The adoption rate of cloud computing has been immense this past decade but there are applications where adoption is low.
Gartner analysts estimate that by 2022, 75 percent of databases will be deployed or migrated to a cloud platform. However, the same analysts estimate that around 70% of enterprise apps will stay away from the cloud.
This has created a “tale of two clouds” and it has many people scratching their heads about the ‘what and why’ of this scenario.
Databases and the cloud
Databases benefit from the cloud in several ways:
- Increased scalability and elasticity
- Less downtime
- Reduced admin
- Reduces costs
- Artificial intelligence
- Geographic resilience
- Lower cost (SaaS services are subscription-based)
Faced with these clear opportunities, it’s easy to see why 75 percent of databases could be deployed or migrated to a cloud platform by 2022.
Enterprise apps and the cloud
Enterprise apps fall under a different paradigm to databases in terms of data, security, compliance and mobility. Where apps deliver a service or system, cloud computing may not offer the same level of control and mobility to in-house servers.
It’s important to recognise that businesses relying on apps to operate are reluctant to rely on the cloud to deliver the services they need – UNLESS they have control over the cloud, which they can achieve with a private cloud.
There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, TikTok is more than happy for Fastly to push data quickly to users in the US. However, Fastly is an edge computing and CDN service, so the cloud does not entirely fit with this example.
Should you adopt cloud computing?
Since you’re here, you’re probably interested in solving some of your database or enterprise app challenges with cloud computing.
Whether you should adopt cloud computing comes down to whether you are happy (and are legally allowed to) hand the storage and processing of data over to a cloud computing platform (this applies to third party cloud providers).
This applies whether you choose a private or public cloud environment if it is delivered through a third party (SaaS or PaaS). The only difference is a private cloud is an environment designed solely for your business within your firewall.
A tale of two clouds
Databases are adopting cloud computing at a rapid rate while enterprise apps are choosing in-house servers with some resource allocation to the cloud. This tale of two clouds reflects the fact that cloud computing is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
