Monthly Archives: October 2021

Why Is Multi Cloud the Next Big Thing for Companies?

The past few years have witnessed an explosion in data followed by a boom in information. So, it became the need of the hour that companies and workplaces handle the data efficiently. The concept of cloud storage had led to data inputs from more sources and other benefits in the past.  With so much data to store and work with, it becomes important to store and handle data that come from different sources efficiently. Multi cloud was proposed with a similar utility in mind. Though it wasn’t put to effective use immediately, more companies have started to adopt multi cloud as it has been quite promising in handling multiple workloads.

Multi Cloud and Hybrid Cloud – A Strategic Approach to Data Handling

Since multi cloud targets can refer to a great range of cases, the term multi cloud can’t be put under a single definition. Sometimes it refers to leveraging multiple cloud technologies simultaneously. It might also refer to using multiple public clouds at the same time for different workloads. It can also stand for the usage of multiple clouds (that don’t categorize under the same public cloud) along with some conventional non-cloud technology (this is sometimes referred to as hybrid cloud).

With new cloud management tools like Google Anthos, multi cloud can be considered the best strategic approach to cloud computing for companies.

To adopt and get acquainted with this strategy, companies are looking into the advantages and disadvantages. There are numerous unique features and problems which can be solved by the adoption of this method, and it is only going to get more popular in the long run.

Entering the Era of Multi Cloud

Software products are subject to change because of technology friction and competition. Consequently, companies are required to release updates frequently. This frequency can even refer to multiple updates in a day.  This led to the employment of the concepts of CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Deployment), to meet the evolving software needs. Other factors like containerization are pushing companies to work towards these updates further, resulting in more information to manage and work with. This can be considered another major reason for the use of multiple public clouds.

Such situations also bring in the essentiality of using hybrid clouds, combining different cloud services with traditional computing promoting security by segregating the work process into different segments. All these factors put together, call for the importance of using multiple clouds or multi cloud technology.

Why Is the Trend Changing?

With the multi cloud technology reaching maturity many large companies have already started moving towards multi cloud management. Multi cloud is slowly transitioning from being just an option, to becoming a requirement and will quickly become a necessity in the market in the days to come.

There are several factors that are driving this change:

• Saving cost and avoiding dependency: Nowadays a lot of companies solely use only one cloud solution for their purpose amongst which Amazon Web Services (AWS) is very popular due to its flexibility and myriads of options for different uses. However, to save and distribute expenditure and not be too reliant on a single resource resulting in autonomy, people are looking forward to adopting multi cloud management systems
• Right tool for the right job: It is evident that different cloud platforms suit the purposes of different professionals. Amazon’s AWS, Google’s Cloud Platform, Microsoft’s Azure, etc all appeal to different types of workflows and skills, all of which may be required at a company. It is therefore much more efficient to be able to employ the correct resource at the correct site at the company level
• Resilience and data regulations: Multi cloud management is also a good practice to ensure resilience so that all data remains safe in case of some anomalies or failures. It also comes into play when a company needs to employ different options in different regions due to legal reasons or due to availability. For example, many countries restrict data to be stored within their geography itself which may cause issues in some situations.

These factors can also be considered as the advantages of embracing multi cloud.

Plethora of Benefits

Apart from the advantages listed above, multi cloud comes with a set of benefits:

• High security

Organizations with multi cloud infrastructure have the power to maintain high security coupled with cost savings.

• Reduced latency

Data stored in clouds takes time to reach users. This delay occurs as the data travels across multiple nodes to reach the user. The technical term for this delay is latency. Using a multi cloud strategy minimizes latency as there are multiple servers available in distant locations. The closest datacenter can help fetch the data when required.

• Autonomy

since companies use multiple cloud service providers, it is made sure that workloads are not locked-in to individual cloud providers. As different workloads are simultaneously dealt with, combining different platforms, there are chances that a workload gets lockedin to a particular cloud service provider. Multi cloud helps avoid such situations by enabling users to switch platforms with ease, ensuring seamless data management.

