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This is unimaginable how technology, only a few years old, has transformed the world. The cloud approach is becoming extremely popular with businesses and other industries.
It provides scalability, productivity, and a significant cost reduction. Lower equipment costs are another major benefit of cloud computing technology. This is why 47% of businesses reported cost-saving after the cloud migration.
The cloud-based business makes digital operations more streamlined. It gives you the tools and ability to customize the products quickly to meet changing business scenarios. The extensibility of the cloud solution can help you greatly in business operations.
For you to make better business decisions and move from web and desktop applications to cloud-based solutions, you must know what all is there to know about cloud software development, the process, benefit, and challenges.
What are Cloud-Based Solutions?
Cloud technology has received enormous investment in the past decade. In 2018, the technology was estimated at $272 billion and was projected to reach over $623 billion by the end of 2023. With the pandemic shattering the global economy and businesses looking for opportunities to reduce operational costs, cloud technology is expected to break that estimation too.
When the entire world looks up to technology, it is natural for you to experience heightened curiosity. A cloud-based application is an internet-based program with all the components stored online and some or all processes executed in the cloud. For any application to process the data and execute the operations, it must have the space to do so.
While speaking of a cloud-based application means its user interacts with the application through a mobile app or a browser. Data processing happens on a remote server and is executed with the help of an API. In this case, a user device serves only as an input source and does not host most processes.
Cloud-Based Development
Cloud-based development differs from web development; it is essential to know the business needs and recognize some characteristics of cloud-based apps. Here is how web application development differs from cloud-based apps.
- App data is processed in the cloud; the cloud infrastructure caches the data partially on the user's device. There are minimum requirements placed on the device to run the application.
- Information stored on the user's device allows remote accessibility and offline accessibility. Once you have an active internet connection, the app will be updated and upload the data generated offline to the cloud storage location.
- A cloud-based application can be reached with the help of any connected device that has an internet connection. It can be used using smartphones, tablets, and computers. The minimum dependency on the device allows easy accessibility without relying on the browser's capabilities.
- Data encryption, data optimization, and compression can be easily customized. You can schedule it as per your needs.
- Cloud-based applications with access to third-party cloud services with API integration services allow easy customization of the software products. It will enable you to meet your business needs quickly and get ready-made solutions.
Cloud App Development: Key Differences
Some popular examples of cloud-based applications are Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, Canva, and others. These are some widely popular applications, and there is a chance that you might have used them and experienced their amazing functionality.
On average, a person uses 36 cloud-based services daily. At the same time, most web applications rely partly on cloud technologies. This is because the scalability allows them to take their business globally.
If you are considering cloud software development, it would take some research and knowledge to build a team with the required capabilities. You would be required to consult them on the technology, provide them with information on your business goals, and have deep interactions between programmers, designers, QA managers, and data architects.
Developers, in turn, would help you understand cloud solutions better. They would help you familiarize yourself with the diverse cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Apache CloudStack, and others. Customization of the solution through APIs would become more rewarding. They would help you understand additional connectivity, including CDNs.
Next, your development team must also understand your long-term and short-term business goals to ensure scalability and flexibility. One of the most important reasons companies prefer to store their data in the cloud is that it gives them a wider range of capabilities. They can scale their businesses quickly.
A cloud development team needs to consider applications and software for accessing the functionality of the cloud software. Technically it is unlimited in size, cloud hosting is not free, and the condensed user requests and data size optimization become a top development priority.
Finally, cloud security is also a concern. To make the most of your cloud software, you need to ensure that the data will be stored safely and is not easily breached. This will not be easy as the application will have a lot of data. There is no single data storage. The app architecture in the form of a codebase needs to have a separate storing location from the other data.
Types of Cloud Applications
The app development process will be a success only if you know what you are trying to create. You must not proceed without having that clarity. For more information on types of cloud applications that might be the best fit for the business, take a free consultation from our technology experts. We would help you identify the benefits and challenges associated with cloud application development. Clarify everything that is making decision-making difficult for you.
Cloud-based applications can be categorized into different categories. This categorization is based on the differences in the app architecture. Here is the most popular classification that makes or breaks your application.
Software-as-a-Service
SaaS is the most popular format of cloud applications. Most cloud applications, including the SaaS, run on third-party hardware and not using devices. The software is also hosted remotely. The significant benefit of the SaaS application is the usage of any device to access the services offered. No need for expensive hardware or buying a license for each software update.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Some popular examples of this type of application are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine. IaaS, or infrastructure-as-a-service, provides businesses with complex infrastructure and customer support. This enables a business to create custom software and bridge the difference between the application and its operating system. This helps a business build a customized product without building entire capabilities from scratch.
Platform-as-a-Service
The most popular names you might come across of the platform-as-a-service cloud applications are Google App Engine, OpenShift, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and Apache Stratos. The cloud-based application only used the application code from the businesses and provided the hardware and ready-made solutions to them.
