While the various cloud offerings permeating the market have gone a long way towards satisfying a wide range of business requirements, finding a way to truly marry all the benefits of cloud in a single solution has historically proven elusive. However, with Enterprise Cloud-as-a-Service (ECaaS) emerging as a viable option for organisations, it is now becoming possible to fully unify all the advantages that cloud can bring. This is according Doug Rich, VP of EMEA at enterprise cloud-as-a-service leader HyperGrid.
Rich said: “Since the birth of cloud, businesses have been inundated with options when it comes to selecting a solution. In most cases, these options have revolved around public or private cloud, or a combination of the two in the form of hybrid cloud. These offerings have come about as part of a need to satisfy a wide range of use cases: small businesses looking for a scalable, cost-effective way to manage their data; large enterprises aiming to find a reliable, secure way to administer their digital assets; organisations looking for the best of both worlds; and so on.
“But getting of all these benefits in a single, easy-to-manage service has more often than not proven to be difficult. This is where Enterprise Cloud-as-a-Service is set to redefine how IT departments approach the cloud.”
ECaaS incorporates a range of features, including the below:
- Controlled on-premises: the infrastructure to support an ECaaS solution lies within the four walls of a company’s data centre. This means that issues relating to data sovereignty, availability and long-distance network connections are consigned to the past
- Automated management and maintenance: despite the infrastructure residing on-premises, the ongoing upkeep is managed by a third party, meaning IT departments can spend more time on innovation
- Consumption-based pricing: organisations only spend money on the resources they consume, without being tied into leasing agreements or long-term subscriptions
- Central hybrid cloud management: ECaaS enables IT departments to control all cloud environments, whether public or private, from one central location. This gives IT staff the power to reign in Shadow IT initiatives by providing greater visibility
- On-demand resources: ECaaS can be scaled up or down quickly and efficiently as the needs of the business change, delivering true on-demand capabilities
- Simple and automated: a cloud service should provide templates and services to end users which make it easier for them to select and access the infrastructure they need. This makes IT operations much more efficient
- Governance and controls: ECaaS provides the ability to enforce internal and external governance policies, allowing IT to control which teams and people have access to which services. This mitigates risk, which is something that many public cloud offerings cannot promise
Rich concluded: “Procuring a cloud solution that best matches the needs of the business is a time-consuming process for the IT decision-makers involved. They want a solution that meets their requirements but doesn’t cost the earth or take months to implement. Enterprise Cloud-as-a-Service is set to bring a much-needed shake-up to the market, and a more unified cloud option that combines the best aspects of public and private cloud in a fluid, manageable way that can be administered on-premises.”