Other benefits include optimized ROI, inter-cloud services, reduced data redundancy etc.

Is Multi Cloud the Magic Pill for Start-ups and Small Businesses?

As more companies and traditional businesses look towards implementing data processing and multi cloud use, it gives rise to a unique opportunity to many start-ups and other tech companies. Such start-ups provide the service of seamless work across the different cloud platforms and are always ready to solve compatibility and technical issues.

Talking of start-ups and other companies, the above-mentioned benefits apply here as well. However, there are other pros of using a multi cloud strategy.

The reasons why multi cloud takes start-ups to the next level are plenty. These reasons explain why start-ups, small businesses and even newly formed companies can embrace multi cloud strategy. Here are few to check out:

• Committing to a single cloud provider have higher chances of limiting the company’s growth. Instead, multi cloud strategy helps companies pick the right cloud for their work, at any given instant. This also helps with meeting their high-performance based computing and storage needs.
• Companies that aim at serving customers, find the opportunity to deploy on a customer’s preferred cloud.
• Scaling up- working with multiple cloud service providers allows companies and businesses to expand, without technology friction.

Conclusion:

Multi cloud can be considered quite a blessing when it comes to storing and accessing data quickly. Employing the idea of using multiple platforms to work with, always comes in handy. Quick data access, data safety coupled with cost savings have never been easier. With more companies coming up in the software market, multi cloud lets everyone participate in the technology advancement and data delivery competition.

Adobe Completes the Missing Puzzle in Commerce with Integration of Payment services

Adobe is leaving no stone unturned to emerge as the market leader in the Digital industry/ to maintain its position as a complete and world-leading digital platform. Acquisitions, innovative/pioneering martech and commerce strategies , Adobe is on a spree to make digital transformation easier for businesses worldwide, over the past few years.

In tune with its long-term vision to emerge as the complete Digital Experience platform and deliver out-of-the-box commerce feature, Adobe recently made yet another historic announcement.

On September 15, 2021, Adobe officially announced the addition of a fully integrated payment services with its state-of-the-art commerce application – Adobe Commerce.

 
“In today’s fast-moving digital economy, organizations demand flexibility and extensibility in their commerce platform to sustain business growth and deliver seamless experiences for their customers. With the addition of Payment Services, we’re thrilled to expand on our already robust out-of-the-box commerce feature set to help Adobe Commerce merchants compete effectively and win in the digital-first economy.”- said vice president of Adobe Experience Cloud Product and Strategy at Adobe, Amit Ahuja.

Analyzing the Value-Ads of Integration of Payment Services with Adobe Commerce:

What value does this move by Adobe add to ecommerce landscape? Does it make life any easier for the online merchants focused at delivering smooth experience to their customers?

Let’s dig deeper..

The integration of payments services with its Adobe Commerce will enable all the ecommerce retailers and merchants to seamlessly manage payments on their storefronts without having to integrate with any third-party payment services.

Making Experience More Shoppable for Customers:

In this era of digital disruption, business owners are always on the edge , seeking ways to deliver smooth, multichannel , glitch-free and secure shopping experiences to their customers. Order management and payment processing are two of the deal breakers for every ecommerce merchants focused on delivering great CX. For Adobe Commerce patrons, the former was a breeze with Adobe-owned Magento’s in-built Inventory Management module. Now with the availability of the fully-integrated payment services, all the woes associated with payment processing  has also been taken care of. How? Let’s see in the following paragraph.

With the Paypal-powered payment services, all the ecommerce merchants using Adobe commerce can offer multiple payment option to their customers through their storefronts , including:

– Credit & Debits Cards, Venmo and PayPal

– PayPal’s buy now, pay later Solution

Such payment options allows for faster and increased cart checkout rates. Especially, in the post-pandemic era, there is a surge in demand for alternative payment methods such as Buy now Pay Later.
As per a report by Adobe Digital Economy Index, Payal’s Buy now Pay Later solution is emerging as a popular payment solution with 88% increase in demand between 2019 and 2021.  This certainly is a great news for merchants with storefronts on Adobe Commerce .

