This is how to choose your Enterprise Cloud

Enterprise Cloud has become the bedrock of digital business. Or so you’ve heard from the millions of cloud-adopting SMEs, larger organisations, global corporations and the entire IT industry the world over.

Yet, you can’t deny that cloud has entirely restructured our online commercial infrastructure which has left many wondering, ‘Why am I not in the cloud?’

One Cloud (does not) fit all

If you are considering the move, understand that there is no such thing as a resilient ‘out-of-the-box’ cloud. There are many kinds of cloud. And despite what many providers will claim, your cloud infrastructure will still need a various level of customisation and configuration.

This is because businesses come in many shapes and sizes, verticals and industries, not to mention levels of maturity and legacy.

Firstly, you need to understand your business needs. Here are a few questions you should consider:

• Do you have a strict company data governance policy?
• Will you need both an on-premise and off-site location?
• Has your organisation invested in infrastructure you would like relocated to a cloud?
• Is cost-efficiency a key priority? Does your organisation prefer OPEX or CAPEX investments in IT?

We have compiled the main pillars of enterprise cloud, the differentiators between various cloud infrastructures and some tips on how to choose one cloud over another.

What is Public or Hyper-scale Cloud?

Incorporating IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, public cloud is a fully virtualised environment that stores your data across multiple data centres under the public cloud provider’s remit.

Differentiator: Public cloud can offer granular usage with per second billing on a global scale with access to public cloud provider’s applications, like Azure, AWS or Google Cloud Platform.

What is Private Cloud?

Private cloud computing is dedicated infrastructure (IaaS) serving a single-tenant environment where the hardware, storage and network are owned solely by your business.

Differentiator: There is a physical separation between customers with no shared components and it is customisable to meet the organisation’s requirements.

What is Multi-tenant Cloud?

Multi-tenant cloud shares out the physical computing resources by running isolated virtual domains to securely separate customer data and traffic at the compute, storage and network layers.

Differentiator: Known often as enterprise public cloud, Digital Planet’s multi-tenant cloud architecture delivers the experience of a dedicated cloud without the cost or minimum commitment term. This is because we can draw from our large pool of existing private cloud resources.

What is Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid cloud connects your onsite private infrastructure with your choice of private, public or multi-tenant cloud to create a unique hybrid environment. Customers can also avail of a hybrid of different cloud types. For example, an organisation could combine private and public cloud services to allow the consumption of the global capabilities of a public hyper-scale cloud with the peace of mind of private cloud for those sensitive workloads through one single pane of glass.

Differentiator: The ability to merge your onsite infrastructure with your cloud under one single pane of glass, which is completely customisable, or the ability to merge and consume multiple cloud types under one single pane of glass.

TIP: If you want to move to the cloud but you have invested in your onsite kit, Digital Planet is also able to relocate your infrastructure into our data centre with our Managed Co-location.

What’s your Enterprise Cloud strategy?

Understanding the various forms of cloud and what sets them apart is one thing. Knowing which cloud will suit your business needs is another.

Public

Public offers the world, literally in terms of its global scalability infrastructure. It would possibly be the right fit if you need to perform across different global locations, not to mention faster ‘out of the box’ deployments.

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve been locked in with one public cloud vendor, it can be quite hard to move your data away. Digital Planet is vendor-neutral, so we design your public offering around your provider preferences with Enterprise-level support services.

Private

If you are considering a cloud infrastructure with complete physical separation from other customers, this type of cloud would suit your organisation. If you have a strict company data policy, or a Government body handling sensitive personal data on behalf of the public, this type of cloud would satisfy those compliance policies.

TIP: Know where your data is stored geographically. With a public provider, you relinquish control of where your data is stored; you pick a region and your data could then replicate to multiple locations. With Digital Planet, you pick a data centre and it remains there.

Multi-tenant

Delivering flexibility for commercials as its no.1 prerogative, multi-tenancy will work for organisations that change regularly, such as an organisation that frequently performs mergers acquisitions or divestiture. Your price point will fluctuate with your size of tenancy so if your company divests often, you can avail of technical and commercial flexibility with the ability rapidly grow or consolidate your IT infrastructure. This type of cloud is often suggested as the gateway to cloud as it eliminates the need for on-site infrastructure without the requirement for organisations to radically transform their IT systems, minimising disruption to the organisation.

Hybrid

Hybrid can work if you have an infrastructure investment that needs to remain onsite, yet you need the flexibility and scalability of the cloud. Examples include manufacturing or if your business users need to be close to the data or compute. This suits companies with global offices that require infrastructure at each location, or even if you need to open a new office that needs to fit into your existing physical onsite requirements.

It might be the case that your business is NOT ready for the cloud. That’s perfectly fine. It’s better to make the move to the right cloud, rather than landing on a platform that doesn’t fit your needs. If you want to explore your options or know more about any enterprise cloud, contact our Digital Planet cloud team today.