Top 10 Reasons to Embrace the Public Cloud

There are many players in the IT community that would argue that a private cloud is the smarter, more secure and most viable IT option for your business. I beg to differ. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have come in like a raging thunderstorm changing the metaphorical landscape. The public cloud is the foundation of utility computing, and utility computing is here. The options are getting vaster, the services cheaper and technology more secure by the day. The myriad opportunities available through the public cloud and its cloud services providers is overwhelming. However, the treasure trove of operational options contained within the public cloud’s ecosystem is worth learning about and adopting.

Here are my top ten reasons for you to embrace the public cloud:

1. No Capitalization and Always the Newest Technology

When you have servers on-site or even at a data center (private cloud), you own your servers. You are also responsible for updates, maintenance and coordination of your IT personnel. If the server is on your premises, there are even higher costs involved. With the public cloud, you pay only for what you use – sometimes this could amount to just pennies a month. There are no initial start-up fees and you don’t buy your own software. This will save you tons of money. With the public cloud the costs of doing IT business have just become an operational expense.

2. Security

For the most part, security levels at privately operated data centers are unknown. While some think that the public cloud is less secure than being on their own server or a local data center’s server, they forget that when they utilize a server at Amazon or Google, they are operating under the security umbrella of a worldwide operation with layers and layers of redundancy and monitoring. These larger companies work very hard on their security platforms, and through them you can take advantage of their position. There are also other services such as security-as-a-service (SECaaS) that you can add onto your public cloud to further enhance your security piece of mind.

3. Utility Pricing

You pay only for what you use. This is a benefit of a commoditized service. When you utilize the service of a data center you are paying a fixed monthly fee. With the public cloud you are able to scale. Amazon even invoices to fractions of a penny for usage.

4. Cloud Experts

Public cloud providers attract the best and brightest employees – Amazon, Google and Microsoft all have serious engineers focusing on very specific lanes of knowledge, and combined they offer the end user the benefits of a tremendous wealth of knowledge.

5. Disaster Recovery

Imagine all your precious data located on a server in your office. You feel all comfy because it is “safe.” Then a fire occurs. Your server is destroyed. Everything is lost. This could also just as easily happen at a single-facility data center. But with the public cloud your data is co-located in strategic areas and not just living in your home state. You can rest assured that your data will be “safe” in the public cloud.

6. Economies of Scale

The public cloud is growing exponentially by the day. Worldwide competition among the top public cloud providers is driving down prices and increasing availability.
The biggest winner as Amazon, Google and Microsoft race to the bottom is the consumer.

7. Employee Flexibility

When your data and apps are on the public cloud, you have the ability to send your employees home – the cubicle is dead. When employees have the opportunity to work from home, from time to time, you have happier employees, and happier employees equals more productive employees.

8. Freedom of Choice

Come as you are and operate on the device of your choice though robust API access. Because you are merely peering into your service, it is always available regardless of the format or device.

9. Greener

The public cloud’s ecosystem offers a way for IT services to be provided in a more environmentally friendly way. Production of power and recycling of expended hardware can be monitored for better life-cycle management. Through consolidation of physical hardware, collection and recycling/remediation can be more thoroughly channeled and be more successful.

10. Improved Market Position

The immediacy of public cloud services allows for the rapid execution of a fleeting business opportunity by allowing companies to get to market faster.