Posted on August 5, 2021
Cloud
Your business can’t survive without the cloud.
But that leads to a complicated question: should you build your own private cloud or use a public cloud instead? The problem is, there’s no right or wrong answer.
Instead, we’ve put together this guide to walk you through some of the pros and cons of public cloud hosting and what you need to consider before spending any money.
Let’s get started!
While the two are similar, there are a few key differences between public and private cloud hosting solutions.
If your company uses private cloud hosting, you have to set that up and maintain it yourself. This includes buying all the necessary software, hiring an IT team to run the cloud, making important updates, etc. You are in direct control of the private cloud, meaning you can protect it behind secure firewalls and customize it to look and function however you want.
You don’t have this type of command over public cloud hosting.
Instead, third-party providers manage these servers. You’re simply paying them to hold your business data there. While this limits what you get in terms of features and security, it takes all the hard work out of the hosting process.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on your business’s size, budget, and what you need out of a hosting service. Before you commit to either a private or public cloud, make sure you spend your time researching and weight the pros and cons.
Public cloud hosting is an attractive option for many businesses, especially if they are small and don’t have much wiggle room in their bank accounts. Here are a few reasons this type of hosting solution might be the best fit for your business needs.
Public cloud hosting solutions are already up, running, and ready to use. All you have to do is find one and purchase a plan, and you can do this in a single day and with a few quick clicks of a button. (However, you’ll want to spend plenty of time researching the provider you choose to ensure they’re reputable and have what you’re looking for.)
And once you’re done with the “set up,” you don’t have to do anything else. The third-party provider will manage everything else, which will free up you and your employees to get back to your real jobs, aka growing your business.
Setting up a private cloud is expensive. You have to buy all the software then put together a team of IT specialists to keep it going. After a few years, you might have to repeat this process repeatedly to ensure the server is up to date.
This adds up fast.
Public cloud hosting cuts out those steps, which will save you a lot of money. You won’t have to buy any software, and without an IT team, you can put the funds that would have gone into their salaries into another, more important outlet.
Don’t like the idea of being stuck with a certain hosting solution?
You don’t have to worry about that.
Most public cloud servers don’t require you to sign a year-long contract (or any contract at all). You can pay for what you’re using as you go. This gives you the ability to switch servers if you need to upgrade your plan to something bigger as your business continues to develop.
Without a disaster recovery plan, it’s hard for businesses to get back on their feet after suffering data loss. In fact, 60% of companies that lose a significant amount of data will shut down after six months.
Don’t think you’re the lucky ones.
About 70% of all businesses have lost or will lose important data due to disasters, software failure, viruses, attacks, etc. Because of this, you need to have a disaster recovery plan in place, and public cloud hosting takes care of half the battle.
The third-party providers create backups of your information and store them in different places. You might have two or more backups of all the data you keep on the cloud at every moment. If you do lose something, which is rare for public cloud servers, there’s a high chance you’ll be able to get it back again.
A single minute of downtime can cost your business $5,600. In a single hour, that amount can add up to $140,000 at a minimum.
One of the biggest benefits of public cloud hosting is you’re practically guaranteed to stay up and running at all times. Downtime is rare, and if it does happen, it will only last a few short minutes.
You don’t want your hosting plan to limit your business growth. With a private cloud server, you might not have the space to hold more information until you upgrade, which can cost your business a lot of money and, at the same time, get in the way of your money-making capabilities.
Because you pay for what you need as you go with public cloud hosting, you can easily expand your plan to grow with you. It doesn’t matter how fast your business develops; public cloud servers can keep up.
While public could hosting has many benefits, that doesn’t make it the right choice for every business. These pros also come with their own set of cons, so you need to consider the disadvantages before you spend any money.
We’ll preface this by saying the third-party provider still protects your third-party data with public cloud security. Odds are, nothing will happen with your information.
But that’s not always true.
Since you don’t have the ability to add more levels of security or better types of protection, there is a risk that other people may be able to get their hands on your information. You also don’t know who has access to your data already when you use public cloud hosting.
If your business handles a lot of sensitive information, you may want to set up a private cloud server instead.
Paying for what you need as you need it can save your business a lot of money, but if you plan to use the same provider for a long period of time, those payments can also add up to a large expense.
For large businesses that already have an IT team, it might be cheaper to buy all the software you need at the start than have your current employees manage it.
While third-party providers manage your public cloud server, they don’t always provide the best support. If something goes wrong with your website, it can take hours or even days for the provider to resolve the issue.
And that can cost your business a lot of money.
Since you’re in control of your private cloud server, you can take care of any problems right away.
The model you get with public cloud hosting works for many businesses, especially small or just starting. However, large businesses or businesses that have a lot of unique features may need more customization. In this case, it would be better to create your own private cloud server.
You aren’t the one in charge of your hosting. While this likely won’t be a problem, it does mean you can’t manage it or alter it the way you might want. This can limit your design options and slow everything down if you want to make changes because you’ll have to go through your third-party provider.
Are you still have trouble deciding what hosting option is the best choice for your business?
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today!
We can help you assess your business needs and pick the best hosting plan for you, whether that means public cloud or private cloud. If you already know what you want, make sure you look at some of our hosting services to find out how we can support you in your business growth!