Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Winter 2014)
“The Cloud.” For many people, the name alone conjures mystical, enigmatic visions of a magical, mist-laden thingamajig that will somehow solve all of your business’s complex technology problems. And it’s not without reason that so many approach the Cloud with this humble mix of trepidation and veneration – though widely hailed as the savior of modern technology, the Cloud is also abstract, multifaceted, and just downright confusing.
That’s why Select Telecom has enlisted the expert help of one of our favorite IT partners, Compufit in White Plains, to help unravel the mystery of the Cloud. The following guide expounds upon the three basic manifestations of the ever-elusive Cloud to help you understand what exactly the Cloud is and how it might benefit your business.
Cloud Manifestation 1: SaaS (Software as a Service)
In its most simple definition, Cloud computing is the delivery of applications (for example, Salesforce.com), infrastructure (data servers), and platforms (such as Microsoft Office 365) via the internet. As Compufit Partner and CIO John Nunes explains, “Instead of purchasing the application or the infrastructure and installing it in your local office, it is rented from a provider in another physical location.”
The Software as a Service (SaaS) model is the incarnation of the Cloud that most people are most familiar with, even if they don’t realize it. Many commonly used internet services and social media platforms (think Instagram, Pinterest, Google Drive, and DropBox) are actually Cloud services. Under SaaS, a single application (Evernote, for example) or application suite (Adobe Creative Cloud with Photoshop and InDesign) is delivered via the web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.). One popular business-oriented example of the SaaS model is Salesforce.com, which delivers a hosted CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) application.
In SaaS, pricing is generally structured as a per-user monthly fee (or in the case of social media products, free to the user and supported by a combination of advertising income and the sale of user data). Some providers require a contract for a specific commitment period, others do not. In many cases, the upfront investment in the software product (e.g., $20/user/month) is lower than a comparable non-Cloud solution (for example, $1200/license), but the economics may or may not balance out over time, depending on the monthly cost of the Cloud solution and the upgrade frequency and cost of the non-Cloud solution.
The main benefits of the SaaS model are convenience and robustness. Since the application is accessed over the internet instead of being installed on your computer, the latest version of the program can be expected to always be delivered automatically, without needing to manually update any software on your laptop. The recurring fee generally covers any upgrades and feature enhancements, and in many cases, the same software can be used across a variety of devices. For example, software from ShoreTel is available on your computer, tablet, and phone, improving mobility and allowing you to take business calls from anywhere instead of being tied to a desk. In addition, backup of your data within a Cloud application is generally handled by the provider, so if you get a new computer (or your hard drive dies), all of your data is still safe and accessible.
The biggest drawbacks of the SaaS model are questions of data transfer and privacy. Once you’ve used a particular Cloud product for a while, it can be difficult to switch to a competitor. There may be no convenient way to download/export your data to move it to a new application, as is usually the case with social media products (ever try to save a large batch of photos off Facebook? Easier said than done). For personal products this may not be an issue, as we are trading the freedom of data transfer for the security of that data and the ability to share it socially, but in the business world, this could become a sticky issue, particularly if monthly fees change or a better solution emerges. As Compufit explains, there is also always the question of privacy. In John’s words, “Who has access to your data?” As we all know, there’s no such thing as a free lunch – any “free” Cloud software is likely anonymizing and aggregating your data, and selling it to the highest bidder. That’s why it’s important to thoroughly vet your service providers and understand their business models before you enter into any contracts.
Cloud Manifestation 2: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model is where many businesses can reap the greatest rewards from a Cloud investment. Under IaaS, the backend servers are provided by a third party who gives control of the server to the end user (you). According to Compufit, there are several models within IaaS, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.
“Public Cloud is a multi-tenant shared resource model,” says John, where virtual servers are housed within a shared infrastructure and, depending on the provider, can be rented on an hourly basis or contracted term. “Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure are two well-known public cloud providers.” Hosted IP phone systems also fall into this category.
