At DeeperThanBlue, we’ve been banging the cloud computing drum for years. We help our clients enhance business efficiencies, enjoy cost benefits and most importantly claim a competitive advantage over their competitors. All through the cloud. And we know that companies that invest in big data, cloud, mobility and security enjoy up to 53% faster revenue growth than their competitors. It’s therefore no surprise that 69% of businesses are already using cloud technology in one way or another.
So whether you’re already on your journey to the cloud or you’re one of the 18% of businesses that plan to implement cloud-computing solutions at some point, you have some big decisions to make. Chief amongst them will be choosing the right cloud provider. To help make your decision a little easier, here we’ll run through our top four.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon was one of the first out of the gate with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has led to it being the first choice for many big and small companies when it comes to the time to convert from data centres to cloud computing.
As the largest cloud service provider globally, AWS has over 200 fully featured services including compute, storage and database. AWS currently has 26 regions and 84 availability zones in operation, located throughout the US, Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa.
AWS benefits
There are a number of benefits of choosing AWS, including:
- Ease of use
The interface, called the AWS Management Console, is extremely user-friendly and easy to use. It also provides access to a wide number of applications and services.
When you sign up to use AWS, you’re essentially renting Amazon’s infrastructure, which makes it simple to deploy programs, software and entire IT ecosystems in a timely manner. So, whether you’re looking for a reliable Content Delivery Network or Hadoop Cluster, AWS will have you covered.
- A diverse array of tools
First starting with cloud storage and computing, AWS has now expanded into over 70 more services. This includes database, software, mobile, analytics, and networking.
Unlimited server capacity
There’s basically no IT-based need that AWS can’t handle. It also means you can grow as you wish, without worrying about service disruption.
Additional AWS benefits include:
- Cost-effectiveness
- Enhanced productivity
- Continued innovation
- Market-leading security
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Offered by Google, GCP includes a number of services that operate over the cloud. They include storage, application development and computing, and they all run on Google hardware. GCP can be accessed by cloud administrators, IT professionals and software developers over a network connection or public internet.
Google continues to evolve its suite of products to ensure it keeps up with the needs of its users and copes with any pressure from competitors. GCP is now offered across 28 regions and 85 availability zones.
GCP benefits
GCP has a range of benefits including:
- Outstanding availability and uptime – achieving up to 99.99% uptime
- Free uptime monitoring
- Ease of setup
- Fantastic support services
- State-of-the-art security
Another couple of great benefits of GCP to mention are the live migration of virtual machines and its unrivalled throughput. Live migration of virtual machines effectively means that your website will still remain available during system configuration changes, through infrastructure and maintenance upgrades and even in the case of a hardware failure.
Its unrivalled throughput means GCP processes and transfers data between two locations faster than any other provider, ensuring your website and applications are always running at the speed your users expect.
- IBM Cloud
Similar to AWS and GCP, IBM Cloud is a digital platform that enables users to migrate their existing infrastructure to a virtual environment. IBM Cloud favours a simple approach without any need to alter infrastructure or internal systems when journeying to the cloud – this makes it easy to switch from other providers or to move from physical infrastructure to digital operations.
It’s for this reason that so many businesses opt for IBM Cloud as a vital cog in their digital transformation.
IBM Cloud Benefits
IBM Cloud has a number of benefits. They include:
- Configure and deploy high-performance cloud servers for your application
- Control how you pay for your service to suit your financial pace
- Fully open source technology with a community that evolves alongside it
- The freedom to choose your ideal cloud infrastructure
- Effortlessly make your apps smarter with IBM’s Watson AI integration
- Deploy VMware workloads to the cloud for a seamless hybrid cloud experience, leveraging both virtual and/or bare metal configurations
- Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service in place to help businesses achieve their goals and overcome their challenges. It’s a fully flexible IT solution that provides the freedom to build, deploy and manage applications through a global network. It is a favourite of many Fortune 500 companies, and Microsoft continues to expand its market share across more sectors. Azure is currently available across 60 regions.
Microsoft Azure benefits
The benefits of Microsoft Azure include:
- Scalability on demand – you can change to different service plans based on the needs of your business
- Bespoke industry applications for the likes of healthcare, governments and financial services
- Rapid deployment
- Integration with other Microsoft tools
- Enhanced insights
- Automatic updates
- Improved security – Azure Active Directory and its IAM capabilities considerably reduce hacking risks
Choosing the right cloud platform for your business
Cloud computing is essential for your business to remain productive, efficient and cost-effective, and to ensure you gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. So choosing the right cloud platform is a key decision to get right. You’ll have cost considerations to factor in, performance needs, security requirements, scalability questions and infrastructure scenarios to cover off. It’s not a decision to take lightly.
At DeeperThanBlue, we have over 20 years of experience assisting organisations with their digital transformation strategies. Our rich history and expertise in cloud services means we’re trusted by some of the world’s top brands to develop their cloud strategies, implement their cloud hosting and execute their cloud migrations. Get in touch with one of our experts today to ensure your journey to the cloud is successful.