Knowing the advantages, main challenges, and the likely costs of switching to a hybrid cloud environment, business owners must then ask – is this the right next step for your organisation?

Hybrid Cloud for your business

The answer to this question will depend on how competent your organisation is in managing and implementing cloud infrastructure and how much support you are likely to require.

If you want more flexibility to be able to react quickly to changing demands, needs, and costs, then hybrid cloud architecture could be the right choice for your business. The cloud can provide you with IT resources whenever you need them at short notice and for much less than the cost of developing them through in-house teams. Businesses that could benefit more than most from this flexibility might include those that experience large spikes in demand, such as taxation-related businesses or those where seasonal peaks and troughs are experienced.

In addition, the public cloud gives you the flexibility to deal with both anticipated and unanticipated loads, where the alternative would be expensive fixed cost investments in on-premise resources that might be under-utilised for most of the year. Organisations involved in data storage might also benefit more than most from hybrid cloud use, as data that is non-sensitive and infrequently accessed. Archival data can be moved to a public cloud storage facility where it is secure, but it is much less expensive to store these files on-premises.

However, there are circumstances where a hybrid cloud approach might not be the best fit for a business. Smaller organisations with less operating capital may not be able to justify the cost of setting up and running the servers required for a private cloud. Many SMEs are better suited to a purely public cloud solution, lacking the scale requirements of enterprise data centres.

It's critical that your organisation has a clear IT strategy, and within that a holistic approach to cloud that is aligned with business goals.

What are the impacts of a hybrid cloud model?

The main impacts of using a hybrid cloud model are security, innovation and agility, workload variability, expenses and costs, and business continuity. Each of these factors can have a significant impact on how a business operates.

Security: A hybrid cloud model can impact security in a number of ways. First, it can create a more secure environment by allowing businesses to use the public cloud for less sensitive data and applications. Second, it can make it easier to manage security risks by allowing businesses to use the best security features of both public and private clouds. Finally, it can help businesses comply with regulations by allowing them to store data in multiple locations.

Innovation and Agility: A hybrid cloud model can help businesses to be more agile and innovative by allowing them to rapidly deploy new applications and services. By using both public and private clouds, businesses can quickly access the resources they need while still maintaining control over their data. This flexibility can help businesses to ensure performance, stay ahead of the competition and respond to changes in the market quickly.

Workload Variability: A hybrid cloud model can also impact workload variability. By using both public and private clouds, businesses can better match their resources to their needs, which can lead to improved performance and reduced costs. Additionally, using a hybrid cloud model can help businesses to better manage fluctuations in demand, which can help them to better handle unexpected spikes in traffic.

Expenses and Costs: A hybrid cloud model can also impact expenses and costs. By using a hybrid cloud model, businesses can take advantage of economies of scale and reduce their overall IT costs. Additionally, businesses can save money by using public clouds for non-critical applications. Finally, a hybrid cloud model can help businesses to better manage their spending by allowing them to purchase only the resources they need when they need them.

Business Continuity: A hybrid cloud model can also impact business continuity. By using a hybrid cloud model, businesses can improve their disaster recovery plan by having multiple copies of their data stored in different locations. Additionally, a hybrid cloud model can help businesses to continue operating during an outage by allowing them to use the resources of the public cloud.

Finding the right Hybrid Cloud provider

One of the biggest considerations for hybrid cloud is choosing the right service provider. They will be an important partner in your hybrid cloud solution, so you should vet them thoroughly beforehand to determine their suitability.

Other points to consider are:

• Strategy – What has their cloud strategy been? What is it going to be? What are their plans for the next three to five years?
• Historical investments – What historical investments have they made to keep their technology ahead of the curve?

Remember, it is just as important to choose the right service provider for your business as it is choosing the right cloud solution. Hybrid cloud solutions are designed to be vendor-agnostic. This allows enterprise organisations to avoid vendor lock-in and secure better pricing on public cloud services. This also increases the portability of “Big Data” and applications. Deploying the cheapest commodity hardware is a key element of optimising cost savings on public cloud platforms through competitive bidding on elastic resources.

Canon Business Services has You covered

At CBS, we offer you total flexibility and can help you design the perfect combination of public and private cloud services for your organisation’s needs, along with the many benefits of working with a IT managed service provider.

Partner with us and you’ll enjoy secure access to your own private cloud infrastructure on our CloudMetro platform or our highly credentialed Azure practice, while also having access to popular public cloud services such as Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services (AWS). CBS offers total end-to-end support, including building your hybrid cloud solution, migrating your data, applications, and services. We provide ongoing support and management services to keep your hybrid cloud environment fully optimised.

To find out more, visit our Hybrid Cloud Solutions page.