Unified Solution for all Payments-Related Activities:

The newly integrated payment services offers a unified solution for the merchants to manage all the payment-related activities without having to depend on any third-party service providers . Through a single admin dashboard the merchants can:

-Process payments,
-Export critical payment reports,
-View and monitor analytics
-Receive critical notifications  & more
-Track funding and chargebacks

Access to a Robust and Highly Secure Payment Services:

The new payment solution is compliant with industry standards of risk-free transactions including PCI DSS, 3D Secure Transaction. Additional data security is ensured with data encryption standards. This means that the merchants can focus their growth-specific ecommerce activities without having to worry about data security.

Adobe payment services will be powered by PayPal Commerce Platform, and is set to be made available to merchants across the globe towards the end of 2021. The services will be first made available to ecommerce organizations in the US by end of 2021 , followed by merchants in Canada, Australia, and Western Europe early next year, Adobe has notified.

Are you looking for an expert help to set up your ecommerce storefront leveraging Adobe Commerce? Then write to us: sales@embitel.com and schedule a consultation with our digital experts.

The Different Types of Content Management Systems (CMSs) – an Overview

A Content Management System is a software or application that helps create or manage content digitally. In today’s world, more people and companies are shifting to online platforms to continue running their businesses.

With people getting more acquainted with the internet and newer technologies, majority of companies are managing their tasks virtually. Online business promoters must make sure that their websites perform well and meet the visitors’ expectations. Content Management System or CMS is used to make the website visiting experience better, by updating website pages and other functionalities.

A complete knowledge of the different types if content management systems and their uses is a must before opting for any one of them. It gives a better idea of which one to choose and helps with better comparison and analysis.

Following are the most commonly used Content Management Systems along with their uses and benefits:

Web Content Management System or WCMS

A Web Content Management System is a type of CMS that lets a user create/edit/manage a web page without prior software development knowledge. A WCMS provides templates that can be directly used to form the layout of the website and then content can be easily created.

A WCMS has got its advantages of enabling users customize webpages with personalized content input. Also, publishing content automatically helps save time and enhances work speed. WordPress and Droopal are examples of Web Content Management System.

Component Content Management System or CCMS

Unlike other Content Management Systems, CCMS handles content at a microscopic level. A Component Content Management System is known to manage content by tracking and storing the smallest details of a page like words, phrases, images etc. these little details are called components and hence the name Component Content Management System.

CCMS stores the content in the system after referring to every single piece of the content as a single entity. Therefore, it aids to reuse these little pieces of the page within a single document or related documents, thereby increasing consistency. Reusability of content saves time during the writing ad editing process. Another major advantage of a CCMS is, every detail of a page or document can be tracked since the content is handled at a granular level.  Examples of CCMS are Vasont, XDocs, SDL Live Content etc.

Document Management System or DMS

As the name suggests, a Document Management System is used to handle documents virtually that are stored in a cloud. Functions like managing and tracking of the documents can be performed virtually in the cloud storage itself. A DMS helps to automatically organize, secure, digitize and classify website or company documents with an ease of accessibility.

A DMS comes with high security to maintain confidentiality of content. ClickUp and HubSpot are examples of Document Management Systems.

Mobile Content Management Systems or MCMS

Mobile Content Management Systems are exclusively designed for handling content using smart phones, tablets and devices that are handheld. This idea evolved in close connection with the development of smart phone technology. Handheld electronic devices are easier to handle and more portable in nature, making content management hassle free and smoother even while traveling.

Contentful is an example of a CMS for mobile apps. Other examples include Contentstack, dotCMS etc.

Enterprise Content Management System or ECMS

Enterprise Content Management System is a methodological system that follows a range of strategies and tools to handle information. These strategies and processes include scanning, tracking, indexing and more.  ECMS is responsible for content that shapes a company’s basic framework. These are large scale software packages that make it convenient to prepare reports. Thy help in tracking and controlling the complex operations of a business.

One of the biggest upsides of ECMS is, once the required content is used, the files are deleted after retaining for a stipulated period. This ensures availability of space. Atlasian and Confluence are two such Enterprise Content Management Systems.

