Cloud technology is considered a key enabler of Digital Transformation, with many businesses having adopted such tools to enable them to survive and thrive during the last 12 months. Now, as economies continue to recover and various restrictions are eased, organisations need to focus on the long-term. Massimo Bandinelli, Marketing Manager at Aruba Enterprise, tells us this should include building resilient cloud infrastructures – not just relying on public cloud solutions. Here, he looks at cloud in more detail and tells us why bespoke enterprise-scale solutions should be the focus in 2021.
In the modern era of IT, cloud is driving Digital Transformation for businesses and enabling the world to adapt to emerging challenges, such as those posed by the global pandemic in 2020. Enterprises from various sectors have relied on cloud and data centre services to achieve a strong and reliable infrastructure to support the surge in demand from employees and customers. As we enter 2021 and lockdowns begin to lift, businesses around the world need to focus on adapting to this lasting change by building resilient cloud infrastructures and not just relying on public cloud solutions.
It’s common for businesses to rely on the public cloud to solve modern challenges thanks to its cost-effective entry point and accessibility. However, one size certainly doesn’t fit all and, for enterprises specifically, the public cloud might not be the best solution. Enterprises that use the public cloud for large parts of their IT must adapt their infrastructure to suit an external provider’s cloud platform and while doing so exposing themselves to the risk of vendor lock-in. Although public cloud solutions can seem inviting due to the initial attractive price point, enterprises must remember to look at the bigger picture and identify solutions that meet all their needs.
The larger an enterprise, the more complex its IT demands are, which is why a one size fits all approach typically doesn’t work. To get the most out of their IT investments, businesses need to consider bespoke enterprise cloud solutions. With this approach, enterprises can benefit from:
- Hybrid solutions
This guarantees the possibility of integrating private or dedicated cloud services and physical hardware into technological infrastructure ‘as-a-service’. The development of hybrid solutions means businesses can respond as effectively as possible to complex demands, which the public cloud alone would not be able to fully meet.
- Certification on platforms and equipment
Every territory and industry around the world have varying regulations and standards when it comes to data. By adopting a bespoke enterprise cloud solution, IT leaders can ensure they fully comply with a wide range of different regional and industry standards. This is more achievable with bespoke solutions, as the development of hybrid infrastructure makes it possible to design complex architectures with certified devices that would not be possible in public environments.
- Data protection and security
Data protection, backup and Disaster Recovery services are crucial in the modern IT environment for IT and data security. Virtualised cloud-based backup and Disaster Recovery services delivered through enterprise cloud solutions – together with dedicated appliance-based backup infrastructure – offer practical technical measures to boost IT infrastructure security.
We recently ran a survey in partnership with CIONET Italia to find out more about the uptake of digitised processes in 2021 and the latest cloud trends. As a technology, the use and implementation of cloud has been pushed to its limits during the pandemic. Before March 2020, 25% of respondents claimed to have had some form of cloud infrastructure deployed within their company and 44% claimed that cloud as a technology was part of their daily operations. Furthermore, 59% claimed that cloud was essential to the smooth running of their operations. Clear indications that we’re likely to see a rise in the adoption of cloud technologies in 2021.
With the use of cloud likely to continue evolving in 2021, it’s clear that the hybrid approach strikes the right balance between greater flexibility, more deployment options, security and compliance. However, enterprises with higher volumes of trading and transactions need a more bespoke private option. With that comes more control, scalability and flexibility in managing data, which in today’s post-pandemic landscape can make a big difference. However, businesses looking to transition to the cloud need to also factor in the impact of data sovereignty.
This is the concept that digital data is subject to the laws of the country in which it is processed. It applies to not only the countries in the European Union (EU), but to companies that have data from organisations or people residing in the EU. These regulations can impose some restrictions for organisations that conduct international business and are executing a cloud-first approach.
By deploying a bespoke enterprise-scale cloud solution, it can help solve many of the challenges that it poses, such as customisation and security. With a private cloud, companies can choose their own infrastructure with specific storage and networking characteristics, so that all requirements are met perfectly. In addition, the improved level of security is a big bonus, especially as it ticks a big box for data privacy requirements.
With this bespoke option, companies do not have to worry about the physical security of the infrastructure. They also do not have to mind compliance matters, as the private cloud can be deployed in accordance with any retention and access-control policies. A win-win for all involved.
Ultimately, companies need to measure and assess their data needs and figure out the solution that best suits them. With more customers comes more data and with more data comes the need for more storage space, which in a time of crisis such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, will push current models to their limits.
Deploying bespoke, enterprise-scale solutions offers an effective way of meeting these challenges. That is why more enterprises will assess bespoke cloud options in 2021 to ensure they can continue to operate efficiently and grow in the future.