Traditionally, there has always been two options for businesses who wish to adopt cloud: private cloud,  which provides customisable cloud capabilities from a dedicated on-site or hosted platform; and public cloud, which provides highly standardised cloud capabilities from an external provider at scale. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but for many businesses, exclusively using one or the other is no longer the best approach. Many companies instead benefit from a hybrid approach – gaining value by using both private and public cloud.

MarketsandMarkets predict that the hybrid cloud market will be worth US$97.6 billion by 2023, and according to IDC, the cloud system and service management software market is expected to grow to US$18.8 billion in 2024. It’s a mature market and, as such, robust and advanced cloud capability and technology are readily available for businesses when they need it.

While private cloud models have the advantage of autonomy, data residency, greater control, and often local expertise, it may not provide as much scalability and features, which are useful for wider scale projects and changing circumstances. Public models have greater flexibility and availability and provide quicker access to some innovative services; however, data consumption charges can sometimes be problematic. 

A hybrid cloud model can incorporate the best of both private and public cloud. 

For most companies, neither is perfect. This is where a hybrid cloud model can be highly effective and deliver greater value. A hybrid cloud model can incorporate the best of both private and public cloud. Within a hybrid model, companies are enabled to transform at their pace, supporting both the traditional and modern applications landscapes.

Once a company has decided to move to a hybrid strategy, the next question is which cloud best enables an application or workload – private or public cloud? There are a number of considerations that should be made before switching.

Availability is one. For a business to run smoothly, applications must run correctly when they are needed. Critical and traditional applications have been designed to rely on consistently performing and highly available infrastructure, tailored to its needs. Private cloud is best positioned to cater to this. When assessing whether it is possible to scale to meet dynamic demand, public clouds are best positioned to provide application-driven infrastructure at scale.

Once a company has decided to move to a hybrid strategy, the next question is which cloud best enables an application or workload – private or public cloud? 

Availability and scalability are both as essential as data residency. The policy and governance controlling where data is hosted is an evolving and ever-changing landscape. Critical data that has unique policy and governance requirements is often better housed on a private cloud, whereas data sets, which need to be available across multiple geographical regions, are best hosted on a public cloud.

When deciding upon the right cloud to use, there is frankly no one-size-fits-all. Every business is different, which means every solution is different. The hybrid approach, however, provides a flexibility that a solely public or private cloud approach does not, and business and IT leaders would do well to take advantage of it.

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