Digital Asset Management System or DAM

Digital Asset management System is an information and business process management technology. It paves way for a centralized system for companies or firms to manage and access their content and media assets digitally. It is a cloud-based Content Management System that is new class of SaaS that simplifies storing, organizing, and retrieving digital files.

There are various types of DAM like digital supply chains, Product Asset Management Systems, Brand Asset Management Systems and Library Asset Management Systems. All of these have different functions and hence help in overall digital content management. Examples of DAM are Cloudinary, Bynder etc.

Similarities and Contrasts

Different Content Management Systems have different areas of expertise and different functions. However, all CMSs are designed with the same idea in mind- to manage content in a way that becomes easier to fetch and understand. As a result, all Content Management Systems have a similar set of features that form the base of any CMS. To name a few features:

• Easy digital content storage
• Access to content (fetching, searching, editing, and modifying content)
• Publishing the content and automatic control over the version published
• Providing a detailed report after thorough analysis
• Seamless content delivery
• Ready-to-use templates and layouts

Although the base purpose for all Content Management Systems is more or less the same, they differ significantly when it comes to the specializations. Every CMS has a specific set of objectives and when looked from a strategic level, they all serve different purposes. While CCMS ensures that every component of a content is retrieved and stored, WCMS helps with the website design. DAM takes care of the company’s product asset management and supply chains whereas ECMS looks after the information that inflicts the company’s hierarchy. DMS and MCMS on the other hand, make content management seamless and hassle free by employing cloud storage.

Conclusion:

Content Management Systems are tools that make dealing with content or information easier on different levels. With so many content management tools available, it can be both a blessing and a bane to choose the right ones. The key to selecting the right tool is a vivid knowledge of how each tool works and what purpose they serve. Detailed research and proper analysis of each Content Management System makes the work easier and risk-free.

Reach out to our expert team at Embitel and leverage the best of services in CMS.

What is an Alert Management Solution and Why We Need It?

Today every other business organization has multi-tiered and a managed IT infrastructure and is highly focused on expanding/empowering their infrastructure with new technologies.  The combination of servers, networks, applications, routers, etc. gives companies multiple opportunities to evolve and respond to customer needs quickly. At the same time, the flexibility of your digital framework is under pressure to sustain any condition. At times each update can cause an outage, or every add-on might bring complexity to the configuration. It affects the digital operations and efficiency of the product to meet its objectives.

Digital operations of today are nothing like what they were a few years ago. Previously, digging into email notifications from multiple monitoring tools or searching for crucial alerts, or correlating messages manually was a norm. But now, with the change of mechanisms and technology, you need tools that help you to interpret the data quickly and productively.

Alert Management solution is not a want anymore. It is a need that every company today should adopt in their IT operations. Alert management solution is effective as a nifty assistant that acts as a depository, translator, analyst, and operator for alerts. This will aid both business and DevOps. It facilitates other teams to meet their SLA (Service Level Agreement) and perform priority tasks better.

What is Alert Management?

Alert management is a process where a user gets to create new exception types, exception routing rules, organization exception types, and queues. Exception types are managed at the Hub level and contain information like queue-type the exception is assigned to, the default priority of the exception and the high priority threshold value.

The high priority threshold value is used to decide which alerts are of high priority. Alerts having a priority number lower than that of the high priority threshold are considered as a high priority. There are many PCA (Principal Component Analysis) fields that can be configured here.

Below we have mentioned some of the best practices for an effective Alert Management solution in function.

• Offers complete alert content

Email notifications just give a glimpse of an issue or status update, to get the information about the case in its entirety, you will need an alert. The alert should include details about resource name, metrics, intensity along with information about tags, description, messages, node, occurrence time, and all other available information that might be handy. This will save time instead of manually looking out for data.

• All alerts are available on a unified platform

There is no need to get confused with screen hopping frequently, you always get a bird’s eye view of all the information on a single platform.

