your current needs. Public clouds like AWS and Azure even provide for elastic computing, which automatically expands compute and storage to fit unanticipated capacity requirements.

4. Increased Productivity – When your team doesn’t need to spend time maintaining equipment, they can focus on higher-value add activities like IT security and data analytics. Combine cloud computing with managed services, and you can get even more done by offloading tasks for which your team isn’t suited or for which you don’t have the bandwidth.

5. Innovation – Have a project on your to-do list that you never seem to get to because you’re too busy managing your infrastructure and fighting fires? By offloading infrastructure management and other time-consuming tasks to a managed service provider like TierPoint,your team can focus on the innovations that drive the business forward.

6. Improved Performance – High-performance computing, fast communication networks, and local edge computing are among the many ways cloud computing reduces latency and improves performance.

In addition, data center equipment can quickly become obsolete, but many organizations try to get every last dollar they can out of their investment before they upgrade. Third-party data center providers like TierPoint typically follow a hardware refresh cycle that is far shorter than that practiced by on-premises data center operators. Newer hardware frequently means higher performance.

7. Data Security – Third-party cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and TierPoint have the bandwidth to focus on IT security 24/7/365. We’ve got our eye on emerging threats and the technologies used to combat them. We also have the resources to hire high-demand cloud security professionals and the expertise to implement best-practice controls and policies for cloud security. Most on-premises data center operators can’t afford to expend this kind of effort on their in-house IT security efforts. Read our Strategic Guide to IT Security to learn more about cybersecurity and IT security fundamentals.

8. Availability – If you’re managing an on-premises data center, chances are you vividly remember the last time you experienced planned or unplanned downtime. It’s that painful. Well-established third-party cloud providers have the resources to invest in redundant infrastructure, UPS systems, environmental controls, network carriers, power sources, etc., to ensure maximum uptime. 

9. Resiliency – Before cloud computing, enterprises needed to invest in redundant infrastructure to protect themselves in the event of a disaster. Cloud computing makes disaster recovery far more cost-efficient and effective by enabling replication and failover to an alternate location in the cloud.

Cloud computing also gives you the flexibility to choose the failover location and model that optimizes RTO (recovery time objectives), RPO (recovery point objectives), and cost for each workload. For example, many organizations are incorporating public clouds, like AWS and Azure, as a component of their disaster recovery plans for faster, more cost-effective recovery solutions.

Unfortunately, too many organizations don’t have the time, expertise, or bandwidth to do adequate disaster recovery planning. A Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution can help ensure you have the bases covered.

Thinking of Migrating Your Workloads to the Cloud?

The benefits of cloud computing are many but maximizing the return on your investment takes careful planning. A well-thought-out cloud migration plan can minimize downtime, ensure the safety of your data in transit, and help you maintain compliance and security throughout the process.