Why Move to the Cloud? 10 Compelling Reasons for Cloud Migration

So you’re thinking about cloud migration? That’s a great decision! There are many reasons why businesses should move to the cloud, and we’ll outline the top 10 in this blog post. Keep reading to learn more about cloud computing and why it’s such a valuable solution for businesses of all sizes.

The Global Move Towards Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has been on the rise for years now, and it’s only getting more popular. In fact, a recent study by Synergy Research Group found that global spending on public cloud services was up 30% in 2021, totaling $409 billion.

And it’s not just big businesses who are making the switch to cloud-based solutions. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are adopting cloud technology at an increasing rate, with 53% of SMBs surveyed spending more than $1.2 million annually on the cloud.

This growing rate of cloud adoption means that any business which isn’t already using cloud solutions is likely to be considering a move in the near future. Moreover, those who aren’t considering migrating their existing on-premise solutions to the cloud are likely to find themselves at a serious competitive disadvantage.

Cloud Deployment Models

There are four main types of cloud deployment models:

• Public clouds – owned and operated by a third-party provider of cloud services to the general public. This model is also sometimes referred to as external or outsourced clouds, and is the most common type of cloud deployment.
• Private clouds – owned and operated by a single organization, either in their own on-premises data centers or by third-party cloud provider hosts off-premises and for use by that organization only. It may be alternatively known as an internal or enterprise cloud and is generally used to store sensitive data, and is a requirement for highly regulated industries.
• Hybrid clouds – a combination of public and private clouds that are linked together using technology such as a VPN or direct connection, which allows for data migration, data flow, access, and applications to be moved between the two environments as needed.
• Multicloud – the use of multiple public and/or private cloud services from different providers. While this deployment model offers the most flexibility and, in many cases, reduced costs, it can also be the most complex to manage.

Cloud Providers on the Market

There are a number of different major cloud providers on the market, each offering their own unique set of features and services. Some of the main public cloud service providers are:

• Microsoft Azure – cloud solution and a comprehensive platform that offers both PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), as well as a wide range of other features like Azure Active Directory and Azure SQL Database.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) – the market leader in the public cloud, offering a vast array of services spanning computing, storage, networking, databases, machine learning, and more.
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) – same as Azure and AWS, it offers a wide range of products and services for cloud computing, including machine learning, etc., more about benefits of AWS here.
• IBM Cloud – another solution that offers both PaaS and IaaS, plus a variety of other services and features.
• SAP Business Technology Platform – a solution that enables businesses to develop, extend, and run applications. Has taken over from the discontinued SAP Cloud Platform.
• DigitalOcean – a simple and powerful IaaS provider that’s popular among developers.

All of the above also provide private cloud services (usually virtual private clouds). There are also several providers, such as:

• VMware vCloud – a software-defined solution for data centers that’s built on top of VMware vSphere.
• Cisco Metapod – a turnkey OpenStack IaaS solution that’s available as an on-premises appliance or as a service from Cisco partners.
• Red Hat OpenStack Platform – an enterprise-grade solution for building private and hybrid clouds, based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the KVM hypervisor.
• Oracle Cloud@Customer – a solution that allows businesses to run Oracle cloud services on-premises, using the same hardware and software that’s used in Oracle’s public cloud.

Why Migrate to the Cloud? Key Reasons for Embarking on a Cloud Migration Journey

So why is cloud computing becoming so popular? There are many reasons, but we’ve outlined the main ones below.

Scalability – Prepare your Business for Growth

You can easily and quickly increase or decrease your resources – and, therefore, your business – as needed without having to make a significant upfront investment or worry about wasted capacity. This can be especially helpful for businesses that experience seasonal spikes in demand or those that are expecting to grow quickly.

Reduce Infrastructure Costs

Using a cloud service means that you no longer need to invest in and maintain your own hardware and software infrastructure, as these will be provided by your cloud provider. The pay-per-use model can provide significant savings if, for instance, your business case relies on fluctuating needs for digital operations. Not only does this produce upfront cost savings, but it can also lead to significant ongoing savings in terms of reduced electricity consumption.

Once on the cloud, you can further optimize your costs by following cloud costs optimization techniques.

Change to Operational Expenses Model

With cloud computing, you move from a capital expenses (CapEx) model to an operational expenses (OpEx) model. Paying only for the cloud resources you use on an as-needed basis can free up funds that can be used for other purposes, such as hiring new staff or investing in new equipment.

