Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) demand solutions that offer flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. Hybrid IT, or a combination of on-premises infrastructure and cloud services, is a vital tool for SMBs with an eye towards the future.
This approach allows businesses to maintain critical operations in-house while leveraging the agility and cost benefits of the cloud. As technology demands grow, most particularly in the compute-heavy age of AI, Hybrid IT provides a perfect balance, enabling SMBs to scale quickly without having to overhaul their entire IT setup.
According to Precedence Research, the hybrid cloud market could be worth $578.72 billion by 2034, as businesses of all sizes have to adopt this technology to help run their complex AI workloads. SMBs should be keenly aware of the cost savings, enhanced security, improved performance, and business continuity hybrid IT provides. As AI applications inevitably become more robust and prevalent for companies across a wide swath of industries, hybrid cloud is poised to be at the center of it all.
What Is a Hybrid IT Implementation?
A hybrid IT Implementation refers to a hybrid cloud environment. Most hybrid clouds have the following attributes:
An infrastructure, either on-premise or private, that operates separately from the public cloud
Two separate clouds that can communicate with an encrypted connection
Two environments designed to transfer workloads between one another
A true hybrid cloud automates infrastructure operations and application delivery. It can unify management across clouds while enjoying seamless data mobility between disparate environments. A hybrid cloud also provides the freedom to use the same software in private and public clouds. The right hybrid cloud design eliminates operational complexity.
Many organizations are evaluating a hybrid cloud’s feasibility. The journey to a true hybrid cloud can be complicated, requiring the assistance of experts in the field. The chosen solution should ensure consistency and eliminate the boundaries between both public and private.
Multi-cloud, or using several public cloud providers, is also becoming more mainstream in the IT space for its ability to optimize workloads and prevent dreaded vendor lock-in.
Challenges with Hybrid Cloud Implementation
SMBs face immense pressure to develop a more agile infrastructure to scale and grow. Hybrid infrastructures are becoming the norm, with Gartner forecasting that 90% of organizations will adopt hybrid cloud through 2027. But what are the common challenges an SMB may encounter with hybrid cloud implementation?
Compliance issues: The need to comply with data regulations is a popular reason SMBs shift to a hybrid cloud; however, ensure the service provider understands these mandates. Companies must recognize compliance when storing, sharing, or analyzing highly regulated data in the cloud.
Migration complexity: Data and app migrations are likely necessary when changing infrastructure. This step requires testing to ensure applications can run in both environments without issue.
Compatibility: Prepare for issues around whether tools and processes are compatible across the cloud. If there are problems with compatibility, consider seeking new resources.
Cost concerns: Migrations and implementation costs can quickly increase if not carefully watched. Work with infrastructure partners to define costs so changes fit within a given budget.
Maintaining data security: The risk increases when data moves between multiple platforms. Review all security protocols and policies and support those with a new risk assessment based on the migration. Identify weaknesses and gaps and deliver corrective action.
Migrating to Hybrid Cloud
The challenges discussed with transitioning to a hybrid cloud are not insurmountable. Companies can easily resolve these issues with the right strategy and infrastructure provider. But why should you consider the hybrid cloud? Will it make a true difference to your SMB?
Hybrid IT provides flexibility to place workloads in optimal operating environments. When designing and building a hybrid cloud that’s specific to business needs, it can bring many benefits, including:
Greater speed: While a hybrid cloud isn’t necessarily faster than a public cloud, the advantage is that it can be optimized to reduce latency, making it easier for data to move to where it needs to be. That difference in time can be consequential to any company’s bottom line.
Enhanced security: Security is always a challenge, but with a hybrid cloud, you’ll significantly decrease the likelihood of exposure compared to the public cloud. Public clouds are more vulnerable to cyberattacks as well as data leakage. In the hybrid cloud model, you’ll be able to employ the security of a private cloud with the power and capabilities of the public cloud. No organization wants to make headlines for the wrong reasons and hybrid cloud helps IT professionals breathe a little easier.
Easy scalability: Any SMB wants to be able to scale its architecture to keep pace with growth. Scaling can be extremely expensive and time-intensive if you only have a public cloud. The hybrid cloud allows for critical data and assets to reside in the private cloud, but you can also use the public cloud to develop new applications and run analytics models.