• Normalizing all alerts

Deciphering notifications from different monitoring tools can be overwhelming. For instance, one monitoring tool grades as “low”, “high” or “very high” whereas in another tool, the same metric is rated as “minimum”, “average” or 1, 2, 3, etc. To interpret these complex metrics, an efficient alert management solution should be used which simplifies all field values into a common standard.

• Smooth segregation of alerts

Lesser and more important messages are divided and those messages that are crucial are created into actionable alerts. This saves time of the agents and also repetitive alerts are easier to detect and avoid.

• Availability of an integrated service desk

An integrated service desk brings together insight and action items for a seamless process flow. It also helps in human decision-making processes.

It also reduces the time for issue resolution and automatically routes incidents to appropriate agents.

• Customize context and data

Alert management tools do noise reduction and also create rich context and incidents by putting similar alerts together. These tools help agents by doing higher-level analysis via ML (Machine Learning) for spotting patterns in any unrelated incidents.

• Upgrades your network and framework

Alert management tools give information about any underlying issues, performance of the workflows, and any other information necessary for digital operations. They provide insights which help in optimizing the cost and productivity of teams.

• Improves overall productivity

An alert management solution are what organizations are going after while rooting for growth and innovation. The biggest advantage of alert management solution is minimizing and preventing outages. It also impacts the productivity of the teams as they will work on root cause analysis and other priority tasks. An agile, resilient and smart alert management solution can be a key differentiator for your company in terms of sustaining and forging ahead in the competition.

Conclusion

The alert management solution helps organizations to analyze all kinds of alerts in the environment. It not only integrates alerts generated within order management systems (OMS) but also imports alerts from connected SCOM (System Center Operations Manager) management groups into log analytics. It is best recommended to go with an expert for installing alert management solutions. Reach out to our team at Embitel technologies who are a registered partner of Freshworks and can provide exceptional service in integrating and leveraging Freshworks’s freshservice solution, in line with your business goals.

RapidRetail Accelerator for Sports Brands and Manufacturers

The concept of RapidRetail stems from the idea of having or setting up an e-commerce store in matter of few days rather than months. Since sports brands now have an option to go digital, the site or application performance becomes a big determining factor. Here’s a gist of why you should consider RapidRetail accelerator packages if you wish to set up an e-store in the shortest possible time.

What Is RapidRetail Accelerator?

Embitel’s RapidRetail Accelerator is an omnichannel retail solution specially curated to help business ventures, of all sizes, to establish a successful an ecommerce presence in the shortest possible time. This solution is available in three different variants to fit the budget and the timelines of both small scale and large-scale businesses, turning them into a fully responsive and transactional Magento commerce site.

If you own a small business and cost becomes an issue standing in your way from migrating to Magento 2, then this can be the solution you are looking for!

Want to know more details? We recommend you to read this blog “How Magento Accelerator Can Be the Perfect Growth Lever for Small Businesses” .

Selected Magento Solution Partners across the world are now offering Magento accelerator solutions. These accelerator solutions, also referred to as Rapid Deployment Packages, easily fit into the budget of all types of businesses. If this makes you feel excited then hold tight, because there is another great news coming along! These solutions we offer, can take you from no e-store to a full-fledged revenue generating website in only 6-8 weeks!!

Having Sports Industry in the Limelight

Since Covid 19 put a bar to offline retailing, customers moved to buying products online. Having multiple target regions where people buy sports goods and products in bulk, setting up online commerce platforms have become necessary. The sports industry has a vast range of goods, products and services that are consumed by people all over the world. From athleisure to shoes, yoga essentials to other equipment, everything comes under the sports industry.

The scopes for running a digital commerce platform, especially post the pandemic, are plenty, for the sports industry. Putting this idea in the limelight, having an e-commerce store with an elite performance, boosts retail experience. An advanced e-commerce platform is required for processing all the work and carrying out all retail actions. This is where our Rapid Deployment Packages, a Magento specific growth accelerator solution comes handy to ensure a smoother and faster ecommerce experience.

