Cloud computing is one of the most disruptive technologies in today’s digitally forward era. It has quickly become a staple for businesses, which look to adopt digital transformation strategies to stay competitive in the market. Reports even say that more than 91% of enterprises use cloud computing in one way or another. However, there is more to migrating to the cloud than you may think of.

The most important decision to make when planning to move to the cloud is choosing between – the public cloud and the private cloud. There are also cloud service providers that can ease the move and manage your cloud data and resources for you. Yet before you outsource your company’s requirements to a cloud services vendor, you should have a good understanding of what distinguishes public cloud from private cloud, and which one would be the right fit for your company.

Read more: 5 Ways an Integrated Cloud Platform is Beneficial for Your Small Business

What is a Public Cloud?

The public cloud is the most common type of cloud computing, wherein the hosting service will be managing the cloud environment. The infrastructure and resources will be then shared with the customers who sign up for the public cloud service. Users can access these resources for data storage and managing other workloads as required. This can be the ideal choice for enterprises that are getting started with cloud computing and want to experience its benefits firsthand.

A public cloud environment gives you access to a host of resources without having to manage any form of an in-house data center. It can be used for a variety of business purposes, ranging from CRM software management to email applications. You can also migrate workloads and software that demand heavier computing and storage capabilities to the public cloud to run them without any hassle. What’s more, you also get the option to scale the resources as needed to manage the growing volume of data.

Pros and Cons of Public Cloud

The most evident benefit of the public cloud is that it allows you to save significantly on operational expenses. That is because you do not have to manage or maintain the IT resources at all. Besides, you can also use the public cloud for development and testing or big data projects, so that it does not affect the current workflow of your organization. Apart from that, the public cloud is also very affordable and can be opted for by any business irrespective of which industry they belong to.

Most of the public cloud service providers also provide different pricing plans, which can be a great way to decide which option suits your budget and company needs. At the same time, deploying the public cloud is also very simple and does not require you to hire an IT team to manage your cloud requirements. As the public cloud is equipped to handle heavy workloads, you can also expect full-time availability without having to face any downtime or single points of failure.

Public cloud also comes with robust cybersecurity measures to avoid data breaches and potential hacking attacks, which ensures that your business data and applications are secure. However, there are some downsides to choosing the public cloud as well. For instance, signing up for the public cloud does not mean that own the infrastructure. In other words, you will have little control over the policies and practices of the cloud provider to manage your company data and applications. This may not be ideal for mission-critical workloads and sensitive data.

Another disadvantage of the public cloud is that you will have to allocate a monthly budget for maintaining the IT infrastructure. This can add up in the long run and lead to unnecessary expenses if your company’s data and storage needs do not change over time. Moreover, there is also a risk of unauthorized access, and even though the public cloud offers a good level of security, it is often inferior to what the private cloud can provide.

Read more: 3 Strong Reasons for Your Business to Embrace Cloud-based IT Services

What is a Private Cloud?

Private cloud refers to having a dedicated single-tenant cloud environment for managing your business workloads and data. Multinational and large-scale enterprises go for a private cloud environment because it offers reliable security and can be configured as per your company’s security regulations. In addition to that, choosing the private cloud also ensures that your data and applications will be readily available for easy access.

In a private cloud infrastructure, the hardware will entirely depend upon your organizational needs. Public cloud providers also offer top-notch services to customers to suit their varied needs. This can range from round-the-clock availability to faster data speeds and a highly secure cloud environment. What’s more, you can also customize your cloud configurations to meet the IT needs of your business with the private cloud. That is why more than 72% of enterprises globally manage their data and applications on the private cloud.

Pros and Cons of Private Cloud

The most striking benefit of choosing the private cloud is high-end efficiency. As it is a dedicated solution, you get to analyze and analyze the performance of your cloud infrastructure and scale it as needed. Besides, having your own resources and hardware also guarantees consistent and faster access speeds than what a public cloud environment can provide.

Another noteworthy merit of the private cloud is that you do not have to share any resources with anyone. This not only means you can tailor your cloud environment to your needs but also assures you enhanced security. That can be fundamental for companies that are required to comply with various regulatory requirements, especially when doing business overseas. The only drawback to choosing the private cloud is that the upfront costs can be a bit too high. However, InfinCE brings enterprises a feasible and cost-effective cloud solution with power-packed features and productivity tools.

