Making Cloud IaaS Work for Enterprise

While the Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) approach has long been a go-to for smaller companies and startups without the capital to buy on-premise infrastructure, the cloud is becoming more appealing to enterprises. Naturally, then, cloud IaaS is becoming more appealing too.

IaaS providers that are on top of industry trends have adjusted their offerings to make this service work for enterprise. The benefits are there for large companies — cost savings, a low maintenance approach to tech, and a lot of reward for little effort. All of this adds up to an amazingly positive impact for businesses adopting Cloud IaaS.

Cloud computing might not be a new concept for your business, as many companies large and small are accessing the cloud in one form or another. However, IaaS itself might be a new term, or something you have yet to explore. We’re here to show you why it can be an excellent addition to your enterprise technology.

Understanding Cloud IaaS

First, let’s look at what this service is. Cloud IaaS providers set your company up with what it needs for computing systems, including the operating system, storage and networks. Enterprises using IaaS do not have to purchase their own servers, software, data storage capacity or networking devices. Nor do they have to manage, repair or upgrade any of these important resources.

Instead, with IaaS, the provider handles it all. Companies essentially rent what they need, as needed, and pay for the resources that are consumed. Why is it common for enterprises not to utilise this approach? Quite simply, they have traditionally been able to afford their own tech, with the shift from on-prem to cloud tech making the idea of using–even just partially–IaaS at enterprise more palatable. After all, Cloud IaaS providers have invested the time and energy into setting up a cloud to a standard that they can sell, making it an easy option for enterprises to get the cloud performance they’re looking for.

Cloud IaaS – The Cost

It is easy to see where the cost savings come in with using IaaS. For a large enterprise, there are countless computing resources required and that adds up to a lot of capital expenditures. And that is just the equipment itself. When you factor in the cost of operations, from managing and maintaining the infrastructure to hiring and keeping the staff who handle that maintenance, it can get quite expensive.

It makes sense that small companies stick to IaaS to avoid shelling out for this from the start, but IaaS can offer savings even if a business already has infrastructure in place. Consider the long-term cost of maintaining existing equipment and upgrading as required. Then, consider the cost of switching to IaaS and having the best, most recent computing resources, available at any time.

Enterprises using IaaS benefit from lower IT staffing costs, reduced equipment costs and a better use of financial resources as cloud computing makes a pay-per-use approach easy. With cloud IaaS, you get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get.

It is also worth noting that when an enterprise can free up its IT staff from dealing with the demands of infrastructure, those tech geniuses are now able to focus their attention and skill on projects and plans that will help grow the company instead of keeping the status quo.

Cloud IaaS – Low Maintenance

We know that there are a lot of moving parts in large enterprises, and tech is a big one. Any time an enterprise can reduce the maintenance aspect of daily business, it wins.

With IaaS, the maintenance is in the capable hands of the cloud computing provider. It means that an enterprise can put its focus firmly on business growth. Outsourcing to an IaaS provider lets enterprise leaders innovate rather than maintain.

Cloud IaaS – Small Effort, Big Reward

We have looked at cost savings — a big draw! — and maintenance. Still, there are more big rewards to IaaS, a system that takes very little effort on the part of an enterprise.

Disaster recovery is a major reward for this minimal effort. Any enterprise dealing with data knows how important it is to have a disaster recovery plan in place. With IaaS, these companies can consolidate disaster recovery across any location. Employees in various offices, or even at home, can work through a disaster by accessing the usual infrastructure online. Email, servers, applications — every critical piece of infrastructure is ready and waiting, and easily restored or recovered.

Enterprises get to where they are in the business world owing to a strong competitive edge. IaaS keeps that competitive edge going, again, with very little effort on the part of the enterprise itself. It’s a small change that adds to a businesses competitive edge. It is simply the elasticity and scalability of IaaS that lets companies move faster and get their products or services to market ahead of the competition.

Does your enterprise have ambitions related to the environment and being greener? Again, IaaS helps this happen. By moving your infrastructure to an IaaS platform, you are optimising the way that you use your resources and systems. That, in turn, reduces your environmental impact, and there you have it, greener IT!

IaaS is incredibly flexible, and built to the needs of your business itself. So much of it takes care of itself, or–from an enterprise perspective–appears to do so, with qualified tech experts running the show in the background.