Over the last decade, the cloud has gained popularity and acceptance, evolving from an emerging technology that inspired concerns about lack of security, to almost every company’s go-to solution. Now, it’s common for organizations to take a cloud-first approach to technology.
But is the cloud really right for everyone?
According to IDC, when the public cloud isn’t appropriate for certain workloads, enterprises decide to run them on-premises, granting them better availability, performance, security, and compliance.
When does it make sense to leave the cloud and develop an in-house IT infrastructure? While the cloud is a great option, it may not be the ideal approach for some businesses, and there are other options for modernizing and transforming your technology environment. The advantages of these alternatives may lead some businesses to move away from the cloud.
Reasons to Leave the Cloud
Many companies are already exploring on-site alternatives to public cloud resources by turning to hybrid cloud and private cloud. The 2021 State of the Cloud Report found that 78% of companies used hybrid cloud, taking advantage of its on-premises environment. Other organizations are moving from public cloud to private cloud, and still others are abandoning the cloud entirely to pursue on-site options.
Why are companies leaving the cloud? The main concerns are:
- Security
Fears about security are rearing their ugly heads once again. Companies that handle personally identifiable information and other types of sensitive data are worried about the risk of using multi-tenant cloud environments. - Cost
While cloud can be cost efficient with its pay-for-what-you-need and OPEX-focused consumption model, some users experience “death by a thousand cuts” when being charged for every little thing. - Performance
Because the cloud provider is responsible for performance, if it has an outage or experiences a breach, so does your company. The provider may or may not be monitoring its cloud resources effectively. - Availability
Some major cloud providers only guarantee 99.999% availability when higher levels can be achieved with other technologies. - Compliance
Organizations in highly regulated industries, such as finance, may be barred from using the cloud because of compliance issues.
For companies concerned about the risks of using the cloud, other options exist that provide cloud-like capabilities on-premises.
Alternative to Cloud: Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)
HCI enables your company to consolidate and scale your entire IT infrastructure. Storage, compute, and networking are all included in a single pre-built and tested chassis. Because all the components in HCI are in close proximity, the technology delivers high performance, moving data quickly and eliminating latency and bottlenecks.
Like the cloud, your HCI can easily scale. All you need to do is add nodes to a cluster. When you add storage, supporting network and compute resources scale proportionally. HCI is easy to deploy and upgrade, requiring only clicks and a brief window of time.
Alternative to Cloud: Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC)
SDDC allows your company to virtualize its entire data center architecture, including storage, networking, and security. With SDDC, the on-site environment becomes more agile and flexible because software separates the control plane from the hardware. Functionalities associated with SDDC include abstraction, pooling, and automation.
A single pane of glass is used to control your entire infrastructure, making it easier to manage data storage and networking to optimize workflows. Your company can choose to build an entire SDDC or start with software-defined storage, network, or security and transition gradually.
Choosing the Right Infrastructure
If your company is considering leaving the cloud, get a second, expert opinion. It’s a good idea to get an unbiased perspective on whether the cloud is right for you or an on-premises infrastructure might be a better option. If you change your mind in the future, no harm, no foul. Both HCI and SDDC provide a bridge to the cloud.
ProActive Solutions specializes in data center transformation. We can help you make a decision about whether the cloud is ideal for your company or if another solution, such as HCI or SDDC, makes more sense given your workload requirements and business goals.
Get help deciding whether to leave the cloud and exploring the alternatives. Ask for a quote from ProActive.