Read more: Top Cloud Trends Your Enterprise Should Pursue to Succeed in 2021 and Beyond!

Is Private Cloud Better than Public Cloud?

A recent study found that operating a private cloud environment is often cheaper than managing the data and resources on the public cloud. Even though the upfront premiums can be higher for having a private cloud, it is more cost-effective than paying monthly for the public cloud server. However, you should realize that low costs are not the only driving factor for choosing a private cloud. It also allows you to meet the regulatory demands in locations that require the data to be managed in the local geography.

Private cloud also allows you to manage all the required IT resources in a single, on-site data center. This ensures the lowest possible latency by reducing round-trip network times significantly. Apart from that, adopting the private cloud is also seen to be more efficient for utilizing automation, flexible licensing arrangements, budgetary management tools, and capacity planning. Yet again, as every company’s needs are different, you should weigh in all the pros and cons of the cloud service against your business requirements before choosing the cloud deployment model.

With InfinCE, however, you can rest assure a seamless transition to secured cloud infrastructure.  Connect with us today!

Embracing cloud technologies is one of the typical components of digital transformation. According to a Gartner report, “By 2024, more than 45% of IT spending on system infrastructure, infrastructure software, application software, and business process outsourcing will shift from traditional solutions to the cloud.” This statement speaks aloud how cloud computing is becoming the most disruptive technology for businesses in this digitally forward era.

As with adopting any technology, moving to the cloud also requires having a robust plan. Most organizations move to multiple clouds to make the most of the technology and have the utmost flexibility. This is where the hybrid cloud comes into the picture, as it facilitates all the demands of such enterprises by providing paramount agility and cost-efficiency. However, it is also seen that a hybrid cloud infrastructure can create many security vulnerabilities if it is not deployed properly.

Read more: Top Cloud Trends Your Enterprise Should Pursue to Succeed in 2021 and Beyond!

How to Deploy a Hybrid Cloud Approach Perfectly

Hybrid cloud infrastructure merges the workloads on the public and private cloud to allow enterprises receive the best of both models. This gives businesses enhanced flexibility to shift their cloud and on-premise workloads as and when required. Hybrid cloud is also a better option because it allows organizations to have better control over their data. Companies can store their sensitive data on the private cloud while they can manage the other workloads on the public cloud. At the same time, they can have a unified platform to configure and manage the capabilities of both and enjoy simplified administration.

It is a known fact that cybersecurity concerns are on the rise, which is why enterprises that move with their digital transformation strategies also need a reliable approach to avoid cyberattacks. Reports say that most of the data breaches in recent years have been due to the misconfiguration of cloud services. In fact, it comes only second to hacking. Although migrating to the cloud allows businesses to prevent that by outsourcing the services to a reliable partner, it does not make the cloud totally protected from cyberattacks. That is why cloud services providers are stressing the need for adopting identity and authentication approaches to improve security.

Read more: 6 Ways InfinCE Simplifies IT Infrastructure Management For Enterprises

How IAM Can Bridge the Gap in Cloud Security 

Identity and Access Management (IAM) can be a vital ingredient in protecting access to resources and data in a hybrid cloud environment. With a hybrid cloud identity strategy in place, businesses can rest assured that only the right people with pre-defined, secure digital access can use the resources and data. It is like an authentication authority for the hybrid cloud infrastructure, with capabilities like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-On (SSO), which reinforce cybersecurity. Apart from that, hybrid cloud identity can also allow for seamless experiences for the employees and customers, in turn leading to improved overall productivity.

Cloud SSO can reduce the usage of traditional passwords, which can not only provide a better employee experience but also decrease the costs of password resets. On the other hand, IAM in the hybrid cloud can help to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty rates by providing secure, password-less logins and unified profiles. At the organizational level, IAM helps to monitor user access to the distributed resources over the public and private clouds. Administrators can set specific rules for users and grant them different levels of access based on their job roles and requirements.

Who Needs a Hybrid Cloud Identity and Access Management Solution?

