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August 30, 2022

What Is a Cloud-First Strategy and How Does It Benefit Businesses?

The global cloud computing market is expected to reach USD 947.3 billion by 2026. Anyone with a little knowledge of the technology would agree that the cloud is the future. Have you ever wondered what percentage of your organization’s workload depends on cloud-native technology? The number may vary depending on various factors. However, it is definitely greater than it used to be a few years back. 

Cloud technology offers a plethora of benefits to all businesses irrespective of their size and nature of business operations. It is time for organizations to implement a cloud-first strategy to stay ahead of the curve. Here we discuss what is cloud-first approach and how your business can benefit from this strategy.

What Is a Cloud-First Strategy?  

A cloud-first strategy is an approach where businesses prioritize the cloud as a solution. This approach suggests that businesses should first consider the cloud as a solution when adopting a new process or updating an existing system. They should go for other solutions only when the cloud fails to offer more benefits or when it is not suitable for one or more reasons. 

Businesses adopt a cloud-first approach with the understanding that in a few years, on-premises infrastructure will become outdated and cause massive maintenance costs. Gartner analyst Milind Goverkar says  85% of the businesses will take a cloud-first approach by 2025 to reap the full benefit of agile technology. He further states that in the coming years, any IT infrastructure that is not cloud will be considered a legacy.

It is important to remember that a cloud-first approach doesn’t mean you need to migrate your entire IT infrastructure to the cloud. This approach allows you to retain your legacy system as long as they offer value. 

Benefits of Adopting a Cloud-First Strategy

Cloud-first approach allows businesses to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world. Some of the benefits offered by the cloud-first strategy are:

Cost-saving

The equipment and maintenance costs are dramatically reduced when you deploy a cloud-based solution. In fact, you get similar or even more computing power and storage at a fraction of your previous expenses. Cost-saving is often one of the key motivations for businesses to adopt the cloud. 

Scalability

Cloud infrastructure offers you easy scalability. Businesses grow, and their needs change with time. It can be a pain to upgrade your physical server to meet your ever-changing requirement. With cloud technology, you can quickly scale up your infrastructure as and when needed. You only need to upgrade your current plan and pay more for additional resources. 

Improved Productivity and Collaboration

Cloud-native infrastructure helps you streamline operation management across all departments. It is also ideal for a remote team working on the same project. The coordination becomes seamless, and in turn, it improves productivity and enables better collaboration. 

Enhanced Disaster Recovery

Hardware failure, cyber-attack, and data loss events are real threats to any business. They can cause irreparable damage to any business. However, when all your information and applications are stored on cloud infrastructure, the recovery process becomes quick and easy. You can bring back all the data in no time and resume your operation as usual. 

Ai.NET offers customized cloud computing setups suitable for all sizes of businesses. Let us know your requirements, and we will tailor the best solution for you.