How AI is Changing Hybrid IT
Hybrid IT is absolutely critical to the building and deployment of AI apps and tools. The incredible scalability of the public cloud enables SMBs to access absurd amounts of computing power, which is essential to training complex machine learning models. In particular, generative AI, which 80% of organizations have already implemented according to Nutanix data, really relies on public cloud resources.
On the other hand, the private cloud or on-prem infrastructure helps safeguard crucial data, especially the most proprietary or sensitive material. Having access to the best of both worlds ensures that AI is run both intelligently and cost-effectively.
For example, in healthcare, AI models built to assist patients may initially be run in the public cloud for its computing power and speed, but sensitive data must be left on private servers to meet rigorous HIPAA privacy requirements.
How Edge Computing is Transforming Hybrid
Propelled by the rise of AI, IoT devices are expected to reach 29 billion by 2030. As a result, more and more computing will have to be conducted closer to the source.
Edge computing can help boost speeds in generating insights and hybrid cloud will be at the heart of it all given its inherent efficiency and flexibility.
What Companies Can Accomplish with the Hybrid Cloud
The benefits of hybrid cloud IT can help businesses meet their goals.
Control infrastructure costs: You are building a cloud to fit your needs, including future growth, but it’s not a blank check. Hybrid clouds can help you reduce costs in two ways. First, you won’t incur costs from building and maintaining your own cloud. Two, you won’t have to invest as significantly in public clouds.
Manage and understand big data analytics: If you focus on making your data actionable, a hybrid cloud can better manage it. Because your hybrid cloud is flexible, it can deal with large amounts of data and allow you to understand your customers and their preferences better.
Accelerate digital transformation: The hybrid cloud allows your IT and business transformation objectives to live harmoniously. You will improve your architecture and provide new ways to use technology to stimulate growth.
Adapt quickly: Possibly, the most important aspect of hybrid clouds is that you are now agile. When something occurs that requires a shift in the way you use IT, it’s much easier to do so with a hybrid cloud, which could also provide you with a competitive edge.
Examples of SMB Implementation of Hybrid IT
Hybrid IT allows small and medium-sized businesses to customize their IT environments according to their unique needs. Here are three practical examples of how different industries can implement and benefit from a hybrid IT approach:
Retail SMB
Retail businesses often need to balance in-store operations with online services. A retailer can use a hybrid IT setup to maintain on-premises systems for essential in-store activities, such as point-of-sale (POS) transactions and inventory tracking, ensuring smooth and reliable operations.
At the same time, they can leverage cloud platforms for e-commerce, enabling them to manage their online store, track orders, and reach the right customers. The cloud can also be used for customer relationship management (CRM) systems, helping retailers improve personalized marketing and customer loyalty while keeping sensitive sales data secure on-site.
Manufacturing SMB
Manufacturers often handle critical design files and proprietary data that require enhanced security. With Hybrid IT, they can store these sensitive files locally on-premises, protecting their intellectual property.
Meanwhile, they can use cloud services for other parts of the operation, such as supply chain management, procurement, and logistics. Additionally, cloud-based analytics can help manufacturers optimize production processes by analyzing data from various stages of the manufacturing cycle without disrupting the security of their core data.
Professional Services SMB
Accounting firms, law firms, and consultancies often deal with confidential client information. By using Hybrid IT, these firms can store sensitive client data on local servers for maximum security and compliance.
However, they can also benefit from cloud-based collaboration tools, allowing them to easily communicate with clients, share non-sensitive documents, and manage workflows. This hybrid approach ensures that critical data stays secure while the firm gains the flexibility and convenience of cloud-based tools.
A Move Into the Future
Hybrid IT offers SMBs a powerful solution combining the best on-premises and cloud infrastructure. The flexibility to scale operations, the cost savings from pay-as-you-go cloud models, enhanced data security, and the ability to seamlessly integrate existing systems make it an ideal choice for growing businesses.
As SMBs face increasing demands for efficiency and agility with the meteoric growth of both AI and IoT, Hybrid IT provides a future-proof approach that adapts to their evolving needs. Now is the time for businesses to explore Hybrid IT as a practical, scalable solution that supports growth and innovation. Contact Nutanix to learn how our cloud solutions can help.
This is an updated version of an article originally published in July 2020.
Chase Guttman updated this article. Find him at chaseguttman.com or @chaseguttman.
Michael Brenner has written sites such as Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and The Guardian. Follow him @BrennerMichael
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