Cloud computing has proven incredibly popular for businesses. Indeed, worldwide spending on public cloud services looks set to double from almost $70 billion in 2015 to more than $141 million in 2019. Firms like the ability to hold and store their important data and IT infrastructure in a way that makes it easily accessible – and that doesn’t take up expensive office floorspace and storage.
Easy to use cloud servers cater for a fast-paced, 24/7-access, digital business environment and they are winning over scores of companies.
Public and Private Cloud
Yet, when we talk about ‘the cloud’ and its success we are largely referring to the dominance of the public cloud. Data from the European Union shows that many more businesses are accessing public cloud servers than private cloud servers. Indeed it’s said that 8% of SMEs use the private cloud, compared to 24% of larger enterprises.
The private cloud taps into all the advantages of the public cloud, but with a proprietary architecture which means it is available to a single business. As companies strive for control and flexibility over what they do, will this mix switch over?
Well, while the advantages of the private cloud might make this desirable, there are factors which might hold it back. Chiefly this comes down to cost and complexity. It’s debatable as to whether businesses have the time, money and expertise to move forward with this.
As ZD Net notes: “The fact remains that building and maintaining a private cloud is now near-impossible for all but the very largest of organisations, so high have the barriers to entry become. In effect, such an enterprise would be putting itself in competition with the very largest cloud providers, who have a number of significant advantages tilting the balance in their favour.”
Tapping into Scale with the Public Cloud
The simple fact is that the public cloud has the advantage of size and time. Providers have the in-built capacity and the economy of scale required to enhance and improve their systems and have everything already in place for convenience. They have the technical expertise to handle everything on behalf of a business – and few companies really want to be troubling themselves with the ins and outs of their IT infrastructure.
The offline comparison would come in terms of office space. Yes, it might be nice to build your own building from scratch but it’s a luxury you could do without if there’s an existing building you could buy or rent.
Businesses will, understandably, make a decision based on their bottom line. If private cloud servers really are going to rival their public counterparts then this is the biggest hurdle to overcome. With that in mind it’s likely that their use will slowly and steadily grow – but only among those with the size and financial capacity to be able to deploy them.