Since majority of sports brands are now trying to establish a direct to customer relation, shorter demand cycles are becoming a priority. With customers inclining towards purchasing sustainable products and brands trying to create a seamless experience, RDP comes in quite handy. With plenty of advantages, Magento rapid deployment packages also come with some problem-solving features. These features cater to several issues that previously held back seamless retail experience.

The features mentioned below contribute to creating a seamless omni channel experience, solving complex legacy integrations, and refurbishing the website. Let’s us dig deeper to understand some interesting facts about Magento Rapid Deployment Packages.

Is Migration to Magento a Right Decision?

Having or setting up an e-commerce store comes with some challenges. If you are thinking of how to ensure a seamless and unique user experience, we have got you covered. Magento commerce provides a lot of advanced functionalities. Be it refurbishing already existing content on your website or providing options for future expansion, working on an e-store has never been easier. Migrating to Magento 2 will also take care of your website speed and performance besides giving you a personalized website experience.

Here’s a detailed look at the various Magento accelerator packages offered by Embitel, a leading Magento Solution partner. Each one of these packages can be customized based on the requirements or the scale of business.

A Sneak Peek into Embitel’s E-commerce Rapid Deployment Packages

1. Basic/Starter Package — This package is most likely to be suitable for small businesses, who are willing to go digital. It helps you upgrade your business and set up an e-store in considerably less time. It is an extremely cost-effective package, worth only 35000$, making it perfect for small businesses.

   The starter pack comes with a lot of features. A few of them to include are:

   • A fully responsive website, supporting both Android and iOS mobile apps.
   • Multi-language support.
   • Catalog management facilities allowing to group and sort products, use product filters based on their price, color and other attributes.
   • Comparison of products, enabling better analysis.
   • Product browsing – showing multiple images per product.
   • Product ratings and reviews – helping people to find your store and keeping them engaged.
   • Upsell, related and cross-sell product features.
   • Push notifications.
   • Buyer dashboard from where profiles, addresses and orders can be edited.
   • Well optimized checkout facilitating one step checkout, guest, and registered user checkout.
   • Store credit, letting customers to use it for purchases.
   • Neatly planned promotions and pricing – facilities of letting customers use coupon codes, discounts on the first order, free shipping based on a minimum order etc.

   The bonus is, this package can be implemented and you’ll be all set with your very upgraded e-store in just 6 to 8 weeks’ time.

2. Express Package — Suited for businesses who want to move from basic to advanced e-commerce solution to amplify their growth. It is ideal for businesses looking for a ready defined configuration and application flexibility. The Express package has a slightly higher budget of 50000$, and it includes the following additional features:
   • Security facilities- Integration with google reCAPTCHA.
   • Multiple store views.
   • Multiple shipping methods
   • Multiple languages.
   • Catalog management- managing product attributes, attribute sets and product categories.
   • ERP integration for order processing and update.
   • Flexibility to choose delivery or pickup slots for order.

   The timeline for setting up the express package is an estimated 10 weeks. 

3. Accelerator Package – This package is best suited for businesses looking for industry specific solutions with advanced business processes. The Magento Accelerator package is the solution that incorporates best-in-class ecommerce websites, presented in a bundled solution. This solution is most recommended for growing businesses with both offline and online presence.

   The Accelerator package offers the following benefits, in addition to the features offered by the express package:

   • Highlight products that are on sale or new, with product labels.
   • Enhanced product attributes and product set facilities.
   • Loyalty program.
   • Multi warehouse inventory.
   • Store manager app for offline store management.
   • Delivery app for tracking orders that are delivered.

   The budget for the accelerator package is 70000$. It comes with a timeline of 12 weeks.

Conclusion:

Collaborating with an experienced Magento e-commerce solution partner is a wise choice if you are looking forward to setting up or upgrading your e-commerce store. With the strategic expansion possibilities and seamless user experiences offered by Magento, its high time for sports retailers and manufacturers to consider migrating to Magento. Having a well-functioning, omni channel and performance optimized e-store in such less time in affordable budget has never been easier.

