The Importance of a Cloud Native Strategy

A cloud native strategy is particularly important because it aims to bring together the various teams within an organization to create a coherent plan that informs and leads the deployment of cloud services.

In many businesses, the "Cloud-Architect" will collaborate with leadership and business divisions, as well as security and technology teams, to design and articulate the cloud strategy. Without a cloud architect or a clear strategy, several firms have already deployed a number of cloud technologies. It makes little difference who develops the plan in these instances as long as it is developed collectively and backed by leadership before being shared internally.

 

What is cloud native?

Cloud native is defined by the cloud native Computing Foundation (CNCF) as scalable programs that run in current dynamic settings. It's not about whether apps are built and delivered on a public, private, or hybrid cloud; it's about how they're built and deployed. Cloud native programs use technologies such as containers, microservices, and APIs to expand horizontally rather than vertically.

Microservice modules may develop themselves independently without relying on other processes because of the scalability. The technology assures that systems built with a cloud native approach are scalable, reusable, and robust.

To put it another way, a cloud native Strategy allows services to be used across many apps and services.

 

What is a cloud native Strategy?

What is cloud native? It means "born in the cloud." Cloud native is a collection of unchanging infrastructure elements that create part of the code base of the applications and where the applications interact via APIs. Suppose users step from a world where software was installed on an operating system, which sits on a physical server connected to a bit of SAN or NAS storage. In that case, cloud native is a collection of immutable infrastructure components that form part of the code base of the applications and where the applications interact via APIs. Cloud native technologies are far more adaptive and agile than traditional technology.

 

What are cloud native apps?

Small, autonomous, and loosely connected services make up cloud native apps. The characteristics provide well-known commercial benefits, such as the capacity to incorporate user input for continual development quickly. In a nutshell, cloud native app development is a technique to accelerate the creation of new apps and the optimization and integration of current ones. Its mission is to offer the apps that people demand at the speed that businesses require.

 

The advantages of a cloud native app

Cloud native apps, also known as native cloud applications (NCAs), are created specifically for cloud computing. They have several advantages.

Independence: Their architecture enables cloud native apps to be built independently of one another. This implies that you may manage and deploy them separately.

Resilience: Even if an infrastructure outage occurs, a well-designed cloud native application may survive and remain online.

Standards-based: Cloud native services are frequently based on open source and standards-based technologies for interoperability and task portability. This reduces vendor lock-in and leads to an increase in revenue.

Business agility: Cloud native applications are smaller than traditional apps and have more flexible deployment choices over the network, making them easier to build, deploy, and iterate.

Automation: DevOps automation capabilities enable continuous delivery and deployment of software modifications that are delivered on a regular basis in cloud native apps. Developers may also employ approaches such as blue-green and canary deployments to make app upgrades without disrupting the user experience.

 

Why do companies need a cloud native strategy?

Organizations who do not have a high-level cloud native strategy that is aligned with their business plan are substantially more likely to fail and squander money.

If an app is "cloud native" it was created with the goal of providing a unified development and administration experience across private, public, and hybrid clouds. Cloud computing is used by businesses to boost the scalability and availability of their programs. Self-service and on-demand resource provisioning and automation of the entire life cycle from development to production are used to accomplish these benefits.

The majority of businesses do not have a defined cloud native strategy now, but by 2023, 70% of companies will have one. Businesses that integrate their cloud strategy with their overall company plan will have a more consistent approach to cloud utilization, maximizing resources and lowering expenses.

With a cloud native strategy, developers must first grasp the fundamentals of what is necessary to build contemporary cloud native apps. Implementing an Agile approach and DevOps methods, microservices, a single or multi-cloud strategy, and containers like Kubernetes and Docker are all part of development.

A cloud native architecture is built on the foundation of microservices. These microservices are intended to operate and execute various functions within the app. For instance, one microservice may be used to implement a process while another is used to manage it.

In reality, as compared to traditional development and computing, being cloud native provides several distinct advantages:

- Developing and deploying code more quickly

- Increased service turnaround time

- Serverless computing is becoming more popular.

- More impetus to DevOps processes

- Scalability

- Resiliency

- Services that can be reused

 

Benefits of the cloud native strategy

A cloud native strategy and shifting your application deployment approach is based upon several areas, notably; your risk appetite, your need to be agile in the markets in which you operate, and your organizational culture. Cloud native is a way of life for IT, and to embark on this journey will take planning and commitment. The benefits are there; you will be incredibly agile and deploy/upgrade applications faster, but there will be overhead in operation process design that will need to be worked through to support the change in the direction. These benefits can be realized by driving cost efficiency throughout your IT operations. Architecting and re-engineering applications and infrastructure can be costly.

MCRO has a dedicated team of devops and infrastructure architects. We can help you optimize and scale your business at any stage of your cloud journey. From cloud assessment and strategy to infrastructure setup, migration and maintenance, we’ve got your back. Contact us for more information!