9 Key Benefits of Moving On-Prem Applications to the Cloud

Organizations need the cloud to be competitive. In an IDC White Paper published in January 2022, 40% of customers have already migrated to the cloud, with another 47% planning on moving within the next 2-10 years.

Historically, only large enterprises had the money to invest in IT infrastructure, leaving smaller businesses behind due to the high cost involved. But in modern business, the cloud truly levels the playing field, allowing companies of any size to store and process information at remote data centers.

The migration involves careful planning and introduces a change to established business processes. For more organizations these days, though, the rewards outweigh the risks. To aid in your own cost/benefit analysis, here are nine key benefits that any organization would experience when migrating from on-prem to the cloud.

Lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

Deploying software on-premise can create a significant expense for businesses. Full-time IT support staff, the ongoing costs of maintaining the server hardware, and an expensive utility bill for power consumption are just a few recurring expenses a business will face when using an on-prem infrastructure. By pivoting to a cloud computing model, a business’s only responsibility is paying a monthly subscription fee for the service and none of the ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs.

Cutting the operational costs associated with on-prem can result in considerable savings for a company, creating more assets that can be invested back into the business to support long-term growth and continuity.

Minimal Initial Capital Investment

Moving to the cloud is a must if you’re short on capital. A business can skip the cost and hassle of purchasing expensive servers and hardware necessary to set up an on-prem data center by letting a cloud provider do all the heavy lifting. Most cloud vendors offer reasonable pay-as-you-go pricing, eliminating the surprise expenses and ongoing maintenance costs accrued when setting up and maintaining on-prem. Pay only for the computing power you need, when you need it.

Keep Current with the Latest Technology and Features

In business change is constant, but the cloud is designed to dynamically respond to the needs of a growing business. Services and applications within the cloud are constantly being improved and updated to keep up with both company and consumer demand in real time. The cloud provider automatically installs maintenance and software updates, providing you with the latest features and upgrades as cloud technology evolves.

Provide Ease of Access and Usability

The ability to work from anywhere is a ‘must-have’ feature for many companies in 2022. Switching from on-prem to the cloud allows team members to access critical business information from anywhere, anytime. Because data is stored in the cloud, employees can access it from any location on any device. The ability to grow a workforce outside a traditional onsite office comes with massive benefits as modern work culture shifts to focus more on remote work opportunities. With a cloud migration, a team member can be anywhere in the world and still have instant access to the information and applications needed to get the job done.

Eliminates Costly Hardware Upgrades

A migration from on-prem to the cloud eliminates the need for expensive and ongoing hardware upgrades. With a dedicated cloud provider, a business of any size can benefit from leveraging economies of scale. Public cloud hosts like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Oracle can drastically reduce their maintenance, upkeep, power, cooling, and staffing costs per server unit compared to a data center run on-prem or privately. The result is significant savings passed down to businesses whose IT structure is based in the cloud. By removing the expensive burden of maintenance and upgrades, companies can put more capital towards other priorities and needs.

Easily Scale Solutions on the Cloud

The ability to scale up or down immediately to match the growth of your business is a key benefit of switching from on-prem to the cloud. IT is not one-size-fits-all; an ideal IT solution at one stage may become completely obsolete as a business scales. This constant change and shifting of needs can make it difficult for a company’s IT infrastructure to keep up with the demand (and can be costly to fix!). A cloud migration creates an agile environment for a growing business – solutions can be easily scaled using the cloud, enabling growth and change without the headache of a massive IT overhaul.

Fewer Challenges when Incorporating New Products and Applications

When running operations on-prem, incorporating new products or applications can be a lengthy and costly process that requires the time and expertise of an on-site IT professional. As a cloud customer, changes can be made, and new applications can be added in real time with a click of a button. The ability to quickly and efficiently add new products and applications can significantly impact companies experiencing sudden growth or changes. Adding and removing new products and applications on an as-needed basis makes the cloud a much more effective solution that allows businesses to make immediate changes in an environment supported by cloud experts.

Improved Employee Decision-Making and Collaboration

Seamlessly connecting systems and simultaneously syncing, working, and sharing documents in real time allows team members to collaborate quickly and effectively. Cloud systems only require an internet connection to access business data on any device, making it an incredibly efficient solution for large teams to be able to access data simultaneously. The mobility and flexibility provided by the cloud enable employees to work from anywhere, making collaboration instant and information easily accessible to all members of a team.

Added Security Benefits

Security on the cloud is a shared responsibility, but customers don’t have to tackle this issue alone with a migration to the cloud. The ‘Shared Responsibility Model’ for cloud providers traditionally sets expectations as the following:

  • Cloud Service Providers: Responsible for security of the cloud, meaning responsible for any vulnerabilities impacting infrastructure or hardware they own

 

  • Customers: Responsible for security in the cloud, meaning responsible for access to sensitive information within the resource


Expert resources and access to better, more breach-resistant security solutions are some benefits of switching to a cloud provider. Though both on-prem and cloud applications require personal responsibility when protecting sensitive data, partnering with a cloud provider can provide an extra layer of protection and, perhaps more importantly, expert help and guidance if a security issue arises.

Key Challenges for Cloud Readiness

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Migration to the cloud comes with its own challenges, but the long-term benefits of moving on-prem applications to the cloud are significant and a must-do for the majority of businesses moving forward. For most IT departments, a cloud migration will be their first time addressing a project of this magnitude and scale. While experienced professionals will be able to anticipate some of the issues ahead, there are key challenges that must be addressed to have a successful outcome.

To discover the challenges of cloud migration and learn actionable steps to successfully address these issues, download our FREE report.

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