A hybrid cloud IAM solution can also be integrated and deployed at any level, regardless of whether the data and resources are stored and managed on the public cloud or in the on-premise data center. However, it is essential that enterprises identify their IT and business requirements before deploying hybrid cloud IAM so that it fits their needs in the best way. Ensuring this alignment between the varied demands of the company will be a key defining factor in the efficiency of a hybrid cloud IAM solution.

Read more: How InfinCE Cloud Orchestration Platform Can Be A Game Changer For New Business Owners

Companies That Operate Globally

Large enterprises with branches all over the world usually have a huge suite of applications that they use on a daily basis to manage their workflow. These apps and resources can have complex requirements and may require re-architecting to make them compatible with the hybrid cloud infrastructure. Therefore, such organizations retain some apps to be managed in on-premise data centers while deploying others on the public cloud. This makes it imperative for such enterprises to ensure high-end security on both ends to keep their data and resources secure.

This is where hybrid cloud IAM becomes the preferred option by allowing the company to secure applications at every level as necessary. When defining Identity and Access Management (IAM), Gartner says that “Enterprises that develop mature IAM capabilities can reduce their identity management costs and, more importantly, become significantly more agile in supporting new business initiatives.” With a hybrid cloud IAM solution, they can integrate and secure local workloads while defining enhanced security for the resources on the cloud.

Companies That Need to Comply With Regulatory Requirements

Many enterprises need to fulfill specific regulatory requirements, especially if they are doing business on a global scale. This can range from local regulatory norms to national data residency requirements. According to a Gartner report on market trends and cybersecurity, “Personal data privacy has become an intangible asset in this data era. Protecting privacy by standing on the consumers’ side is a differentiator to build a strong brand for any company that is in the consumer business.”

As hybrid cloud IAM is built to support data sovereignty, it allows such companies to host and store their data required for a specific location in that region, while managing globally intensive data on the public cloud. Meanwhile, they can also define user access and control over the data access, usage, and sharing with a well-designed hybrid cloud IAM strategy in effect. That in turn allows such businesses to ensure compliance on every level without compromising on customer expectations.

Companies That Look to Reduce IT Costs

As businesses are becoming increasingly digital-dependant, the IT and admin teams are required to deal with a wide variety of requests. At the same time, they may have to work with limited resources while having to deliver a broader range of requirements. With a hybrid cloud identity plan in place, businesses can save significantly on IT operational costs while not having to cut the quality or amount of support they have been providing to their customers.

Hybrid cloud IAM allows enterprises to handle the challenging use cases efficiently without having to break the bank for the same. It can facilitate centralized identity management on the enterprise level as well as across multiple clouds while providing the tools to automate and maintain the IAM solution. In other words, hybrid cloud identity allows organizations to free up their IT staff from managing infrastructure, which helps them to focus on other higher-value activities.

Read more: Why InfinCE Digital Workplace Should be Your Remote Work Companion

Start the Hybrid Cloud Journey Today

Having a smart digital transformation strategy is what businesses need today to stay competitive in the industry. As migrating to the cloud can be described as a stepping-stone toward digital transformation, enterprises need to realize the flexibility a hybrid cloud infrastructure can provide. Know more on how a hybrid cloud identity solution can boost security, improve productivity, and deliver seamless experiences for the employees and partners. Connect with us today, or Sign Up with InfinCE for free to experience infinite cloud for your business.

Reinvent Your Legacy IT Operations with Cloud Automation

Cloud automation tools are capable of making digital transformation realistic compared to legacy IT and software platforms.

Conventional software is usually installed to work on virtual machines (VMs) and desktops. Whereas InfinCE was built in the Cloud and is known for representing the next generation of smart automation platforms that can significantly boost your legacy IT operations.

InfinCE allows businesses to effortlessly automate recurring, manual jobs such as email handling, systems updates, data processing, and documents management. Today, organizations are increasingly embracing cloud applications. However, some businesses are still unconvinced with cloud-based solutions. 

Are you among those organizations that don’t know much about cloud automation’s business benefits and its role in accelerating digital transformation? This post will help you gain a clear picture.

