Midsized organizations in particular find that moving to the cloud can provide the agility, innovation and flexibility needed to lead in their industries. And many are ready to make cloud a reality— if, and only if, they have a secure, reliable and cost-effective way to bring cloud into their organizations. Compelling as the benefits may be, it can be challenging to find the right path to cloud when you need both the security of a private cloud and the fast time to value of a public cloud.
Which cloud option fits best?
Option 1: Private cloud, offering a higher level of security and enabling better compliance with regulations and standards. But it requires additional capital expenses (CAPEX) as well as investment in hardware assets and tools.
Option 2: Public cloud, which requires no CAPEX and offers faster time to value; but this option falls short when it comes to security, reliability and regulatory compliance. In IDC’s 2014 CloudView Survey, 52 percent of respondents identified security as an inhibitor to public cloud adoption, while 34 percent expressed reliability and service availability concerns.
Option 3: Virtual automation or managed private cloud services, serves as cost-efficient alternative that better align with cloud and business requirements. This option bridges private and public cloud models— giving organizations the flexibility to adopt cloud more quickly and efficiently, without the hassle and risk of managing a private cloud and with all the ease of subscribing to a public cloud service.
With managed private clouds, businesses can address the organizational issues, complexity and high costs associated with private clouds. They can also prepare for the future viability of private cloud solutions. According to Gartner’s Planning Guide for Cloud Computing, “the emergence of virtual automation, hosted private clouds and private PaaS frameworks will put into question the viability of internal, private cloud IaaS solutions.”
This deployment model also enables organizations that are still uncertain about cloud, likely due to workload dependencies, current business strategies and costs, to test the waters without any significant commitment. In addition, a managed private cloud not only allows them to preserve their existing IT environment, but it can also support any future hybrid cloud agenda they may have.
Conclusion:
There is an alternative to public and private clouds: managed private cloud services. Prepackaged, managed hosting services can provide the best of both worlds—bridging the gaps existing cloud deployment models leave, to hit the right balance of risk and investment. With managed private cloud services, small to mid-sized businesses can adopt cloud with speed and agility.
Schedule a consultation today to learn how Flagship can help you design and implement a managed private cloud solution that is simple and efficient for your specific needs.
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