Which one should you choose? - Private, Public, Hybrid or Multi-Cloud?

To get the best value out of a Cloud solution, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of current solutions, identify the business objectives these solutions are failing to meet, and evaluate those results to define a Cloud solution that truly suits your organization and its goals the best.

Below is a quick overview of the different types of available Cloud solutions and what may be the best fit for individual use case.

4 main types of cloud computing

• Public Cloud – IT services are maintained and hosted by an external provider. Delivered digitally and shared across organizations. For instance, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud. Public cloud offers vast choices in terms of solutions and computing resources to address the growing needs of organizations of all sizes and verticals.
• Private Cloud – Cloud computing dedicated for (use by) only one business or organization, has a secure private network and is not accessible to outsiders. Private clouds are often used by financial institutions, government and any other mid- to large-sized organizations with business-critical operations seeking enhanced control over their environment.
• Hybrid Cloud – Type of cloud computing that uses both public and private Clouds. In highly regulated industries, data residency requirements may require certain sets of data to be kept on-premise, while other workloads can be located in the public cloud.
  
  
• Multi-Cloud - A cloud approach utilizing more than two cloud service, from more than one cloud vendor—public or private across several cloud-hosting environments. Having multiple clouds is becoming more common across enterprises that seek to improve security and performance through an expanded portfolio of environments.

Many considerations go into managing different applications because of their requirements. It is critical to decide which Cloud solution - public or private - to deploy. We will therefore compare the advantages and disadvantages associated with these solutions when it comes to cost, maintenance, scalability, reliability, and security:

Cost

Despite the fact that any transition from one cloud environment to another usually incurs certain costs (such as costs for management, integration, data transfers, and platforms), transitioning to a new cloud environment can be a good way to save on IT spend overall. In general, public cloud services have more flexible pricing structures than private cloud services. However, the total cost of the cloud service depends heavily on the needs of the organization, making it difficult to say that one type of cloud service generally requires a bigger investment than the other.

Maintenance

As a customer of a public cloud solution, you obviously do not need to think about maintenance. The provider takes care of maintenance and manages the infrastructure. For private cloud, on the other hand, one must be aware that it requires good planning and expertise and can entail extra costs if one is to upgrade the infrastructure without affecting business processes.

In a hybrid cloud, there are strategies and tools that can help simplify the maintenance and management of a hybrid environment. These are methods that create a streamlined approach across environments, where a cloud service provider can help.

A cloud service provider is required to maintain a multi-cloud solution. This can lead to complications and force an adaptation of the processes as the companies' data is moved across different cloud platforms.

Scalability

Public cloud solutions are highly flexible and scalable and can meet changing workloads by increasing or decreasing the resources required at any given time. For private cloud solutions, however, limited scalability can make it difficult to meet unforeseen needs. The capacity of local data centres can be a limiting resource.

Hybrid cloud provides more resource opportunities via public cloud providers, compared to a physical data center. Therefore, the hybrid solution makes it easier to supply, implement, and scale resources to meet periods of increased demand.

For multi-cloud, scalability is about being able to provide flexibility in the form of keeping an application in a private cloud infrastructure but combined with the ability to move to a public cloud to gain extra capacity if necessary.

Reliability and security

Public cloud solutions are characterized as highly reliable and consist of a large network of servers that ensure that errors are avoided. For a private cloud platform, the reliability aspect is often affected by the fact that mobile users may have limited access, due to strict security measures.

A hybrid cloud approach provides both predictability, increased reliability, and better security, since the most sensitive data can be stored in a more closed and controlled private cloud environment, as an extra layer of security.

The multi-cloud approach can help you reduce the chances of major IT disasters, as not all eggs are laid in the same basket. Thus, it also ensures better reliability.

You need a cloud partner

It is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the various cloud models and to be aware that many companies must continue to relate in full or partly to traditional operating models. Then the choice of cloud platform can be a consequence of the individual company's application portfolio. Many people rely on applications that can not be moved, or that there is nothing to gain from moving to the cloud. Then the right focus should be application modernization.

TietoEVRY helps large and small businesses in various industries to make these choices, and transition seamlessly to the Cloud. 

Book a Cloud Discovery & Assessment with us here.