Contrast that to Private Cloud (similar to a co-location facility) where your company’s owned infrastructure is housed in a larger data center. John explains, “The data center then charges fees for internet connectivity, power, cooling, physical security, and, if desired, backup.” In essence, you are paying a middleman to take care of your hardware for you, since he has better facilities and more resources to do it at a more reasonable cost than you could in-house.
Finally, in the Hybrid Cloud model your company both has on-premises infrastructure (data servers) and leverages the public or private cloud models for certain scenarios, such as disaster recovery and business continuity (DR/BC). Many Select Telecom customers make use of the Hybrid Cloud model for voice and data backup, ensuring that if their system is compromised by a power outage or catastrophic event, they can still access all of their contacts, voicemails, emails, and other critical data.
Each of these IaaS models has their own benefits. Public Cloud offerings are extremely cost effective, allowing a business to pay for only what it uses. In John’s words, “Rather than purchasing infrastructure and taking into account future growth, storage needs, bandwidth requirements and resource needs for applications, you literally pay for what you use (processing, memory, storage, and bandwidth) on an hourly or monthly basis.”
Meanwhile, the Private Cloud is lauded for resiliency and control, with data centers offering internet redundancy, power generators, backup HVAC systems, and physical security to protect vital data, which would be prohibitively expensive for most businesses to provide themselves.
And the Hybrid Cloud’s flexibility offers the best of both worlds, as suited to your business. “We see a lot of clients utilizing a Hybrid Cloud configuration for DR/BC where the on-premises resources can automatically failover to the Cloud in the event of a power outage or regional disaster,” says John. So the next time a Sandy-magnitude storm sweeps through town, a Hybrid Cloud solution would allow you to breathe a sigh of relief over your valuable voice/data assets and focus instead on the downed trees decimating your property.
Similarly, the drawbacks of the IaaS Cloud models vary depending on the solution. The Public Cloud may have data control issues not unlike that seen with the SaaS model, and may require specialized on-site infrastructure upgrades (i.e., a high bandwidth internet connection) to use efficiently. The Private Cloud can get very expensive very quickly. And while the Hybrid Cloud manages to skirt many of these issues, depending on your requirements for recovery (how far in the past your data is backed up and how quickly you need to restore it), the costs can begin to add up. But for many businesses, at least one of the IaaS models may offer significant cost, efficiency, and security advantages over traditional in-house infrastructure.
Cloud Manifestation 3: PaaS (Platform as a Service)
The Platform as a Service (PaaS) model comes into play for companies who create software of their own. As John explains, “PaaS provides a platform for building applications on a hosted infrastructure. It’s basically a very advanced software development environment.” Examples of PaaS solutions are available from all the big technology players, including SAP, Amazon AWS, and IBM, among others.
For small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) in the software development field, the PaaS model offers additional functionality such as load balancing, auto-scaling, and application health monitoring that is otherwise out of reach to the average SMB. “Most PaaS services also include application management features such as version control, staggered deployment, and patch management, as well as resiliency across multiple data centers,” adds John.
Caveats include data control issues similar to the SaaS or IaaS Public Cloud models, and the requirement to use proprietary code which cannot be easily transitioned to a different platform. And unless your company is developing proprietary software, PaaS has little to offer you.
Is ‘The Cloud’ Right for You?
As evidenced above, the ever-evolving, amorphous Cloud covers many different facets, each with its own variety of benefits and tradeoffs – it’s likely there’s something there for everyone. So the question is not, “Is the Cloud right for you?” but, “How can the Cloud be right for me?”
However, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. As John explains, “Since every business and infrastructure is different, we need to engage with the client to understand the challenges of their business and how the Cloud could help them operate more efficiently and robustly.” An experienced IT specialist like Compufit can help you weigh the advantages of different solutions and find the right match for your business.
And now that you’re armed with this handy guide to all things Cloud, at least you’ll know what kind of solutions to consider. Abstract though it may be, the Cloud just might be that magic solution you’ve been looking for after all.