Also, the software is constantly updated, so the developers can use only the latest version. If the user decides to scale or change the application entirely, you have the capabilities ready for the needed scalability. The application gives you cost-efficiency and flexibility to meet growing business needs.
Types of cloud
There are three types of clouds; private, public, and hybrid. We will be discussing it in-depth. From the user's side, the cloud application differs in its functions. Cloud-based applications may use a browser-based application or a native application.
You can choose from the following four types of cloud depending on your organization's requirements:
- Public Cloud
- Private Cloud
- Hybrid Cloud
- Community Cloud
Public Cloud
The public cloud allows all to access and store information via the Internet with a pay-per use model.
Cloud service providers (CSPs) manage and operate computing resources in public clouds.
Example: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), IBM Cloud Enterprise, Microsoft, Google App Engine, Windows Azure Services Platform, Google Cloud Platform.
Private Cloud
Private clouds can also be called internal clouds or corporate Cloud. This cloud is used by companies to create and manage their data centers either internally or externally. It can also be used with Open Source tools like Eucalyptus and OpenStack.
Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud is the combination of public cloud and private cloud. We can summarize it as:
Hybrid Cloud = Public Cloud + Private Cloud
Hybrid cloud can only be partially secured because services that are on the public cloud are accessible by everyone, while services that are on the private cloud are only available to the organization's employees.
Example: Google Application Suite (Gmail, Google Apps, and Google Drive), Office 365 (MS Office on the Web and OneDrive), Amazon Web Services.
Community Cloud
The community cloud allows services and systems to be shared between several organizations. It is managed and owned by one or more community organizations, a third party, or a combination thereof.
Challenges of cloud-based application development
Depending on the type of application development, the challenges differ. While building a cloud based software, you would either be the service provider or you could build an app that is based on third-party cloud solutions. If you want to be a cloud service provider, you must manage issues such as service security, data processing logic, and hardware solutions. In this scenario, you would be required to provide the users with a cloud network.
In the case of developing an application based on a third-party service provider, you would be required to discuss the cloud development integration services, choose the provider carefully, see the budget, etc. It is essential to choose a reliable service provider. The application's infrastructure should be scalable for further development and management of security issues.
Another thing you need to choose wisely is the technology framework. It is essential to consider your business goals and use the technology that supports your needs per the industry's specifics and diverse needs. Knowing more about the challenges that come along the development process can help you improve your decision-making.
Read More: Cloud-based Custom software development- All you need to know
Here are some common challenges of cloud-based app development:
- Interoperability
The cloud environment has to be essentially interoperable. This means you should be able to run the application on different devices, and it helps you leverage the other available custom software development services on your infrastructure.
At the same time, not all cloud-based systems have communication channels available. You don't always have mixed components from the different services. Consider if you had to switch to another platform completely; how would you do it? Important information about the codebase and data and the possible hiccups during the transfer of it that would arise during the switch.
- Reliability
It is crucial that the design of the cloud software be developed to keep the people who use it. It would help you to incorporate the critical operations and add the needed tools to help manage the operations better. Choose the technology that can support vital business processes. It is essential to back up data and operations with a private cloud.
- Performance
Data centers are defining entities in the performance of the software. The more data centers there are, the better your app performance is. Place the server so you can provide your users with the same page loading speed.
The customer experience on the application is highly affected by the number of servers placed in the system. If the number of servers is too small, the custom UI would be affected by 3 seconds to load into the user computers. Each additional second would mean a lower conversion rate. Similarly, the content distribution network would be a part of the cloud app infrastructure and define the app loading speed.
- Security
Client-side security and storage protection are significant challenges for developers. Up to 66% of developers treat cyber security service provider as a substantial concern when opting for cloud computing services. Cloud applications may include several API integrations and must be extremely accessible for the users. Strong data encryption, SSL certification, and reverse proxy usage will help raise your cloud-based application's security level.
- Scalability
You need to make sure the application is highly scalable. With the service you have chosen, you cannot expect to meet your growing business needs throughout your business lifecycle. You must add new tools and capabilities to meet your needs efficiently. Also, the product would not be able to match the efficiency required as the audience would be much bigger than what you experience. This can reflect badly on your business.
What is Cloud Software Development Advantages
Now you know the cloud software solutions to decide the right SaaS development services for your business. Some of the cloud computing benefits are:
1. Cost Savings
If you are worried about the price of switching to the cloud platform, then here is great news. The initial cost may sound intimidating to you, but considering the benefits it offers, it would be surprisingly profitable, and the investment would become worthwhile.
Return on investment is a must metric when considering investing in any technology. Hence, consider all the factors where cloud computing will improve your business operations and reach and give you capabilities to increase your profits.
Once you are on the cloud, the easy accessibility of the data will mean a lot of savings in resources, including time and money. Your workforce becomes more empowered, and you get to enjoy more productivity and faster decision-making. Taken together with these factors, you get lower operational costs and higher returns.
