Why Do You Want to Migrate to the Cloud?
There are numerous reasons why enterprises want to migrate to the cloud these days. Some don’t have any reason at all. However, if you want to enjoy the benefits of cloud technology you must have a valid, cogent and strong reason to do so. Here are some reasons why organizations think of moving to cloud architecture.
Others are doing it
Human beings are supposed to be rational animals, but the irony is that we tend to follow what others are doing, even if it makes no sense. It’s the herd mentality. But this is the worst reason for any organization to embrace new technology like cloud computing. In most cases, a decision based on such inane criteria eventually ends in frustration. So it’s better to avoid this kind of temptation.
Cost considerations
Here we are on solid ground. Enterprises have to show that profit and cost considerations drive their decisions. And there are many ways in which cloud computing leads to cost cutting.
A direct comparison between the costs of a leased server and the cloud equivalent is the easiest way to ascertain the advantage of one over the other. There are some hidden cost savings which you might have overlooked. In the case of servers which belong to an enterprise and are hosted in a data center, it becomes a capital investment for tax purposes. This means that only a portion of investment can be claimed as expenditure for tax benefits. On the other hand, leased servers or cloud infrastructure are considered as operating expenses and the entire amount can be tax exempt. This can effectively save money for your organization. You must remember that depreciation benefits cannot be claimed if you opt for cloud infrastructure.
The cost of maintaining servers can be high. Server administrators demand a pretty salary and employing several techies can be a big expense in total. With cloud computing, you can mitigate this cost.
Scalability
I consider this to be one of the most legitimate reasons for anybody to consider cloud computing as an option. New enterprises and entrepreneurs face severe resource crunch and survival of these entities is at best tenuous. Under these circumstances, the benefit of instantaneous and seamless scalability becomes important. Venture capital firms always prefer to invest in companies which are agile and adopt technologies that don’t carry the burden of capex (capital expenditure). Consider GMO Cloud’s scalability features and pay-as-you-go model, which shows how the company sees the value of wise spending.
A new venture in the gaming arena can start with a frugal infrastructure in the cloud and scale up as and when required. The initial investment is minimal and with a bit of hard work, an entrepreneur can learn to manage his online infrastructure on his own.
Reliability
When all is said and done, even the most robust online infrastructure can and does go down once in a while – the cloud is no different. If your sole reason to migrate to the cloud is reliability, you must have an iron clad SLA (service level agreement) with your cloud provider. Even then, you have to keep your fingers crossed. Many cloud service providers promise the earth when signing on a customer but renege in crunch time. I say this from my own practical experience.
Conclusion
If you, as an enterprise, plan to migrate to the cloud, you must have a good reason to do so. Just because everyone is doing it is no reason for you to tag along. To avoid frustration, you must understand the reasons for migration. Proceeding blindly with a herd mentality can only lead to disappointment.
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About the Guest Author:
Sankarambadi Srinivasan, ‘Srini’, is a maverick writer, technopreneur, geek and online marketing enthusiast rolled into one. He began his career as a Naval weapon specialist. Later, he sold his maiden venture and became head of an offshore Database administration company in Mumbai. He moved on as Chief Technology Officer of one of the largest online entities, where he led consolidation of 300 online servers and introduced several Web 2.0 initiatives. He holds a Master’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication.
