According to Google, the public cloud is “an IT model where a public cloud services provider makes computing services … available on-demand to organizations and individuals over the public internet.”
In other words, it’s a public safe space on the internet where companies can allocate their data and resources in exchange for exclusive benefits and access to state-of-the-art resources, such as computing, storage, environments for development and deployment, applications, and much more. These benefits are cost-effective compared to hiring an in-house IT team to handle a company’s business needs.
Compare that to the private cloud. The private cloud is an exclusive cloud computing service where a company or individual owns and manages the software and hardware applications in-house. They must have a plethora of knowledge in the field to accurately do this on their own, or have a team of professionals they pay to handle their IT services.
Are There Benefits to Each?
Yes. Private cloud services are solid choices for medium-to-large companies that have a vast amount of sensitive data and resources, such as healthcare companies or financial institutions. These companies often have the resources to hire an in-house team to handle their cloud computing services, and would rather not use a public space to store their data. But this generally requires more time, more allocated company resources, and the knowledge to successfully manage these services without help from an outside firm.
For public cloud computing, companies allocate their data storage to the public sphere. While this is still remarkably safe, it allows companies to have a hands-off approach to storing and managing their data. Other benefits of public cloud computing include:
- Scalability – Public cloud providers allow for scalable solutions for companies to decide how much data they need to store, or how many other services they require. The private cloud generally requires an all-or-nothing approach to monitor the entirety of the company’s data storage. Allocate your services to experts who can tell you how much help you need, and scale their service accordingly.
- Lower costs – Compared to maintaining an in-house team to handle your private cloud computing services, generally you can allocate your services to the public cloud for a one-time fee or locked-in rate for a contract. This way, you’re covered if anything negative comes up that needs to be fixed. If you have a public cloud, disaster recovery can be both expensive and difficult to manage.
- Reliability – Because of the massive use of the public cloud in the world today, systems are updated to be very reliable for a company’s specific needs.
- Easier setup – Once you agree to allocate data to the public cloud, you’re essentially finished, and the provider will handle the rest for you. This is ideal compared to setting up software and hardware services in-house with the private cloud.
- No maintenance – If a problem arises, the public cloud provider will handle it for you. This means you don’t need the skills and knowledge to handle any maintenance issues that arise in the future.
Conclusion
Depending on your company’s specific needs and data storage, the public cloud may not be the right answer for you. If you have the skills and knowledge to handle these needs in-house, more power to you. The public cloud just streamlines the process as you allocate your cloud computing needs to an expert and simplifies the process.