With the advent of cloud computing, there has been a push for businesses who want to be sleek and modern to join the cloud computing community. However, many businesses struggle to figure out how to join the cloud when they might have policies in place for security that prevent them from doing so, or they just don’t have the internet connectivity to base their entire business out of the cloud. This is where hybrid cloud computing comes into play.
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What Is Hybrid Cloud Computing?
Hybrid cloud computing services are what most businesses are participating in right now. It’s the act of combining both the traditional in-house operations with cloud computing software to come up with a hybrid business operations model. For example, a business may not be able to upload certain private information to the cloud in order to comply with their country’s privacy laws, and so they must use software to record that data, but they can use cloud computing software for their accounting department.
Why Should My Business Use Hybrid Cloud Computing Services?
It used to be that an affordable, manageable cloud-computing service was not an option for small to medium-sized businesses. It was a feature only large businesses were interested in pursuing, but times have changed, and so have the benefits of using hybrid cloud computing in business.
1. Adaptive to Individual Business’ Purposes
Hybrid clouds offer businesses the option of adapting their in-house and cloud software to fit their needs. By utilizing both in-house software and equipment and farming out to cloud software and equipment, they get to control how much of their business is on the cloud and how much of it is in-house. Businesses are able to combine public clouds, private clouds, and dedicated servers all to work together seamlessly to provide them with one platform that fits their unique needs.
For example, a healthcare provider is able to run their website in the cloud and provide services to their patients through a cloud platform, but they keep their medical records on a private server at the office. A company that provides upload and download services to their clients is able to control how much bandwidth comes from their cloud and how much bandwidth is utilized by their private servers.
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2. Cost Benefits
It’s not a secret that by utilizing cloud-based software and services, a business is able to save money. An IT professional no longer has to be on staff full-time, and most services offer 24/7 technical support to their customers. In most cases, subscribing to a service offered through a cloud platform is less expensive than purchasing the software outright, allowing startups and small businesses to join the cloud environment without having to shell out a lot of their hard-earned income.
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3. Enhanced Security
Many business owners worry that by putting information in the cloud, they are exposing their business to undesirables. However, combing dedicated cloud resources with in-house resources addresses numerous security and compliance trepidations.
The security of a customer transaction and personal information is the most important consideration for all businesses. Historically, businesses used to have to worry about compliance requirements when they were taking payments from clients and customers, meaning they had to take payments on hardware that was isolated and dedicated to that sole purpose. However, hybrid clouds allow businesses to adhere to these requirements without having to disconnect from the cloud entirely.
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4. It’s Innovation at its Finest
There’s no doubt that the cloud is here to stay for good. Clients and customers are actively seeking businesses that offer cloud supported options and services. By participating in the new cloud environment with a hybrid cloud, a business takes the step in the right direction by showing their customers the business is modern and sleek.
The hybrid cloud will allow a business to access many public cloud resources, test out new software and technologies quickly, and the chance to enlarge their market share without having to fork out a huge upfront investment. A hybrid cloud will benefit any business online, and it will make doing business much easier. This allows the business owners to spend more time worrying about how to advertise and market to obtain more customers rather than having to worry about their in-house equipment and software.
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