What Is The Hybrid Cloud And Why Do You Need It?

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June 14, 2022 Business

Modern businesses are built on efficient, effective IT assets, and the options available today are incredibly varied.

The hybrid cloud sits between an old-school, on-premises approach and an all-out remotely hosted infrastructure, but this basic description isn’t enough to introduce the uninitiated to the full range of features and benefits it offers.

Without further ado, let’s pick apart the basics of hybrid cloud setups, see what makes them tick and discuss the perks and selling points that could sway you in your decision over whether or not to adopt.

The hybrid cloud explained

In the simplest of terms, the hybrid cloud represents an intermingling of in-house systems with public cloud solutions.

The idea is to cater to companies that want both the control that comes with running hardware internally, and the flexibility and scalability of leveraging cloud-powered services.

Cloud adoption continues to rise, with organizations responding to pressures like the need to accommodate more remote workers. The hybrid cloud copes with this by keeping mission-critical apps and data locally, while opening up the option of leveraging SaaS and IaaS as needed.

The benefits explored

Throughout its history, there have been questions around the security of cloud computing. The hybrid approach gives you a few ways to mitigate concerns, and thus tap into benefits not necessarily seen in other setups.

For example, because you can use tools to measure how well internal states of a hybrid cloud can be observed, everything from network activity to apps can be tracked and managed. This in turn means that you get ample oversight, without the risks of going all-in on a public cloud solution which might leave you sharing the same hardware infrastructure as others.

Cost is another selling point of hybrid cloud configurations. Accommodating your infrastructural needs entirely on-site leaves you burdened with all of the expenses that come with acquiring, setting up, maintaining and eventually upgrading hardware and software. If you don’t have adequate resources available, your operations will be bottlenecked.

Conversely, by being able to ramp up your IT capacity by shifting certain workloads to the cloud, you get that all-important scalability, without the associated costs.

Another reason to really think about shifting over to a hybrid cloud solution is that your organization’s agility will be amplified. Should the market suddenly turn on a dime and go in a different direction, you won’t be left scrambling to keep up. Instead, the cloud will endow you with the opportunity to lead, innovate and roll with the punches.

There’s also the factor of continuity. Most businesses have a low tolerance for downtime, and smaller companies are especially vulnerable to even the briefest of IT outages.

Pairing on-premises resources with third-party cloud services gives you that backup strategy you’ll need if unplanned outages come calling.

The bottom line on hybrid cloud services

From security and observability to cost-effectiveness and agility, the pros of the hybrid cloud easily outweigh any concerns you might have going into adoption.

That said, you still need to be sure to consider carefully the prospect of migrating your infrastructure away from an internal-only setup to one which encompasses the cloud as well.

It’s only with rigorous planning and attention to detail that you can avoid common snafus, such as picking products from too many third party vendors and getting tied into complex contracts for services that aren’t necessarily interoperable.

Once you’ve got your head around why you need the hybrid cloud in your company, the next move is to convince any other decision-makers to get onboard as well, and begin the process of integrating it as soon as possible.