- Security
One of the biggest concerns of businesses is data security. Files, programs, and other data that are available online-how is it secure from cyber-attacks? If you can access the data, then how should the data not be accessible to cybercriminals, etc.? These are some of the thoughts that might arise in front of you.
Honestly, you don't have to be concerned if you are choosing a reliable service provider. It is their full-time job to secure the platform and monitor it all the time. It is much more efficient than a conventional in-house system. You don't have to worry about internal data theft and other IT concerns.
Modern solutions such as data encryption can help you improve your security game on the cloud software application. Talk to the SaaS development team about other ways to secure the application even more. This includes trying out different security settings. You must also not ignore disaster recovery just in case you might lose the data for some reason.
- Flexibility
You have to allocate your time to different things in your business. If your current IT solution is consuming a lot of time, you need a solution that doesn't. Your business has various aspects, and IT is only one of them. You need to reach your business goals by putting your efforts and attention into other parts of the business too. On the other hand, by relying on outside organizations to manage your infrastructure, you get that time to invest in other things.
Cloud services offer more flexibility. There, you don't have to host the application on a local server. You can change your subscription plan to add extra bandwidth, cloud-based tools, and services. Minus the complexities and expenses you require to support your organization, you get to enjoy the benefits easily. 65% of the InformationWeek survey respondents said they could meet their business needs much more quickly because of the cloud-based environment.
- Mobility
Cloud computing allows mobile access to corporate data through smartphones and other devices. With more than 2.6 smartphone users worldwide, it is a great way to ensure that your business reach increases.
The cloud environment offers you mobility and remote accessibility. This allows you to improve the efficiency of your workforce. You can add features that improve your understanding of business operations.
Solutions such as SAP development services, which can help you gain useful insights into the customer experience, business operations, customer satisfaction, preferences, etc., give you the needed boost in business activities. Most of all, the workforce becomes more efficient in deciding what is best for your business.
- Insights
Data has become so much value for businesses today. It gives you the needed knowledge to improve your business understanding. Insights help you become more accurate. The bytes and bytes of data you collect daily on customer transactions and business processes help you improve the customer experience. Business processes become more to the point; they give you invaluable, actionable information.
Connect with an SAP development company to get integrated cloud analytic solutions to gather data efficiently and implement tracking mechanisms for customized report development and analyzing tools. This should help you meet your organization's goals easily.
- Improved Collaboration
If your business has a team of more than two members, collaboration becomes pivotal. It isn't much you can do for your business if all the cogs in your company don't function properly. You need a team that can easily collaborate over a platform and makes the business function easy.
Team members can view and share information easily and securely over the cloud-based platform. Some of the cloud-based services offer you a dedicated place for social spaces.
You can easily connect with your team and increase interest and engagement. Sure, you can find other platforms to increase collaboration within the team, but they are not as effective and easy.
- Quality Control
There are a few things that are essential for business success. This includes quality. A lot of businesses fail to manage top-notch quality in their operations. In a cloud-based system, you get all the information in one place. It helps you maintain consistency and revise the record anytime. This also helps you avoid human error and making updates easily. These improved data management capabilities can help you eliminate confusion and diluting data.
- Disaster Recovery
Some things are out of your control, and no matter how much you try, something will be unpredictable. This can make you stop your business operations. But the point is that in that downtime, your lead generation stops and your productivity stops, along with reduced revenue generation. You are required to anticipate disasters that could potentially harm your business reputation.
With a cloud environment, you get quicker data recovery. This includes natural disasters, power outages, etc. While 20% of cloud users claim disaster recovery may take about 4 hours or less, some service providers are improving cloud-based disaster recovery solutions.
- Loss Prevention
If your organization is not investing in a cloud computing solution, then all your valuable data is sitting on your computer. This may not look like a problem, but it is a limitation. You might end up losing the data permanently. Some common problems might cause this failure. There is age-related hardware deterioration, user error, disasters, or misplacement of the hardware. In short, if you are not using the cloud platform, you risk losing all the stored information. The cloud-based server makes it safer for you to store the data over an internet connection.
- Automatic Software Updates
Running a business is an exhaustive task. It will not bring peace to you if you have to wait for system updates to be installed. Cloud-based applications automatically refresh and update themselves. You would not require any resources from the IT department to perform a manual update. This saves you from investing your money and time in IT consultation. It can reduce the cost of internal resources by 50%.
Wrapping Up
Cloud application development has become very popular in the current scenario. Though the technology might sound a bit complex initially, a little research and learning more about the technologies can help you get the most out of these solutions.
Given cloud application development gives you major benefits such as development cost reduction, accessibility to the data, and a new level of standardization and scalability, it is going to serve as an amazing opportunity to take your business to new heights.
As said earlier, cloud application development will sound a bit complicated. It involves API integrations, data architecture planning, and data decoupling.
Ultimately, all that's left is finding the right SaaS development service provider and the right cloud service provider. Go for well-reputed companies such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
