Recent years have demonstrated the value of centralising your business operations on digital platforms. Many people have expressed their preferences for hybrid work, we have all seen the value of a business continuity plan, and of course, there is always room to streamline your processes further.
The cloud has become an increasingly popular solution to these needs. Cloud computing offers more scalability and flexibility than traditional on-premise solutions, with pricing models that make them far more cost-effective. In April, Gartner forecasted that public cloud spending would reach $18.7 billion this year, a 17.6 per cent increase from 2021.
As their popularity skyrockets and more businesses look to adopt the cloud, the question is no longer ‘Why should we adopt cloud platforms?’ but ‘How should we go about it?’
Weighing up the benefits of on-premises vs cloud solutions
On-prem IT infrastructure includes any servers on your business premises that store, process, and manage data and applications for your team. It includes servers, storage devices, networking, and cyber security systems.
On-prem has historically been the bread and butter of business IT, and once upon a time, you would have had little choice but to rely on your servers to control data and manage cyber security. However, this approach can be costly and difficult to manage, particularly for businesses that are growing rapidly or have complex data requirements.
Cloud computing has risen in popularity due to its flexible and cost-effective model compared with on-prem infrastructure. Rather than support your servers on your business premises, you rely on servers kept elsewhere and maintained by a cloud provider.
You pay a monthly fee to use the cloud provider’s storage servers and resources. For this reason, cloud computing is a flexible and scalable solution because it allows you to reduce or add capacity as your business needs. You also dodge the high upfront costs of owning and managing your infrastructure.
When deciding whether to use on-premise or cloud-based infrastructure, you should consider your specific needs and requirements. For example, businesses that require high levels of security or compliance may be better off sticking with on-prem infrastructure. At the same time, those that need to scale quickly and efficiently may find that cloud infrastructure is a better fit. We also find that some customers need their applications close to equipment and robotics so that there is little delay with connections (lowest possible latency).
Ultimately, the decision will come down to what makes the most sense for the organisation in terms of cost, flexibility and capability.
Hybrid environments bring the two together
Hybrid cloud environments are becoming increasingly popular as organisations strive to find the right balance between on-premises and public cloud resources. A hybrid cloud brings together the best of both solutions by allowing you to keep some of your data on-site for security or compliance reasons while taking advantage of the benefits delivered by cloud workloads.
Businesses are turning to hybrid clouds in droves for a number of reasons:
You can keep some data and applications on-premises while taking advantage of the flexibility and scalability of the cloud. You gain the ability to tailor your IT infrastructure to your specific needs and avoid the ‘one size fits all’ approach that can become limiting.
You have a high degree of flexibility in budgeting and pricing. A hybrid model means that you have some workloads running in the cloud that you can adjust, which can be a major advantage over entirely on-premises solutions.
You can avoid vendor lock-in using a mix of on-premises and cloud-based solutions. Rather than become tied down to one vendor, you can choose the best provider for the workloads you need. So, you have more control over your IT infrastructure and can switch providers if you are unhappy with your service.
What is Azure Stack HCI, and what are the benefits?
Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) combines compute, storage, and networking (all elements of traditional data centre architecture) into a single system. It is an integrated approach that can simplify IT operations and make it easier to scale resources as needed.
Azure Stack HCI is a solution that deploys and manages virtualised workloads in a hybrid environment with Microsoft Azure as the public cloud platform.
Azure Stack HCI offers several benefits, including:
A consistent experience for users across all of their devices, making it easier for them to work together.
Scalability by allowing users to add more nodes to their system as needed. This way, your team can start small and expand their Azure Stack HCI deployment as the business’ needs grow.
The tools and technologies you need to build and run modern apps in a hybrid cloud environment.
A fully managed service that allows you to choose how to deploy your apps and data.
The flexibility to choose from various hardware options from different vendors, which becomes beneficial if your organisation has specific hardware requirements.
Save money on your IT infrastructure costs.
See the diagram below for the inclusions of Azure Stack HCI.
alltasksIT can help you get the most from Azure Stack HCI
Cloud IT Solutions are here to stay. If you want to get started on your journey but need an IT partner to support you, then we can help.
Our solutions can help your business transition to the cloud and leverage a hybrid environment backed by Azure Stack HCI. Please visit our Cloud IT Solutions and cloud service models page for more information on our services and expertise.
