While there are many methodologies and approaches to cloud migrations, all of them involve an “in-between” phase where you have a blend of on-premise technology and cloud-based infrastructure. Unless your business is “born in the cloud” and skips on-premise hardware entirely, you’ll experience a transition period where you have a blend of legacy and cloud solutions. This situation is known as hybrid cloud.
Many businesses choose to stay in a hybrid cloud environment—82% of IT leaders say that they have adopted the hybrid cloud, according to research—while some continue their journey toward a full cloud infrastructure. Either way, it’s important for businesses, especially small to mid-sized ones (SMBs), to know what hybrid cloud entails before you find yourself there.
Hybrid Cloud, Explained
A hybrid cloud solution is one where a business combines on-premise server hardware and software with cloud-based technology. You may see “hybrid cloud” referred to when a business is also using multiple types of cloud (public and private) to operate, but this scenario might also be referred to as “multi-cloud.”
Businesses land in the hybrid cloud either by design or by way of moving to a full cloud. Even if you are in the latter camp and using hybrid as an interim period, a hybrid cloud environment delivers benefits that far surpass those of a solely on-premise system. As Microsoft says, “When computing and processing demand increases beyond an on-premises datacenter’s capabilities, businesses can use the cloud to instantly scale capacity up or down to handle excess capacity” even if that computing demand occurs in addition to on-premise capabilities. With any amount of processing capacity in the cloud, you can scale better and faster than if you just had your on-premise equipment.
Many organizations deliberately choose a hybrid model. Some in industries that have strict regulations such as finance, healthcare, and government want a hybrid cloud in order to purposefully store certain data on their premises while putting less-sensitive data in the cloud. Doing so gives them the flexibility of the cloud and the security of on-premise. (That is not to say that full-cloud infrastructure is less secure, it just often makes more sense for regulated organizations to maintain on-premise data for compliance reasons.)
A hybrid cloud infrastructure gives you the ability to access and manage IT resources across on-premise, multi-cloud, and edge environments. Even if you are on your way to a full cloud, you can still connect distributed workloads and seamlessly migrate and manage data across your environment in this interim state.
Why Microsoft Azure for Hybrid (or Full) Cloud
Microsoft Azure is the cloud of choice for SMBs no matter which cloud model is your end goal. If you are aiming for a full cloud, it supports your scalability, flexibility, and cost savings needs while you exist in the hybrid period. If hybrid cloud itself is the best solution for your organization, Azure delivers a holistic cloud environment that blends across your on-premise technology. It enables you to:
- Augment and modernize your on-premise infrastructure
- Build and deploy cloud-native apps in your own data center
- Bring updated Azure services to any part of your infrastructure
- Benefit from the elastic scale and automation of the cloud while retaining control over data you choose to maintain on-premise
Get Cloud-Ready with Point Alliance
Point Alliance is an award-winning Microsoft partner and cloud services provider. We conduct seamless, disruption-free cloud migrations—whether a hybrid cloud or a full-cloud infrastructure is right for you. If you have questions about what cloud adoption might look like for your business or how to take advantage of the benefits of hybrid cloud, get in touch today.
