7 Ways IaaS Delivers Business Value
Managing a modern data center is a daunting -- and expensive -- task if you go it alone. But partnering with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers can help. Here are seven ways IaaS can pay off for your organization.
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Navigating the various types of cloud services -- whether they are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) -- can get complicated. In most cases, if you're looking at IaaS, typically, the alternative is to manage your own infrastructure in-house. While it's certainly possible to provide every bit as much infrastructure capability in your own private data center, there are plenty of reasons why IaaS delivers tremendous business value with far less effort.
There are several ways companies can use an IaaS strategy to partner with a service provider -- and use that partnership to reap the benefits. Many of the potential upsides revolve around the expense of building, managing, and supporting your own private data centers.
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Looking strictly at infrastructure components, the wide range of hardware and software required to operate a modern data center is incredible. We've now got items such as blade server chassis, server virtualization, containers, network overlays, 40- and 100-Gigabit Ethernet, and storage arrays to operate. When you add any number of complex security tools to keep all the data safe, you can start to see how daunting it can be to go it alone. Simply put, the data centers of today are far more complex than those of even a decade ago.
For that reason alone, many IT decision-makers may seek to offload the capital expenditures and expertise needed to run a data center infrastructure. There are other key benefits that can be pointed out and weighed when deciding on whether to make a move to an IaaS provider. Here, we highlight seven benefits most organizations can gain when making the shift to IaaS. Hopefully, they will help you identify key business values, so you can make a well-informed decision on whether the move to IaaS is right for you -- or if you're still better off using a traditional, on-premises model. Once you've reviewed our recommendations, tell us in the comments section below which option you think is right for your operation.
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One of the most neglected in-house IT functions is in the area of disaster recovery and business continuity. IT is often so focused on other tasks that proper DR processes and testing fall by the wayside. Your IaaS provider, on the other hand, is far more likely to have a robust DR solution to keep your business running in the event of a major outage caused by man or Mother Nature.
With a growing number of employees accessing corporate resources from outside of the office, IaaS providers often offer geographically dispersed data centers that help to provide a uniform and seamless experience no matter where your users are physically located.
As IT infrastructure becomes more commoditized in many organizations, the goal of the CIO should be to offload many of these tasks to a service provider. By doing so, you free up in-house IT resources so they can better focus their attention on finding solutions to business needs specific to the company.
As is the case with all cloud solutions, a key benefit is a lower up-front cost, since you're essentially renting the infrastructure hardware from your service provider -- as opposed to purchasing it outright. From an IaaS perspective, you really only need to be concerned with initial software and licensing costs.
Private data centers are far more finite in nature compared to service providers. When your private data center gets full, turning to an IaaS provider gives you the ability to scale rapidly using partner resources and with minimal capital investment. Likewise, if you're running a private data center that is not fully utilized, you've created a situation in which your capital is tied up unnecessarily in equipment, real estate, utilities, and staffing needed to keep that data center running. IaaS allows you to scale up or down depending on your needs without making a capital investment.
While it's not always the case, your service provider potentially has better processes, procedures, and better trained staff than you do. That's because an IaaS provider has people on hand who manage infrastructures for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of other companies. Instead of trying to do it yourself, IaaS can be leveraged to effortlessly gain improved IT maintenance and support capabilities.
As businesses around the world realize the dangers of data security breaches, most service providers have rigorously stepped up their game to create a truly robust infrastructure security architecture. IT security isn't cheap -- and security professionals are difficult to find and keep for many companies. A service provider likely has better tools and staff to secure your data around the clock.
Business innovation often requires a shift in the way things operate. Migrating your IT infrastructure to an IaaS partner may be one of those ways to streamline IT. While there still are -- and likely always will be -- reasons for maintaining a private infrastructure, it is in your best interest to at least investigate the idea of migrating a portion of your internal data center to an IaaS provider.
Business innovation often requires a shift in the way things operate. Migrating your IT infrastructure to an IaaS partner may be one of those ways to streamline IT. While there still are -- and likely always will be -- reasons for maintaining a private infrastructure, it is in your best interest to at least investigate the idea of migrating a portion of your internal data center to an IaaS provider.
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