Cloud automation helps companies improve their legacy IT operations

1. Economical cost of ownership

Cloud automation allows you to bypass the maintenance cost, which is preordained when you own hardware. In addition to hardware costs, organizations also need to employ more human resources for installing, troubleshooting, securing, and upgrading the hardware. All these add up to the total cost of ownership. Now, it will be easy for you to understand the cost-effectiveness of cloud automation.

2. Centralized authority

InfinCE’s enterprise cloud platform offers a unified environment for your organization. It helps you organize, control, and audit the automation activity throughout the organization more effectively. You can also easily manage the access rights and multi-layered permissions at the organization, user, object, group, and data levels.

Read more: Top 4 Advantages of Centralized IT Administration for Your Business

3. Security and reliability

According to a report, more than 90% of businesses witnessed a significant security improvement when they adopted cloud automation solutions. InfinCE has the potential of working with both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure to offer unmatched cloud-hosting and related services. These organizations provide an abundance of resources strictly for cyber-security compared to a legacy IT department, which comprises physical and network security.

InfinCE offers not only multi-tenant hosting options but also facilitates security with single-tenant hosting plans. It implies that you can own a dedicated, isolated account that manages your data with utmost exclusivity. All data on InfinCE is encrypted in transit and at rest through enterprise-grade security norms. InfinCE has completed HIPAA and SOC 2 tests, audited by a third-party auditor. It indicates that the servers of InfinCE are placed in high-security data centers.

Read more: 5 Features of InfinCE that will Transform The Way You Work

4. Low risk and swift execution

InfinCE is capable of setting up a new customer account in no time. Once created, a user needs to sign in using their web browsers and start structuring automation. With the Software as a Service (SaaS) pricing model, any organization can begin development at a reasonable cost and invest further only after achieving success and ROI on automation. This contrasts significantly with in-house installed cloud automation tools, which usually demand substantial cost and time to get started.

5. Orchestration in cloud 

A business process includes numerous departments apart from employees, such as customers, suppliers, contractors, partners, job candidates, and third-party associates. Having a cloud automation tool like InfinCE that offers top-notch orchestration in Cloud, these various parties can easily contribute to the automated workflow by completing necessary forms, signing documents, and uploading files. Such an orchestration in the cloud allows you to easily automate the overall process, not just the steps that occur within your organization’s particular area.

6. Remote management

Usually, the most traditional automation software is installed on PCs, but that is not the case with InfinCE. Using a web browser, you can access InfinCE. This implies that InfinCE is compatible with Macs and PCs and can also be operated with a smartphone, credit to its remarkable responsive design. As today’s employees prefer to work outside the office, your automation software must be capable of keeping up no matter where the employees are or what device they are using.

Read more: 5 Ways an Integrated Cloud Platform is Beneficial for Your Small Business

7. Constant improvement with zero upgrades

Being a cloud platform, InfinCE ensures that a business is continually reaping its latest version’s benefits. You don’t have to install or update the software on your computer manually, and your end-users do not have to wait for upgrades. Moreover, InfinCE releases new features at regular intervals and adds more features with every release, ensuring growth in efficiency for your organization.

8. Cloud automation tools are scalable

Cloud automation platforms are scalable almost in any manner you want them to. For example, if you wish to store large data sets in data tables of InfinCE, you need not concern about increasing hard drive space as InfinCE is rightly equipped to manage that for you. The more departments and users you bring to the platform, the system management actions and centralized governance will minimize friction and manual effort. The SaaS model of InfinCE is designed to surge pricing as a fraction of the value you realize, meaning you always achieve a greater ROI.

Read more: 3 Strong Reasons for Your Business to Embrace Cloud-based IT Services

Final thoughts

To transform your organization digitally, you must implement a cloud automation solution that is economical, offers swift deployment, gets connected easily, and is designed to adjust as you grow. InfinCE’s reliable cloud automation tool makes digital transformation more attainable for your organization and ensures to improve the legacy of IT operations.

Download White Paper: The Business Value of InfinCE for Business Owners and Employees

In the modern business world, automation has turned out to be a boon for organizations as it provides better resource utilization, IT operations, and workload distribution. These are the reasons that today’s enterprises are moving towards cloud automation tools at such a fast pace. If you are also an entrepreneur striving to automate your business operations, the automated solutions of InfinCE can turn out to be advantageous for you. Contact us to learn more.