Over the past decade, the shift from a traditional IT infrastructure to cloud-based computing has been rapid, with many companies embracing cloud migration. In the coming years, cloud services will dominate – they are already quickly overtaking on-premise in-house traditional IT systems as a reliable, scalable, cost-effective IT solution. Here we look at how cloud transformation can help address some of the challenges businesses face when entering the early stages of growth and scalability.
One of the most significant benefits of cloud transformation is the flexibility it offers businesses, particularly where hard-earned growth is just beginning to take off. Traditional IT infrastructures endure challenges that can be extremely costly in time and money as the company grows.
Let’s take an example; as the number of employees increases, so does the volume of traffic on the network and data usage. With a traditional IT infrastructure, the only alternative solution is to rent or purchase additional hardware, which can be costly in terms of the initial acquisition and ongoing maintenance costs. The on-demand space of cloud computing has virtually unlimited storage space and server resources, meaning it is infinitely scalable, so you can scale up or down depending on the level of demand.
Moreover, it is more cost-effective than traditional IT infrastructure due to payment methods for data storage services. With cloud-based services, you only pay for what is used – similar to how you’d pay your utility bills, and the decreased downtime means enhanced workplace performance and increased profits in the long run. Cloud also allows businesses to support a hybrid working environment, where applications are available from anywhere, and employees can be as productive from the train as they are at the office.
However, the move to the cloud isn’t without its challenges.
Infinite scale brings with it multiple security challenges. As each new virtual server or appliance is deployed, with potentially critical data stored, how do you ensure that access to that data is correctly managed? How do you ensure that the correct security policy is applied to every new cloud workload? With cloud applications inherently accessible from anywhere, how do you police an equally infinite security perimeter? How do you monitor performance and ensure user experience on a platform you no longer manage?
How can a cloud security platform help you transition to the cloud?
A cloud-native platform can scale with demand and is consumed by businesses in the same predictable model as any other SaaS or cloud product. It can provide all of the benefits one would expect from a cloud service; centralised management, resilient architecture, global coverage and consistent application of policy, whether the workload is on-premise, cloud or SaaS-delivered.
As with many cloud services, time to value is short, allowing you to deploy quickly and reap the benefits immediately, providing secure access to your cloud workloads from day one, and releasing your teams to concentrate on the task at hand – migrating everything else.
Internet Access secures access to the Internet, whether the user is on-premise or remote working, with policy managed and delivered centrally, but service provided using a distributed cloud model to maximise performance and user experience – secure your perimeter at cloud scale.
Cloud Security Posture Management can help you to understand how your cloud platforms have been (and should be) deployed to ensure that your move to the cloud isn’t exposing security flaws, and Private Access enables you to minimise your attack surface and move towards a Zero Trust architecture for access to your cloud applications.
A Digital Experience solution provides detailed information on the end-user experience, delivering support teams deep insight into cloud-delivered applications, so they can pinpoint issues quickly and resolve them as quickly as possible – ensure your users thoroughly enjoy the benefits of the cloud.
Click here to find out how Xalient can help to deliver your transformation.
