The document discusses factors to consider when deciding whether to implement a cloud-based software solution or traditional on-premise software. It outlines seven key reasons why the question "to cloud or not to cloud" is important: (1) security, (2) scalability, (3) availability, (4) performance, (5) support, (6) ease of access, and (7) total cost over the long term. The document concludes that from a software development perspective, the answer is that new software should be "cloud ready" to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud.

1. To cloud or not to cloud
that is the
From the deck of Roni @ Medullus

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3. Let’s setup the SCENE!
You are looking for software to solve a business problem or bring
efficiencies to operations, processes or provide services to your
customers, integrate better with suppliers, partners, employees etc.
One question you will have to ask in today’s environments is “should
the software solution be a cloud solution?”
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4. Brief recap on Cloud
Cloud computing is a simple concept - your pc, laptop, device is no longer running the software
(and/or resource) that you are using. The software is being run in some remote machine (could be
your server room or a remote off-site server) - also called SaaS (software as a service).
Quick note: cloud also has other components, viz. IaaS (infrastructure as a service), PaaS (platform
as a service) and DaaS (development as a service) - but for this discussion let us focus on the
Software portion.
Some good links to cloud http://medullus.com/cloud-migrations/
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5. Question for the Question!
So to answer the impending question, it is best to
answer another one!
Why is the question "To cloud or not to cloud"
important?
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6. (1) Security
Most software now cross the boundaries of your office (firewall). They have interactions with email, customers,
suppliers, surely employees accessing from remote, mobile devices etc. Although your internal network is
buttoned up, your security and governance policies are well-defined and security audits are intact, it is still
vulnerable. The only reason is that breaches are a factor of the opportunities that “system access” provide to
hackers and not dependent on where the data resides. Studies have proved that it is safer to be in the cloud
than traditional IT networks. Why that is the case is a discussion for another time, but you can easily search this
on the internet or wait for our next few blogs on this! Having said that you cannot uproot your business and
move to the cloud today if you are not there yet, but when developing your next software, you should see if
the software can be “cloud ready”
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7. (2) Scalability
Can the software scale with your business? If you experience growth do
you need to reinvest in upgrading the software? Similarly if you need to
scale down, does the software environment provide for cutting costs?
In a traditional IT environment it is difficult to cut costs when you have
invested in infrastructure. It is a sunk cost. Software and infrastructure
in a cloud environment may provide you with the scalability you need if
implemented correctly.
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8. (3) Availability
Enterprise software needs to be highly available. Today’s business is 24x7
and that is not an idiom nor a cliché anymore - it is the life blood of your
business and to be competitive you need to have software that has high
availability if not fault tolerant. A traditional IT infrastructure and software
system needs downtime - can you afford such downtime? Cloud
environments typically have redundancy built in so downtime is minimal to
none.
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9. (4) Performance
Software as a service is vulnerable to internet band width. While that can be a drawback, most well-
designed software allows an offline component that caches data locally while there is latency and
syncs updates back to the cloud once band width is restored. However such latencies are slim to
none in today’s broadband markets. If you are located in areas where you do not have good internet
most of the time, then a remote cloud solution may not be viable. But your software can still enjoy
high availability if it is “cloud ready” and runs in a server located within your premises and is not
running locally on your devices. And when you have that broadband and you are ready to migrate a
remote cloud solution all you need to do is network changes - your software is already cloud
enabled!
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10. (5) Support
Cloud software solutions are a lot easier to support, administer and
monitor. Your IT support will need to monitor one resource (or a few,
depending on the architecture and complexity of the software) instead
of end user devices. Patch installations, upgrades and release
management is relatively easier due to the same reasons.
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11. (6) Ease of access
This is a big benefit - a software as a service allows the software to be
accessed from anywhere and if designed and developed correctly, from
any device. No more worrying about VPN or connecting to remote
terminals, printers etc. - the software runs anywhere so long as the
device is connected to the internet.
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12. (7) Cost (short term and long term)
Finally, the inevitable discussion re: cost. Is it cheaper to have a Saas model, desktop software,
remote install? Short term? (1-6 months), longer term? (18 months+). The real question to ask is the
value you are getting from a piece of software. There are upfront costs in all types of software -
some are cheaper to install, others are cheaper when looking at lifetime ownership. This is a topic
of big debate and the correct answer is “it depends” - although that is not an answer that you would
like to hear as a consumer, it is also not that indeterminate. Cost comparisons can be done at
proposal and a good software development company will provide both alternatives with pros, cons
and value (short term and lifetime).
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13. So to answer the main question - “To cloud or
not to cloud”
…from a software development perspective - the answer is a big YES.
Every software that gets developed in today’s business environments
should be “cloud ready” - are you asking this question to your software
developers?
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14. Stay tuned!
Thank you…
…back next week