Article Written by Oliver Presland, vice president at Ensono

Cloud computing is the norm for enterprises when it comes to conducting business. What was once seen as a tool for larger and more technologically advanced enterprises like Amazon or Microsoft, cloud environments are now the standard for organizations of all sizes, regardless of industry.

The majority of organizations conduct their mission-critical applications over multiple environments through a maze of IT infrastructures. But, businesses are developing a cloud-only mentality in an effort to simplify complex IT infrastructures and workflows. Now, 30 percent of the 100 largest vendors' new software investments will move from cloud-first to cloud-only products by 2019, found a recent Gartner report. As CIOs juggle the fast-paced trends of an evolving industry, these cloud-based infrastructures seem ideal.

However, supporting a mix of on-premise, public and private platforms, in addition to migrating data to a public cloud solution, can become unmanageable for some organizations if handled incorrectly. Careful consideration needs to be placed on which types of applications and technologies are best suited for the cloud versus a dedicated environment or specialized infrastructure such as a mainframe.

No Two Clouds Are Alike

As organizational planning is conducted, companies must consider adopting a flexible IT solution that can evolve with industry needs. Unlike with many legacy physical environments, cloud environments can update software without having to replace physical components.

But legacy hardware does offer specific benefits so before cloud environments are adopted, organizations need to pinpoint workload priorities in order to select the optimal solution for their business needs. Understanding the various cloud environments comes down to evaluating their unique performance, availability and security characteristics.

Public cloud services may be the most well-known, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure being the most common options. These platforms can offer a low cost of ownership and stability reflecting a change in focus as CIOs shift budgets from capital expenditure to operating expenditures. These public cloud options are ideal for organizations looking to migrate large quantities of data with optimal storage and testing capabilities. However, for an organization seeking in-depth personalization and greater flexibility, a private cloud could provide better support for pre-existing applications. These private cloud environments pair well with legacy applications that don't fit within the public cloud environment.

As businesses evolve, so do their applications. This expanded menu of offerings makes it rare for an organization to deploy all of its applications to one cloud. Different applications and functions may call for the capabilities of a specific environment, whether it be a public or private cloud or even an on-premise server. This challenge has prompted organizations to distribute these applications in a hybrid environment designed to accommodate specific workloads.

No two large organizations are alike and neither are their specific cloud needs. A hybrid environment is ideal for a large enterprise with scalability, flexibility, geographic and other business needs that are best served by a combination of the top features of both public and private cloud.

Reaping the Benefits of Hybrid Cloud

Demand for efficient and agile multi-tenant environments supporting mission-critical applications has grown exponentially as more businesses continue to utilize big data. A hybrid cloud environment, where organizations have the ability to maintain control over on-premise IT environments, while still being able to receive the benefits of the cloud, has attracted the attention of many CIOs.

But in addition to the scalability and ease of migration, there are many benefits that accompany a hybrid cloud.

Increased business agility: With more options creating greater flexibility, CIOs can leverage a hybrid cloud strategy to stay ahead of today's business needs. Businesses can accelerate product and service innovations while decreasing time-to-market, surpassing competition because of the agility that comes with hybrid clouds.

Support of legacy infrastructure: Part of the hybrid cloud's agility stems from its ability to migrate applications that can't transition to the public cloud, as well as its ability to run alongside pre-existing on-premise servers. Hybrid IT environments allow enterprises to fully utilize both virtual and physical workloads while maintaining ownership of any hardware.

Lower cost of ownership: Finding the right capacity when it comes to virtual and physical servers can decrease the long-term cost of technology ownership. Moving business-critical applications to a cloud environment cost far less than paying for the upkeep that accompanies a physical data center.

The rise of hybrid cloud is no longer a prediction, it's reality. Developing the right hybrid cloud strategy can keep businesses a step ahead of competitors without the added burden of maintenance or operating costs. Each environment comes with a unique set of benefits and challenges so carefully selecting the right blend of IT infrastructures, organizations can create a strategy that is tailored to their needs. At this point, enterprises are no longer asking the question of what cloud, but which clouds?

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About the Author

A passionately client-focused technology advocate, Oliver leads Ensono's service strategy and product management organization. He focuses on envisioning and delivering new, high value managed services, whilst driving market leading Hybrid IT capability that supports clients' business transformation. Joining Ensono from the leadership team of Attenda, acquired in 2016, Oliver brings 19 years of experience as consultant, architect and CTO working for global technology companies including IBM, Microsoft and Capgemini.