The right cloud for the right job
Alongside public cloud, private cloud is also having a moment in the sun. The two are, in many ways, inextricably linked – if public cloud is the taster for many organisations, the knowledge they gain is then parlayed into private cloud deployments.
The emergence of consumption-based IT offerings “are aimed at leveraging public cloud-like capabilities in an on-premises environment that reduces the complexity and restructures the cost for enterprises that want additional security, dedicated resources, and more granular management capabilities".
In a blog post for Accenture, Roy Ikink recently said that a lack of expertise “has been one of the biggest drivers of public cloud adoption, as it was easier for businesses to outsource the services they could not manage or develop themselves. However, as this wealth of knowledge grows in abundance, more organizations will opt for their own private clouds to maintain greater control over their processes without trading in future flexibility.” Certainly as modern private cloud solutions have become easier to deploy, manage and maintain, many organisations are empowering their IT departments to become internal cloud service providers. Integrated private cloud solutions developed by VMware and Microsoft, together with Dell Technologies, demonstrate the rise of the private cloud.
Analysts IDC also noted that the emergence of consumption-based IT offerings “are aimed at leveraging public cloud-like capabilities in an on-premises environment that reduces the complexity and restructures the cost for enterprises that want additional security, dedicated resources, and more granular management capabilities.”
But even then, private cloud can be restrictive, which highlights how going all in on one or the other environment is not the right approach. One cloud is not enough.
One option could be a hybrid cloud solution that is strategic in implementation and uses the right environments for the right job. It is an approach many enterprises are exploring, as IDC pointed out: “Hybrid cloud has become central to successful digital transformation efforts by defining an IT architectural approach, an IT investment strategy, and an IT staffing model that ensures the enterprise can achieve the optimal balance across dimensions without sacrificing performance, reliability, or control.”
