In an era where every business is striving to optimize profits and lower costs, employing the services of a cloud solution provider is the way to go. The role of a cloud service provider is to oversee the overall performance of your business. Nonetheless, the type of a cloud solution provider you decide to settle on will depend on several factors. Whatever it is you decide to use in your business, make sure it optimizes profits at the lowest costs.
Why Businesses Use Cloud
Taking this route will offer the following benefits to your business:
- Accessing the internet at reduced costs
- Freedom to upgrade the package at any time you want
- Be able to work remotely and be in a position to monitor what’s going on in the office.
- Secure data will be well taken care of and no need for a backup plan
- Increased productivity
Moreover, today thanks to the advancement in technology, it’s very easy to store and retrieve data from the virtual cloud platforms. You don’t have to save your files in one location. With a good and stable internet connection, you are assured of retrieving your data from anywhere and at any time.
What is a Cloud Solution Provider?
A cloud-managed service provider is a firm that covers all IT management and technical support for businesses that have implemented cloud-based services. For instance, if you have a hybrid cloud system, a cloud-managed service provider will offer assistance that improves your business operations, boost security, and create management solutions to simplify your work.
Cloud solution providers are categorized as either public or managed private cloud. Public providers are those companies that possess the hardware that they use to make available the infrastructure. On the other hand, being under a managed private cloud means that you are using a cloud that’s configured and managed by someone else rather than the company providing it to you.
The type of cloud solution you settle for is determined by several factors such as the cost, business goals, security, and certification, among others.
Categorization of Cloud Solutions
Cloud Solution Providers offer the following three types of services to the customers.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
This form of a cloud-based service entails accessing an application through the internet browser rather than downloading the software to your desktop or PC.
Advantages of Software-as-a-Service
- There is no initial investment required to run it hence offers lower costs upfront
- The system is highly compatible
- It’s easily accessible
- The application can also be used on mobile devices
- It can be updated centrally without affecting business operations for users
Shortcomings of Software-as-a-Service
- They must have an internet connection to function
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
With this type of cloud solution provider, you need not buy expensive IT hardware but instead pay for virtual server resources according to your needs. Additionally, the software to manage it all is provided in the package.
Additionally, with PaaS, you do not have to worry about limits either in terms of computing power or cloud storage.
Pros of PaaS
- Everything is run through a single platform making data analysis, reporting and analytics much easier and simpler to work with
- It is economical as you do not have high upfront costs to start with
- PaaS cloud solution provider is efficient
- It’s not limited to space.
Cons of PaaS
- It requires expertise to set up
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
This model offers virtualized computing resources over the internet. Under this model, the service provider delivers infrastructure components that would otherwise exist in an on a premises data centre. Components in this layer could include servers, storage and networking as well as the virtualization layer.
It also suppliers a range of services to accompany those infrastructure components. These include detailed billing, monitoring, log access, security, load balancing and clustering as well as storage resilience, for example, back up, replication and recovery.
Customers under this model access resources and services through a wide area network and can use the cloud provider’s services to install the remaining elements of an application stalk.
Advantages of IaaF
- It is easier and faster to operate a workload without necessarily having to purchase the infrastructure.
- It is effective for workloads that are temporary, experimental or that change unexpectedly.
- It possesses a flexible pay as you go, model.
Shortcomings of IaaF
- The billing can be a problem for some businesses because of its granular nature.
- Lack of transparency in configuration and performance details.
Pointivity Can Help
Our engineers are here to help you drive your business forward with Azure Cloud. We help determine the right implementation strategy and customize Azure software to meet your business needs along with providing after-implementation support. Contact us today and find out why businesses trust us with keeping their businesses running smoothly and securely.
