The concept of cloud computing has existed ever since emails came into existence. With the advent of lucrative email plans, cloud server hosting became more mainstream than ever.
Numerous advantages accompany cloud servers. This makes cloud hosting an inevitable solution for businesses willing to leverage extra benefits from their IT.
If you have launched a business mobile app recently, or are planning to launch one soon, here are some advantages that might compel you to host an app in the cloud server.
Advantages Of Host the Business Mobile App in the Cloud :
1. Low investment, high return
Without clouds, you are left with the option to choose either a dedicated server or a VPS. While these two options may appear luring, their exorbitant cost is often prohibitive.
However, the upfront cost linked to the cloud server is four to five times lesser than its VPS counterpart.
Therefore, a low upfront cost translates to a higher return on investment (ROI).
2. Improved collaboration
Teamwork is an essential ingredient of a successful venture.
Often, the difference between a flourishing and bankrupt business is the underlying teamwork.
So, collaborating is vital.
Since your employees can access, share, and edit work files on the cloud, it enhances the efforts and helps employees make informed decisions.
Also, every team member is updated with the course of the work in real-time. This reduces the app development cycle drastically.
3. Effective data management
Not only is there improved collaboration, but there is also effective data-management.
Prior to clouds, every new instance (version) of the assignment had to be mailed to the team members individually. Often, this ended up creating conflicts among the various versions.
Cloud servers play an important role in safeguarding the integrity of the data being shared as it keeps data centralized to a common platform. Thus, making it accessible to all the users simultaneously.
4. Travel Places without losing track
Mobility holds tactical importance in our life. It has become a necessity to revamp our workplace by taking the path of mobility.
Mobility is rooted deep in every business architecture. Despite unstated, it is essentially the top-most priority of every enterprise.
If an app is hosted in the cloud, it can be accessed from anywhere, as long as there is the internet. Thus, there is no need to tie yourself down to a particular location while working on your application.
Moreover, your work may require you to travel very often. Cloud server hosting can ensure that you get the same level of control, regardless of where you go.
5. As reliable as it gets
Downtimes are inescapable. Even the most trusted sites run into downtime.
The cloud provides a reliable platform for hosting an application.
The data is backed up on several servers. This makes it easy to restore data to the last known clean back up, especially when one of the servers has crashed.
Furthermore, disaster management in clouds is more cost-effective than in any other server. Since recovery involves only copying data from one server to the other, disaster mitigation in the cloud is more cost-effective than in any other server.
6. Top-notch Security
There was a time when cloud services were considered the most vulnerable to threats until it underwent a revamp.
The cloud was then refurbished with an architecture that deployed security in multiple layers.
Security is implemented in various layers, with each layer specializing in safeguarding a particular threat-type.
- Application server security– guarded by a web application firewall that monitors and filters traffic. It places a shield between the application and the internet.
- Database server security– permission-based DBA access makes sure only the authorized person gets access to the database.
- Additional security– to top up the security with a few more bits, there’s SSL encryption, threat detection, and vulnerability testing concurrently deployed with other measures.
Also, the security comes at no additional cost as cloud services are wholly provider-managed.
7. Compatibility
With a physical server, one is bound to run into Operating System-related compatibility issues.
This makes running apps a tedious task. Besides, you might also need to set up another server to run the application in another environment.
All this not only adds to the cost, but it also escalates burdens on the developers unnecessarily.
Because cloud server hosting provides an interoperable platform, it makes more sense to have a single cloud than having numerous physical servers.
8. Rapid deployment
Rapidity is crucial, especially in the app development business.
You never know when you might encounter a grave loophole.
A rapid deployment ensures that updates are rolled out in no time, leaving little margin for downtime.
Hence, the bottom line is – lesser the work, faster is the deployment of changes.
Conventional servers need to be configured every time new updates are rolled out. Because cloud services are provider-managed, app updates can be released faster and without troubling oneself in configuring the underlying server.
9. PaaS – Platform as a service
App developers had long craved for a platform that would provide them with all sorts of features that one normally gets with his own platform.
Before clouds, platform as a service was a dream far from reaching as servers had to be built from scratch.
The dawn of cloud services provided some relief to app developers as the pre-built server environment was now readily available.
10. Scalability
One of the most worshipped aspects of cloud server hosting is its scalability.
A sudden spike in mobile app use is capable of crashing a physical server that is not prepared for the surge. Scaling a physical server is not an easy task in itself.
Scaling often requires months of planning, and while the up-gradation is in progress, the server often undergoes a downtime.
But, so is not the case with clouds; it is, by its very nature, very scalable and flexible. Cloud servers can be scaled in real-time, ensuring that demands are always met.
Takeaway
While many would argue that cloud server hosting requires outsourcing data, which, in many ways, is risky.
The statement is contradicting in itself, considering that even today, more than 90 % of websites are those hosted in third-party servers.
