If you read the headlines, you may be convinced that if you don’t adopt an all-in approach to the public cloud, your competition might quickly leave you in the dust. The demand for personalization, a perfect end-user experience, and lowered costs may have companies wondering if they can survive the cloud disruption.
Much attention has been focused on what the Fortune 50 are doing with their cloud transition plans. But what works well for large-scale enterprises may not be the best fit for mid-size companies. Instead of transitioning all business operations to a public cloud solution, many mid-size companies are researching the benefits of a hybrid environment for their data storage and software needs.
Here are the reasons why a mix of private and public cloud may be the best fit for a mid-size company:
Security: When it comes to protecting your proprietary product information or client files, it helps to have a high level of visibility and control — which may not be possible when security is outsourced. It also helps to remember that no third-party provider will ever care about data protection quite as much as the company that owns that data. Many out-of-the-box security offerings address straightforward threats like firewall attacks. In reality, your security threats may be a bit more slippery.
Price: Interestingly, price is often one of the biggest reasons companies migrate to cloud solutions. Pay-as-you-go subscriptions and a minimal hardware investment make cloud technology appealing, but many transitions have been completed without a full assessment of the total cost of ownership. Surprise costs for cold data retrieval, burst workloads, or network surcharges can quickly eat up the savings experienced in other areas.
Performance: Many mid-size companies favor a hybrid solution over a full private or public cloud transition because it delivers better performance for their processes. While applications supporting sales and marketing may be better suited for public cloud, there are on-site production processes, for instance, that might perform better with an on-premise system.
Scalability: When a company quickly expands, the ability to increase the number of subscriptions for cloud applications eliminates some of the pain of rapid growth. For many businesses, this scalability isn’t worth the risk of transitioning away from a legacy system that is tailored to their needs and allows for the agility and control the company needs as it grows. In this case, a company may prefer to use a hybrid approach, using an on-site legacy system that allows a smoother transition through a growth period.
At TeleConsult, our consultation services are offered at no charge, allowing us to provide unbiased guidance in your transition to cloud services. Contact us today to discuss your communications needs, and we will work to align you with the best cloud offerings and vendors that support your vision.