There’s no doubt that cloud services have become the new normal for enterprise corporations and small businesses alike. 90% of companies use cloud services to operate their businesses on a daily basis. The Cloud allows companies to connect to their business applications from anywhere, use only the number of seats they need for any type of software, and integrate all their cloud applications for data sharing and automation. But just like any business process, the use of cloud services and which ones to use for running company’s technology infrastructure is one of the most important decisions a company will make for their bottom line. Do you use several different applications, purchasing subscriptions one at a time without a plan? Or use one integrated platform from which multiple cloud applications can be run for different departments? Most companies find that using one platform makes the most sense when it comes to price, simplicity, and collaboration. And the top choice by far is Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS has 47.8% of the public cloud services market share. The nearest competitor, Microsoft, has 15.5%. With nearly half of the cloud services market share, Amazon Web Services is the popular choice for a majority of companies. Why so popular? We’ll go through the benefits using this cloud platform next which should shed some light on why it’s the top choice for building a business cloud infrastructure.
AWS Advantages for Your Cloud-Powered Business
The average employee uses 36 different cloud apps to do their work. If those cloud applications are coming from different platforms, a company can end up with a disconnected mess of applications that don’t communicate efficiently and have differing security policies, login experiences, and app compatibilities. Cloud platforms like AWS are a popular alternative because they give you an infrastructure upon which to add different business apps, so they’re all in the same “family,” all giving users a similar experience and all completely integrated. Services like Amazon Web Services are called IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) because they provide more than just the cloud software, they provide a unified platform for the software to live. Following are the biggest benefits of using AWS for your cloud infrastructure.
Cost Efficient
Rather than have to pay for a whole suite of products, some of which you may not use, with AWS you can pay only for the computing power, resources, and storage that you need. You can scale up or down easily and there are no long-term contracts or upfront commitments.
Flexible
You can select the operating system, web application platform, database, and any other services that you need. AWS is a virtual environment that allows you to add the business software and services you want to use, so they’re all housed on a single, elastic platform.
Enable Your Favorite Applications
Because AWS is such a universally used IaaS, it can be used to house multiple applications. This includes Microsoft applications like SharePoint and Exchange and database-driven applications from Oracle.
Cloud Security
You can raise your security posture by using AWS infrastructure and services for your business cloud computing needs. The platform allows you to meet core security and compliance requirements, such as data locality, protection and confidentiality. Some of the cloud security benefits include:
- Superior visibility and control over your data security
- Reduce risk with deeply integrated services
- Build with the highest standards for privacy and data security
- Large ecosystem of security partners and solutions
Consistency Across Cloud and On-Premises
AWS allows you to use hybrid cloud solutions, which is a mix of both cloud and on-premise applications. You can provide your employees a consistent experience whether they’re using on-premises or cloud, improving productivity and enhancing the user experience.
Cloud Availability Globally
AWS spans 60 availability zones in 22 geographic regions, including Singapore. Availability of cloud servers in your region mean that AWS can support fast data speeds and take advantage of “Edge computing” which is basically keeping your data as close as possible to reduce latency and lag time.
AWS Marketplace
Save time finding and evaluating new business apps by using the AWS Marketplace, which is a digital catalog that has thousands of software listings from independent vendors that you can deploy on AWS. Popular Marketplace categories include:
- Operating Systems
- Security
- Networking
- Storage
- Data Analytics
- Dev Ops
- Machine Learning
- Data Products
Free Tier
Small businesses that want to try out AWS can use it for free and explore over 60 products. Their Free Tier does not expire and includes access to free software trials, products that are free for 12 months, products that are always free, and more.
Make the Most of Your Cloud Infrastructure
Managed IT Asia can help you get started with Amazon Web Services and help you make the most of your cloud infrastructure to increase productivity and reduce operating expenses. Contact us today for a free cloud consultation. Call +65 6748 8776 or reach us online.
MANAGED IT ASIA, we are an IT Support, IT Solutioning and Managed IT Service Provider specializing in serving Small Businesses across Asia. Call us at +65 6748 8776 and let us manage your Small Business IT today!