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The advantages of the cloud, including lower capital costs, a high level of scalability and agility, business efficiencies or competitive advantages are quite compelling. Not so long ago, it was even predicted that companies would move their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud and leave nothing on-premises. As expected, that never happened. Instead, many companies have opted for a hybrid approach, a combination that brings together both cloud and on-premises. It’s noticed that often the management of hybrid cloud infrastructures gets challenging for organizations, whether its when it comes to compliance with strict regulatory requirements and legal provisions or the issues related to IT security, the move to cloud becomes a difficult choice to make. Known challenges of hybrid cloud management that companies face are listed below.

It seems that while many companies have made a long-term decision that “the cloud” is the future, they have since been disappointed by IT manufacturers and suppliers regarding the migration process. Many technology vendors have not made a conscious move toward cloud, meaning their older solutions are not cloud-ready and their newer ones are often cloud-only. This makes the transition very difficult for the companies as it involves a sudden cut in the operating, utilization and cost model.

Retrieving data from the cloud is expensive thus cloud storage becomes more expensive than companies initially assume when implementing it. Organizations must first understand what they expect from the data stored in the cloud. If they want to enable granular recovery, analysis and management of this data, then there are more aspects to consider than just moving data in bulk from on-premise storage. It’s all about the ‘’data’’, so cloud data management is key – regardless of the platform.

Cloud storage may lead to a lack of transparency regarding hardware and operations if hardware visibility isignored. There has to be some kind of gateway to the cloud. This needs to be an intelligent device that owns and understands the metadata of the content residing in the cloud. If this solution is not robust and intelligent, the company will be blind to the content. As for the hardware used in the cloud, usually the provider will takescare of that. Most major cloud storage solution providers have robust and scalable solutions that can be trusted. Also inadequate security processes can lead a well-designed cloud initiative into a disaster. Often the cloud providers also operate an integral risk management system so that it can measure and derive risks for customers.

If data is growing at very high levels, most likely the cloud storage is a sustainable model. The simple economies of scale mean that the cloud is always cost-effective when used properly. A mix of on-premises and public cloud enables a very scalable and cost-effective approach to large-scale storage. Thus, whenorganizations have these controls in place, managing a hybrid cloud is easy.

The future lies in using a cloud data management platform that is independent of the end storage environment. When organizations have an in-place solution for holding the metadata, the final location of the data is almost irrelevant as long as it meets security and reliability requirements.

The increasing complexity of enterprise networks with their heterogeneous mix of cloud and on-premises technologies & security systems are considered one of the main hurdles for companies. Xorlogics offers companies a holistic solution for their cloud implementation and aids them to move forward with their public and hybrid cloud strategies at different speeds. Our motto is to help companies to meet all business requirements and to keep their company competitive over the long term. One should not underestimate the importance of an experienced team and proven solutions for teh right cloud adoption, integration & migtation.

The hybrid cloud combines both public and private clouds. The aim of the hybrid cloud is to offer an elevated level of security by combining both clouds.

You can continue reading to find out what additional opportunities the hybrid cloud provides.

• Flexible access to data

Customers can exploit the hybrid cloud solutions to access their data for free, just like with the public cloud. Take the free email services, for instance. The public cloud is used to access these. This model provides capacity for storage and computational power for business data and software such as Office. The benefit is that a company’s personnel may access the data from any location. Most hardware and software may be saved by businesses, which also eases the stress of managing IT. Additionally, it ensures that workers have access to the most recent software updates.

• Scalable computer capacities

Hybrid clouds may be tailored for users, just like public clouds. Only with a few clicks, the cloud can be altered. Companies may boost their computer capacity on demand by using the cloud. This increase is perfectly adaptable to particular situations since it is possible to reduce it again. Only the duration that the extra capacity is actually used is invoiced.  A public cloud may be set up and maintained with extraordinarily little technical IT expertise. You may quickly and simply incorporate the public cloud into your business.

• Enhanced security

High levels of security are one of the biggest benefits of a private cloud. It allows access to sensitive corporate information and corporate applications to a limited audience via protected lines. Providing increased protection against unauthorized users and external parties. Within the network, the data is kept in a centralized location. Storing and removal are fully under the company’s control and supervision. Additionally, internal network synchronization is quicker than Internet synchronization.

• Advanced IT Services

Cloud services offer small firms the opportunity to use sophisticated, high-quality IT applications that were traditionally mainly accessible to large organizations, with very little effort and at a cheap cost. You may release resources while also gaining a significant competitive edge with the help of cloud services. This increases both the ability to innovate and the concentration on the core business.

• Always up to date

Since public cloud providers always give consumers the most recent functionalities, cloud computing provides a strong and constant IT infrastructure.

