9 Key Benefits the Cloud Brings for Every Organization

Although many businesses have already migrated their on-premises infrastructure to a cloud environment, some have yet to make the jump. When you consider the numerous benefits of cloud computing, it is surprising that such a large percentage of companies are still using legacy systems on a daily basis. According to IDC, 54% of enterprise workloads are still deployed on-premises.

Some may be reluctant to migrate because they do not have the in-house expertise needed to establish a solid cloud foundation. Others may struggle with cost concerns or security stresses. But some may simply be stuck in a legacy mindset, unaware of the cloud benefits their organization could be enjoying right now.

But there’s never been a better time to make the jump. If your company has yet to migrate its data, applications, and services to a cloud platform, the following information on the cloud benefits AWS has to offer may persuade you to investigate a cloud migration.

The cloud computing benefits AWS provides

At Stax, we believe AWS is the world’s largest, most reliable, scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud provider, which is why we built a native AWS cloud management platform. By migrating to an AWS cloud environment, you stand to enjoy the following key benefits:

1. Flexibility

One of the biggest problems faced by IT administrators tasked with maintaining legacy systems is that of scale. Business demands for IT services may increase exponentially over time and administrators have to contend with capital expenditure constraints when attempting to scale legacy infrastructure to cope with these increases in demand. The flexibility in cloud computing solutions makes it easy to scale resources to meet increased demand without investing in new infrastructure. Cloud computing also provides the necessary elasticity to scale resources down when demand decreases, simplifying the job of managing systems considerably.

2. Potential cost savings

A well-managed cloud platform can help companies save money in the long term. However, you may lose these cost savings if close attention is not paid to providing resources for both operational and developmental needs. To take full advantage of the value of cloud computing, you need to constantly monitor resource provisioning and usage. With Stax' cost management tools, you can also avoid bill shock when migrating to the cloud and enjoy the potential cost savings.

For a real-life example, read about how Event Hospitality & Entertainment Limited cut costs by 30% with Stax.

3. Improved efficiency

The elasticity of cloud services and resources enables companies to manage their IT systems more efficiently, but cloud platforms can improve efficiency in other ways too. When asked, “How does cloud computing improve business flexibility and efficiency?”, many administrators cite the elimination of data duplication as a key factor. With data stored in a central repository accessible from any location, as long as secure identity and access management (IAM) policies are configured there is no need for staff in different departments to maintain separate databases containing the same information.

4. Access to the capacity you need

Cloud platforms like AWS provide almost limitless capacity, which can be fine-tuned to match your specific needs at any given time. Because of this, it’s much easier to allocate resources to new applications and to adjust these resources in the future. With legacy systems, it is often necessary to guess how much capacity you will need. If you get it wrong, there is little that can be done — if you underestimate, your customer experience is impacted, and if you overestimate, you end up paying for resources you don’t need. With a cloud platform, you don’t face this dilemma because you can increase or decrease server capacity whenever you wish.

5. Security monitoring

Many IT administrators worry about facing cloud security challenges, but the biggest cloud platforms offer greater security monitoring capabilities than most legacy systems. However, these capabilities are only effective when properly utilized; a task that can most easily be achieved with Stax. Stax is both inherently secure, and provides tools to secure your environment. Stax provides guardrails, real-time alerts and continuous monitoring.

All AWS accounts created via Stax go through an automated hardening process to make them consistent, secure and integrated into your ecosystem, with best practice security and logging settings enabled by default. With Stax, you will also have powerful identity & access management tools, making it easy to manage and grant permissions for groups and individual users, along with the ability to quickly create safe networks. Improved security could turn out to be one of the biggest cloud benefits your company enjoys.

6. Availability

Applications and services that are hosted in the cloud can be accessed from mobile and desktop devices from almost any location. This greater availability has many benefits for national and multinational organizations with multiple offices. It also makes it much easier for staff in the field to access the information they need, whenever they need it. AWS provides administrators with the ability to rapidly deploy new applications and services across the globe—ensuring low-latency access for all users—without the complexities inherent in similar legacy application deployments.

7. Greater collaboration

Teams composed of individuals in diverse geographic locations can collaborate more easily and efficiently when using data and apps hosted in the cloud. The benefits of increased collaboration should not be underestimated. When employees can work together in a seamless environment, the innovation potential is considerable.

8. Superior disaster recovery

Hyperscale providers have cutting-edge disaster recovery procedures in place that exceed those of most legacy systems. The very nature of cloud data storage means it is much easier to recover from hardware or software failure in the cloud. In a survey, 20% of cloud users stated they could successfully complete disaster recovery procedures in four hours or less, whilst less than 10% of legacy system users could claim the same degree of success. If the profitability of your business depends on minimizing downtime, migrating to the cloud is probably the single most important action you can take right now.

9. Efficient updates and upgrades

Hyperscale cloud service providers such as AWS roll out incremental updates to their software and services on a regular basis, ensuring a process of continual improvement. Rolling out new updates and patches is a much simpler task with AWS and Stax, especially when compared to the complex procedures involved in updating legacy systems.

However, AWS customers need to evaluate each update individually before adopting it, to establish whether they offer a genuine benefit to their organization and its cloud ecosystem. Stax takes care of this process for you. With ongoing maintenance, reporting and AWS updates, Stax keeps your cloud environment evergreen. When AWS updates are released, we will assess, test, and add them to your environment when they benefit your business. Learn more about this process.

Is it all good news?

You may be asking yourself various questions at this point: Is it all good news? Of course cloud comes with challenges, but as you have seen, the benefits for your organization can be considerable. To have the best chance of realizing them, you should choose Stax.

Stax can provide your organization with the best possible start in AWS, allowing you to hit the ground running with a preconfigured landing zone and guardrails, established in days, not weeks. All the critical components are managed– security, compliance, identity, access, and cost management. Your team won't be tied up in lengthy builds or maintenance, but free to focus their efforts up the stack.

To learn more about how Stax can help you migrate to the cloud with ease and speed, reach out to our team arrange a demo.