Keeping data is an essential process for businesses in the 21^st century. Data like customer information, financial records, product details, company projects, future plans, and more are what ensure businesses keep thriving and ensure smooth operation. In fact, 95% of businesses rely on statistical data to make informed decisions.

However, data storage and storage management can present quite a challenge. It’s a challenge because this data is sensitive and improper storage can lead to breaches that expose important company information, or worse, customer data. This is why many businesses resort to hybrid cloud strategies. It offers the same features of cloud or physical storage while remaining affordable and secure.

So, if you think a hybrid cloud strategy is the way to go for your business, you’re in the right place! In this article, we will break down all the components of building a robust hybrid cloud strategy, and how to find a balance between performance, security, and cost.

Let’s get into it!

What Are Hybrid Cloud Strategies?

A hybrid cloud is a combination of on-premise/private data centers with public clouds like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and others, allowing a business to move data from one cloud to another seamlessly.

This can be a better solution for companies that want to have control over certain types of data to ensure its security, while also getting the cost benefits of public cloud services. And, as the company grows, it can adjust how the public cloud services scale alongside it.

Cost Efficiency in Hybrid Cloud Strategies

Storage equipment, server equipment, and having the right personnel to manage the hardware and the data alongside it can be incredibly expensive. And, as companies scale, the amount of data that needs to be processed and stored grows exponentially.

Hybrid cloud solutions on the other hand are much more cost efficient. Here’s why:

Flexible Resource Allocation

Public cloud services like AWS or Azure provide flexible solutions to fit the needs of varying company sizes. Companies can pay depending on the amount of resources they need. And, they can also acquire more resources if needed, which come with additional charges. This is what makes cloud and hosting services so affordable for small businesses.

This kind of resource flexibility helps businesses control their expenses compared to a traditional data center which requires one-time and very expensive payments for the necessary hardware.

Say Goodbye to Overprovisioning

We mentioned previously that data center investments can be incredibly expensive, especially for smaller businesses. So, rather than investing a large amount of your company’s budget to power a certain workload, you can shift it into the public cloud and allocate the required resources. Once that particular workload doesn’t require as many resources, you can then shift it to your on-premise data center, reducing your costs for your public cloud.

Boosting Performance With a Hybrid Cloud Setup

Hybrid cloud strategies allow companies to optimize their workloads which ultimately leads to improved performance. Here’s how:

Organizing Workloads for Optimal Performance

Previously, we mentioned that cost efficiency can be improved by allocating workloads that require more elasticity to public clouds, while predictable workloads can be appointed to the on-premise data centers.

These same rules apply when looking at performance. Projects that require more processing power can be placed on the on-premise cloud while projects that require less-intensive processing can be placed on the public cloud. And, if needed, you can always allocate more processing power to the workload on the public cloud.

APM and Network Optimizations

To further optimize performance to make the most out of your hybrid cloud strategy, there are two things you can focus on. Application performance monitoring (APM) and network optimization.

APM tools can help you track important information like resource utilization, latency, crashes, uptime, etc. for your cloud environment. By tracking this information, you can then make educated decisions to further boost performance.

Network optimization is also an important factor for hybrid cloud strategies because latency can be a real performance killer. By incorporating caching, dedicated connections, and other techniques, you can significantly reduce latency which ultimately leads to better performance.

Optimizing Security When Using a Hybrid Cloud Strategy

When incorporating a hybrid cloud strategy within your organization, there are a couple of things you need to focus on to ensure maximum security for your data. Here are the data best practices:

• Keep critical data on-premise – we can’t stress enough how important this is. Any sensitive data you have on your company or your customers, make sure this information always stays on the premises. And yes, even though public cloud services do offer security, this is the most effective way to reduce risks.
• Zero trust model – this security model assumes that any user who wants to access important data is not trustworthy. So, any access request needs to be reviewed and approved. This kind of security model is especially useful for a hybrid cloud strategy.
• Identity management – IAM or Identity and Access Management is a security discipline that helps manage which people can access which data. In other words, you ensure that certain employees will have access only to data necessary to them, and they won’t have access to any vulnerable information.

Integrating and Managing Hybrid Cloud Strategies

Even though hybrid cloud solutions seem to be self-evident, there are still difficulties with the integration and management process. Here are some must-dos to seamlessly integrate this strategy within your organization:

• Unified management platforms – this type of tool goes without saying because it helps you oversee your resources, costs, performance, and security across both on-premise and public cloud through one interface.
• Automation – automation ensures there is no operation downtime between the two cloud environments.

A Balanced Approach to Hybrid Cloud

A well-designed hybrid cloud strategy can offer you the best of both worlds, combining the security of a private environment with the cost efficiency and scalability of the public cloud. If you focus on controlling costs, tracking performance metrics, and security, you can leverage the hybrid model for long-term value.