Increase Business Agility

Adding or upgrading hardware and software can be time-consuming and expensive in a traditional on-premises infrastructure. However, the flexible cloud server capacity of a cloud environment means that new resources can be provisioned quickly and easily, allowing businesses to respond quickly to changing market conditions or new opportunities.

Ensure Data Security and Compliance

With the rise of data breaches and other cyber threats, securing your data properly is more crucial than ever. Fortunately, many cloud platforms have enhanced security, data protection, and disaster recovery measures in place that comply with various industry regulations, giving you peace of mind knowing that your data is safe and sound.

Improve Data Accessibility and Powerup Collaboration

Unlike on-premises systems, the cloud makes it easy for employees to access the data and applications they need from anywhere, at any time. And with cloud-based collaboration tools, it’s easy for team members to work together on projects in real-time, no matter where they’re located.

Improve Performance, Availability, Reliability

Using state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure improves your business’s bottom line by reducing downtime and improving efficiency. Cloud providers also offer a variety of tools to help monitor and optimize performance, minimize downtime, as well as provide fault tolerance and data backup to help keep your business running smoothly.

Reduce Development Time

The cloud can help you speed up your software development cycle by providing a scalable and flexible platform for testing and deploying new applications. And because you’re not limited by the hardware constraints of on-premises systems, you can launch new features and services faster than ever before.

Enable Digital Transformation

Cloud computing is a key enabler of using technology to create new or improved business processes, products, and services. By migrating their on-premises data and legacy applications online, businesses can take advantage of the latest cloud technology to drive innovation and growth. Solutions like real-time analytics, stream processing, or advanced event-driven architectures that sync multiple sources and feed data to various systems are super-powerful patterns enabled by cloud environments.

Move Towards AI Maturity

The cloud can help companies of all sizes take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Being able to experiment with new cloud technology quickly and easily without having to make large upfront investments results in a shorter path to AI maturity.

Common Cloud Migration Challenges

Despite the many benefits of cloud migration, there are a few challenges that businesses need to be aware of before making the switch.

Security

Data safety is always a concern when moving to any new system, and the cloud is no exception. That’s why many cloud providers offer robust security features to help keep your data safe and maintain data integrity. However, you must still do your due diligence and research the security features of any potential provider before making a decision.

Cost

While the pay-as-you-go model of cloud computing can save businesses money in the long run, there is still often a significant (albeit reduced, as mentioned above) upfront cost associated with migrating to the cloud. As such, it’s a good idea to weigh up the money required to migrate against the potential cloud benefits (which include reduced operating costs) to see if moving to the cloud is likely to be the right choice for your business. Additionally, there is a certain virtue and expertise needed to architect your cloud computing solutions for cost savings. Cloud cost optimization is a task that you can outsource to an external cloud service consultant.

Complexity

Migrating to the cloud can be a complex process, and there is often a learning curve associated with using new cloud-based tools and applications. It’s necessary to clearly understand your business’s needs and objectives before coming up with a cloud migration strategy, as well as carefully planning each step to guarantee a smooth transition.

Vendor Lock-in

One of the potential risks of moving to the cloud is vendor lock-in, which can happen if a business becomes too reliant on a particular cloud provider. To avoid this, be careful to choose a provider that offers flexibility and the ability to switch if necessary.

Change Management

Anytime a business undergoes a major change, there is likely to be some level of resistance from employees. Put a plan in place to help manage the change and get everyone involved on board with the move to the cloud in advance of starting the cloud migration process.

Connectivity and Accessibility

To take full advantage of cloud-based applications and services, it is necessary always to maintain a high-speed internet connection in your business. Furthermore, employees must be able to access the applications and data they need from anywhere, at any time.

Training

Not every business has the in-house expertise in terms of skilled personnel required to migrate to the cloud successfully. This can result in costly errors being made during the process, or an inability to fully take advantage of all that the cloud has to offer once the migration is complete.

In such cases, it may be necessary to seek out the help of a professional cloud services consultant when it comes to thinking about the best cloud migration approach for your business.

Cloud Migration with Nexocode Experts

If you’re considering migrating to the cloud, our team of experts can help. Cloud is one of our core competencies. We have a wealth of experience at nexocode, helping businesses of all sizes with their cloud migrations and a variety of other AI-based solutions, which means we can work with your company on assessing its specific needs and objectives to develop a plan that’s right for you.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you take advantage of all the benefits of cloud adoption and use our migration tools and services to get started on the journey toward successful cloud migration planning and execution. What are you waiting for?