Beam Me Up
What Reinhard Mey sang about in his famous hit back in 1974 - "Above the clouds, freedom must be boundless" - can also be applied to digital clouds. Because regardless of whether it's a testing and development environment or a complete IT platform for companies: Today, cloud computing can be used to cover almost any business requirement without a great deal of upfront work and to significantly drive digital transformation. In the course of the corona pandemic, it also became clear how essential the innovation-accelerating effects of cloud computing really are: Companies with cloud-based IT infrastructure proved to be far more resilient and agile in the face of unforeseen events than their competitors without cloud support. In addition, cloud computing is cost-efficient: instead of investing large sums in lengthy implementation projects only to run up against the limits of their own server capacities a few years later, companies can flexibly scale their cloud solutions at any time. However, this cost efficiency does not come automatically, but requires adapted concepts.
Used correctly, cloud computing is an important key to digital transformation. The path to a suitable cloud strategy begins with the definition of goals and is closely linked to the company's own corporate and IT strategy. Large hyperscalers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, can be a reliable alternative to a company's own data center. However, anyone who only looks at the infrastructure services of the public cloud providers per se is putting the focus in the wrong place: a more suitable decision criterion is represented by the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions of the hyperscalers, which can differ in some essential details. Despite the extensive offerings of individual providers, every company should also always ask itself whether its specific needs can be fully covered by a single provider.
In many cases, it can make perfect sense to consider a multi-cloud strategy for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services in addition to using various SaaS solutions. However, careful management of the data distributed across different platforms is the be-all and end-all with this method. Particularly with regard to production-related systems and processes and the close integration with manufacturing and logistics, however, there may also be good reasons to continue to keep at least partial aspects of the IT landscape on-premises or in a private cloud. In this case, a hybrid cloud would be the solution of choice.
Regardless of which solution a company chooses: Aspects such as design, implementation and maintenance of the IT landscape must by no means be neglected even after the move to the cloud. Protection of the resulting cloud landscape against unauthorized access as well as conformity with the applicable data protection guidelines must continue to be an integral part of the chosen strategy. After all, the company bears responsibility for the security of its data even if it is held by a professional cloud provider.
Cloud computing is an essential aid in making the growth of one's own IT landscape scalable, cost-efficient and technology-optimized. However, especially for smaller and medium-sized companies, compliance and security requirements as well as data and service migration can present complex challenges. This is where the experience of professional providers for managed cloud services (MCS) can help to find the right key and smooth transition to the borderless cloud world for one's own company.
