Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering computing services over the internet. This can include servers, storage, databases, software, networking, analytics and intelligence.
“The cloud” is a system of managing IT resources that substitutes private data centres and local machines with virtual infrastructure.
Users access virtual compute, network and storage resources made accessible by a remote provider online like AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure or Xenex Cloud. These resources can be facilitated immediately, which is mainly useful for businesses needing to scale infrastructure quickly when there is a change in demand.
Deploying a Managed IT Services provider to transition IT operations over to the cloud can have huge advantages over managing them in-house.
The benefits of Cloud Computing
Lower investment upfront
A large portion of the IT budget becomes an operating expense rather than an upfront cost. Your business will eliminate the need to set up expensive infrastructure prior to opening or embarking on new projects.
Cost efficiency
Both small businesses and large enterprises can reap the same benefits from the large economies of scale achieved by cloud providers. Cloud service providers maximise the amount of utilised hardware which conserves energy and other costs. These savings can then be passed onto your customers.
Scalability
The workload size can be increased within existing infrastructure (hardware, software, etc.) without impacting the performance. Scalability can either be vertical (scale-up within a system) or horizontal (scale-out multiple systems in most cases but not always linearly). Applications have the room to scale up or out to prevent a lack of resources from hindering performance. Your IT service provider will know if you no longer need resources and will scale down the infrastructure statically to support a new smaller environment. Either increasing or decreasing services and resources, they plan this static event for the worse case workload scenario.
Elastic capacity
Cloud computing allows your infrastructure resources to grow and shrink dynamically as needed to adapt to workload changes in an autonomic manner, maximizing the use of resources. Increased elasticity means that costs and capacity can be ramped down in times of light demand. However, environments that do not experience sudden or cyclical changes in demand may bot benefit from the cost savings elastic services offer. It has to be a case with all resources in the infrastructure elastic. It depends on your environment.
Collaboration efficiency
A more remote workforce helps means work-at-home, and part-time employee solutions. Cloud collaboration allows people to work together on documents, simultaneously. The advantage is that it allows people to share and edit projects at the same time across different locations. Cloud collaboration applications like Office 365 include communication and accessibility tools. These allow users to see who else is working on the project and limit who can view and edit the document and cloud-based accounting systems like Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks save companies time and money. You have a clear view of your current financial position in real-time.
Easier to innovate
Cloud computing often paves a smoother path of innovation, for the Managed IT team and across the business at large. Operational burdens like “racking and stacking” are removed meaning IT teams can focus on business process improvements. Staff can quickly resource trial programs cheaply and then build them up or scale them down minus the burden of in-depth infrastructure planning or long-term upfront investment.
Access to automatic updates
Updates and resources can be implemented in a standardised, automated fashion. This eliminates inconsistencies and the need for manual updates whilst increasing accessibility. There’s no need for teams to maintain data centre facilities or servers.
Improved business continuity
The virtualised nature of cloud computing infrastructure means that creating backup copies of data and operating systems can be automated. This means much better availability and data protection than most on-premises systems.
Portable/flexibility of workplaces
Your cloud can be accessed from anywhere in the world where you have internet. This is a perfect option for flexible office hours and high mobility.
Better Cybersecurity
Cloud comes with services like strong authentication, encryption, and audit logging. In addition to offsetting the fear highlighted above through good security practices by the cloud security vendor, your IT service provider can take a step further. Not only can you secure your data within the cloud, but also leverage the transformative cloud industry to secure the endpoint users.
Managed IT Service provider in Perth
It’s very clear that there are huge and ongoing benefits of deploying a Managed IT Services provider to transition IT operations over to the cloud on AWS. Contact the friendly team at Xenex Systems today to book your complimentary audit!