Best Cloud Deployment Models for Businesses – An Overview and Comparison

The utilization of the cloud has changed over the years now. Earlier, it was just an extraordinary option but today it has become a necessity. Today, cloud services come with various deployment models. Generally, when we talk about cloud and cloud services, we think of “public cloud” since it is the most popular cloud model out there. That is just one of the cloud deployments models where the provider owns and maintains all the servers and other hardware resources.

Let us learn about different cloud deployment models and different types of cloud service models in this article.

What is Cloud Deployment Model?

A cloud deployment model refers to an arrangement of specific environment variables like accessibility and ownership of the distributing framework and storage size. There are various types of deployment models based on the location and who manages the infrastructure.

The Need for Different Cloud Deployment Models

At times companies manage their data centers with older features. It is not possible to move to the public cloud for many reasons, it could be to avoid compromising on compliance and data protection laws or they might just be unsure about moving to the public cloud because they would have spent loads of money on their own servers and they would want to utilize them. To decide which cloud deployment model suits your organization, it is important to have a thorough understanding of all 5 cloud deployment models.

There are 5 popular cloud deployment models. Let us have a look at each one of them one by one.

1. Public Cloud

The public cloud deployment model is the most popular one. In a public cloud deployment model, you do not own any hardware, since all the resources are provided by the cloud service provider. It is available for the general public and the resources can be used by all. The data is generated and stored by third-party service providers which means companies need not maintain their hardware.

The public cloud deployment model works well with companies with little privacy concerns. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud, Salesforce Heroku are a few examples of public cloud deployments.

Benefits of a Public Cloud Model

• Better infrastructure management
• Increased scalability
• Lower costs
• 24/7 operation time

Drawbacks of a public cloud

• Security and privacy are a concern
• Lack of customized service
• Efficiency is not optimum
2. Private Cloud

From a technical perspective, there is not much difference between the public and private ls since their architecture is similar. But in a private cloud deployment model, a dedicated environment is present for every customer. There is no sharing of hardware with any other users. Hence it is also called ‘internal’ or ‘corporate model’.

In private cloud model, you maintain the data center just like it is done in public cloud model. An abstraction layer is created on top of your physical servers to gain flexibility. New servers can be added to the data center and there is no need to configure them again as they have semi-automatically become a part of the cluster. It is possible to get a private cloud from a public cloud provider.

Red Hat OpenStack, CISCO, DELL, Rackspace, IBM Bluemix Private Cloud, Microsoft Azure Stack, and VMware Private Cloud are some of the examples of a private cloud.

Advantages of a Private Cloud

• High scalability
• Customization based on customer requirements
• High reliability, security and privacy.

Disadvantages of a Private Cloud

• It is expensive as you need to pay for hardware, software, and training resources.
3. Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud model is a combination of public and private cloud. It is the second most popular model after the public cloud model as it combines the best of public and private cloud features.

In a hybrid model, companies can use their existing public cloud and also own on-premises systems. This model is extremely useful during a seamless transition between clouds over a period of time.

Owing to security concerns, few companies cannot operate only in the public cloud. Hence, they go for a hybrid cloud to combine their needs and leverage benefits from a public cloud. Here, critical applications with sensitive data are run on premises and the rest of the applications are in the public cloud.

Microsoft, Amazon, NetApp, Cisco, Google are some of the examples of a hybrid cloud model.

Benefits of hybrid cloud

• Better security and privacy
• Improved scalability
• Cost-effective
• Simplifies data and application portability
4. Multi-cloud Model

In multi-cloud model, more than one cloud service provider is part of the process. You will be using both public and private cloud services. However, you will not be combining private with public cloud instead, you will be using more than one public cloud. This approach reduces redundancy. To avoid any disaster and disruption in the working of applications, two different clouds are used.

Multi-cloud deployment model provides high accessibility of your services. You can utilize specific services from two different public clouds at the same time in multi-cloud model.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft (Azure), and IBM are examples of multi-cloud models.

5. Community cloud

Community cloud deployment model is similar to private one but differs in the set of users. Only one particular company owns the cloud server in private cloud model while in community model, many organizations with similar backgrounds share the framework and related resources.

