There’s a common misconception in the world of cloud computing and that is: “it’s all or nothing”; you either move all of your apps and processes to the cloud or you don’t bother at all. As a result, there are many modern business owners who are missing out on some critical cloud computing advantages.
The reality? You can switch as little or as much as you like to the cloud. How? By using a ‘hybrid cloud’ setup. But what is a hybrid cloud and who can benefit the most from this kind of setup? Read on and let’s find out…
What is a ‘hybrid cloud’?
The term hybrid cloud refers to storage and/or computing infrastructure that is made up of a mixture of both private and public cloud services – and indeed an on-premises structure.
So, in essence, a hybrid cloud setup allows businesses to enjoy ‘the best of both worlds’, utilising cloud based services where they can serve them best, while also keeping other operations within their own network / on-site infrastructure (or private cloud).
While this certainly can sound a little messy to some people, when organised and managed well, it can clear the way for superior flexibility.
There are several different types of ‘hybrid cloud’ setups, and they typically include two or more of the following:
- Public cloud: When your cloud computing / hosting is managed by a third party and is shared with other businesses over a public internet connection.
- On-site private cloud: When your cloud infrastructure is hosted on-site and used solely by your business.
- Hosted private cloud: When your cloud infrastructure is hosted offsite by a third party, though reserved solely for your business.
- On-site legacy: When you are using ‘traditional’ off-cloud infrastructure on-site with an internal data centre, etc.
So, the ‘hybrid’ comes in when you adopt several or more of the above setups. For example:
- You manage certain processes using on-site legacy systems, and then outsource the rest to public or private cloud services (e.g., internal CRM system with cloud hosting for your website and the utilisation of different cloud-based apps such as graphic design software, etc.).
Who can benefit the most from a hybrid cloud setup?
There are many businesses that can benefit from a hybrid cloud setup; here are a few industries that most commonly adopt a hybrid approach:
- Government
- Education
- Healthcare
- Finance
- Retail
While it’s easy to say that every business should transition to the cloud completely and leave their legacy systems behind, there are many factors at play. It’s not necessarily a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. However, with hybrid, businesses can start their transition to the cloud by using the services that make the most sense to them at the time, while keeping other processes or applications in-house, using the legacy systems that they are most comfortable with.
In a nutshell, hybrid cloud computing can buy your organisation time and allow you to invest in training your employees up on new cloud-based systems without throwing them in the deep end and expecting them to adapt to new structures and processes across the entire business in one fell swoop.
Final thoughts
Are you ready to test the water?
If certain shareholders have been pushing for a switch to cloud based computing while others are resistant, a hybrid cloud setup might provide an excellent opportunity to ‘meet half way’ and gauge the benefits without making too many changes to the way that you operate.
If you’d like to explore your options further, it’s worth looking at the best companies that offer cloud hosting in Australia, among many other cloud computing services that you can leverage to your advantage.