The CIO’s guide to building an efficient cloud architecture

FOR MANY companies, migrating to the cloud is just a natural progression, in line with its digital transformation agenda. But some are still hesitant to move to towards the cloud.

There might be numerous reasons for this pause, but one of the most important ones is that they’re unsure if the cloud solutions could withstand the business demands and support growth. And their concerns are valid.

Many cloud architectures that are developed in the last few years are not as reliable as one might expect.

They’re often built hastily with poor planning and now unable to keep up with the requirement of latest technologies and increase in usage.

Having a robust and reliable cloud platform is crucial for businesses, and thus, if you’re currently building or planning to build your cloud infrastructure, there are few things you need to do:

#1 | Plan ahead of time

Developing a cloud infrastructure is a complex and often a drawn-out process; numerous factors such as scalability and robustness have to be taken into account at the planning stage.

The various individual components such as front end and back end platforms, delivery systems, and network solutions have to work in sync to create a dependable structure that will deliver the required functions and capabilities.

#2 | Be aware of the applications’ needs

One of the biggest concerns enterprises have when it comes to migrating to the cloud is if the platform could handle the demands of the application, especially large integrated solutions such as CRM or ERP.

And thus, it is imperative that the performance, and operational and storage needs become the focal point of the cloud architecture.

This is because moving to the cloud is more than just moving data away from data centers. It involves deploying cloud-native features to increase operational efficiency.

#3 | Ensure scalability and interoperability

Once all the needs are satisfied, the infrastructure has to be able to scale, specifically when it comes to storage, computational ability, and network capacity, in a standardized manner.

Beyond that, there should be an added focus on open standards to ensure interoperability and compatibility between multiple cloud providers, as well as on-premise solutions. Other than that, standardized software containers that could be moved seamlessly across different platforms could also be a viable option.

#4 | Embrace innovative approaches

Companies embarking on a digital journey stand to benefit immensely by shifting away from a legacy mindset.

While it might be easier to deploy the existing on-premise solutions to the cloud, it might be in the best interests of the company to do so in the long run.

They should instead, develop or acquire a cloud-native solution or SaaS, that will be more cost-effective for their operations.

The migration to the cloud should be considered as an opportunity to embrace new ideas and possibilities, instead of just doing the same things on a different platform.

#5 | Build robust and secure networks

A reliable cloud architecture also considers the intricacy of the networks, should be able to withstand high bandwidth requirements, and have low latency in order to provide end users to switch between different servers and cloud providers quickly.

More importantly, security principles should be integrated throughout every layer of cloud infrastructure and should not be siloed from other services.

While cloud service providers are responsible for some level of security measure, companies should also deploy their security solution to avoid data breach or compromise.

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