This type of multi-tenant data center infrastructure helps groups of companies which have uniform security, privacy and similar performance requirements. It also improves the efficiency and smooth workflow of these participating companies in case of joint projects. With the help of centralized cloud, project development, maintenance and deployment can be managed well, and cost will be divided amongst the companies.

Benefits of community cloud 

• Cost reduction
• Improved security, privacy and reliability
• Ease of data sharing and collaboration
• Scope for personalization

Shortcomings of a Community Cloud

• High cost compared to the public deployment model
• Sharing of fixed storage and bandwidth capacity
• Not commonly used yet

Cloud Service Models

Once you have zeroed in on a cloud deployment model that suits your requirements, the next step will be to look at cloud service model. The cloud deployment model tells you how to distribute and manage hardware. Cloud service model is used to recognize and differentiate which layer of service you will manage, and which layer do the cloud service provider manages.

Of course, each model comes with its own plus and minus points. One more thing to note is that you don’t have to pick one service model for everything. You can go with different components of various cloud service models based on your architecture.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

In IaaS cloud service model, the cloud provider maintains the hardware along with servers, storage and networks while you manage the rest of the framework. The cloud service providers place the servers in the data center and the hardware is made ready to use.

You will have a virtual machine with an operating system of your choice. You will have total control and access over the machine and the software you are installing.

Pros of IaaS

• Easy to use model.
• Scalability is high
• Complete control of the hardware and framework lies with you.
• You can clone any IT architecture and create test environments or come up with recovery solutions during the times of disaster.

Cons of IaaS

• Everything from configuration to maintenance is done by you.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

In PaaS model, operating system and software is managed by a third-party cloud service provider. You will have a ready-to-use platform – for instance, managed Kubernetes or Kafka. You can have as many applications as you want but you are limited to one particular platform.

Benefits of PaaS

• Less time spent on the maintenance of hardware.

Disadvantages of PaaS

• It is not always possible to get a personalized configuration for your platform.
• Security and privacy concerns

Software as a Service (SaaS)

In Saas model, a cloud service provider hosts applications and makes it available for users over the internet. Here an ISV – Independent Software Vendor can contact a third-party provider to host the application or in case of larger companies, the cloud provider can also be the software vendor.

A software provider will either host the application using its own servers, databases and resources or an ISV hosts the application in the cloud provider’s data center. The cloud provider manages all the layers of cloud architecture. The applications can be accessed through any device with an internet connection.

In the SaaS model, customers are given network-based access to a single copy of an application that the service provider has created specifically for SaaS distribution. The source code of the application is the same for all the customers. When there are any changes or updates to be made then all the customers will be notified accordingly.

SaaS products are easily marketed to B2B and B2C users unlike PaaS and IaaS products.

The advantage of SaaS is that it offloads most of the engineering effort from the companies. They just have to pay a subscription fee and get access to the software which is a ready-to-use solution.

The disadvantage of SaaS is that since most of the work is done by the provider, it can be an expensive service at times.

Deploying to the Cloud

It is equally important to know about software deployment now that we have an understanding of cloud deployment models and cloud services models. Resources can be optimally used using these models, but businesses gain profits with effective software deployment. There are several ways to deploy your software. Today, timely deployment of software adds real business value to companies. Companies should be able to deploy new features and fix bugs at least once a day to thrive in the market.

Lot of companies are not keen on deploying software often due to downtime issues. They prefer to follow frequent testing and beforehand preparation as best practices. To limit the risk that comes with new deployments, companies should go with an approach where deployment of software happens only to a small fraction of users first. After testing, roll out the change to the rest of the users. This saves time and money also increases efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion

Whichever cloud deployment model you choose, you still need to pick the right software deployment method to suit your needs. To help you make proper decisions, our team at Embitel will guide at every step for a smooth transition from database to cloud.

We offer an array of cloud services and deployment models to choose from. We use our extensive experience & knowledge of cloud technologies to deliver on projects of any scale & complexity. Check out our customer testimonials here.