• Hybrid work models

Working from any place is becoming an increasingly popular practice. This is no longer an issue because the hybrid cloud allows access from everywhere. You may access cloud data from any location, including your home, business, or from your vacations, as long as you have an internet connection and a laptop with you. As remote implementation of cloud solutions is comparatively simple, the setup can be done without you being physically present. The ability to conduct training in person is also made possible by increasing the use of video conferencing and collaboration technologies and improved standards.

Conclusion

There is currently growing interest in hybrid cloud models that combine on-premises and off-premises resources and thus offer the cost efficiency of a public cloud and the flexibility of a private cloud for the implementation of company requirements. Thanks to the hybrid cloud Companies are able to distribute workloads across the different clouds at the best price by gaining transparency in their hybrid cloud and ensuring consistent data management. However, the implementation of such a hybrid cloud strategy always requires an approach that has been thought through down to the last detail. This is the only way to ensure sustainable and long-term success.

Cloud computing has transformed the way companies around the world do business in ways that many people don’t even realize. Cloud and cloud computing are long-running and the demand for infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service is booming. Nevertheless, multiple reports show the pitfalls of cloud migrations from entire infrastructures or application landscapes. In multiple cases, a cloud migration from planning to go-live can take up to two years. The pitfalls of cloud computing lie in subtle elements such as different billing modalities of cloud providers and technical defaults in their own IT infrastructures. These elements can quickly destroy cost advantages unless IT specialists within the company do their homework and guard themselves against evil surprises.

From the experience that Xorlogics has gained in its projects regarding cloud migration, five essential recommendations emerge that are decisive for the success or failure of cloud migration.

• There’s a common misconception among IT managers in small and medium-sized businesses that the public cloud inevitably cuts costs and generates the best returns. All investment decisions should be fundamentally based on facts, instead of relying upon one’s gut feeling. The actual costs of public versus hosted private cloud must be studied in detail. Most companies and private IT users now rely on the ubiquitous cloud – both at home and at work. The pros and cons of the cloud are well known. But the hidden costs can sometimes become very painful. It’s particularly important for decision-makers in companies to carefully check the front end to avoid unpleasant surprises later.

• When it comes to the in-depth planning of when and which workloads should be migrated to the cloud, the existing managed contractual obligations that are connected to the existing data center are overlooked. This begins with rental contracts and ongoing depreciation of the hardware as well as their maintenance and support contracts. It is therefore important to use the terms to clarify the total costs of such on-premises contracts in advance, which accumulate in parallel to cloud operation. This enables a realistic cost-benefit calculation of the migration to the cloud and eases the decision of which steps and in which order the changeover should take place.

• Most public cloud providers can meet all common cloud requirements from a single source. The costs and services vary, however, and relying on a single cloud provider can be very risky. Instead of relying on one provider, a multi-cloud environment is beneficial for the long term. According to a study by Accenture, out of enterprises that have already moved to the cloud, 93% have adopted a multi-cloud  environment that promises data security for companies by encoding data with specific techniques and distributing it across different clouds for greater protection against hacker attacks and data loss. Companies – willingly or not- are confronted with the requirements to adopt multi-cloud management. Those who are technically and organizationally prepared with appropriate solutions, experts and processes avoid cost traps – for example through workload analyses for better forecasts, rightsizing and the optimization of costs, the active use of the elasticity of cloud capacities for load peaks, or through monitoring unused services or anomalies in consumption identified.

• Alignment of IT resources with their cost can determine the profitability and allocation of cost per department or user. When estimating costs and planning budgets for cloud services, it is essential to understand how individual cloud providers measure the use of their resources and which criteria are used for billing – this ranges from hourly billing for the use of individual instances to costs based on data volume and outgoing data traffic in gigabytes per month, with different commitments. This means that companies should study in detail which cloud capacities, in which qualities, and over which periods of time, the various phases of cloud migration, must be planned.

• Of the many possible expensive changes for cloud migrations, two should be particularly highlighted, which can be avoided in advance by careful examination. The first one is the popular “lift & shift” approach, in which applications and data are transferred to the cloud quickly, without any adjustments. A cheap way that can lead to an unexpected cost explosion, such as the costs of the public cloud infrastructure & architecture adjustments for the cloud, followed by the considerable project planning effort. Another cost factor can arise from old systems or legacy systems, which for technical reasons cannot simply be migrated, but which must be kept with their data – mostly for legal reasons. The result: On-premises resources cannot be switched off to the planned extent and continue to burden IT budgets.

Understanding the difference between several types of cloud computing and identifying which one is the right fit for a growing business is tremendously important. The implementation of cloud strategies is associated with a complex interplay between consumption and costs, which is characterized by various technical and economic variables that change dynamically. Therefore, the IT and financial teams must work together to monitor all processes and systems that should be implemented at the same time as cloud migration. Some companies may not be used to this at first, but it helps sustainably to realize the optimal economic added value from cloud initiatives.

Sources :

• 6 Ways Cloud Migration Costs Go Off the Rails
• Overview of Cloud Billing concepts