In the past, private cloud opportunities have been out of reach for Denver small-to-medium sized
businesses (SMBs) due to their notoriously expensive price tags. Since then, new innovative cost-saving technologies have launched, allowing true enterprise cloud solutions to all.

As far as cloud computing goes, there are three main categories SMBs frequent:

• Public cloud
• Hybrid cloud
• Private cloud

Public Cloud Computing

Public cloud providers are good for startups because they offer a hyperscale cloud environment. While they provide good infrastructure, public cloud also comes with many drawbacks. Shared resources, a tendency for high latency, and management issues are all things to consider when choosing a cloud provider.

“One major issue that people tend to overlook when considering public cloud implementation is who is doing the management and monitoring of that infrastructure,” says Jay Sudowski, CEO of Handy Networks. “The public cloud is just providing the infrastructure and nothing else.”

What startups are missing with public cloud is guidance on when to migrate to a provide cloud due to latency issues. Increased resources and increased spend all lead to decreased performance.

Hybrid Cloud Computing

As the name suggests, hybrid cloud environments are typically a combination of on-premise resources, as well as resources that are in data centers. Hybrid cloud providers can use multiple public clouds and typically work between both public and private servers to provide service to SMBs.

Because hybrid cloud environments use a mixture of public and private servers, they are susceptible to many of the disadvantages public cloud computing brings such as downtime, security and compliance issues, and networking.

Private Cloud Computing

Private cloud computing is easily a favorite among SMBs because it offers far more than public and hybrid cloud computing. Private cloud computing offers dedicated resources, high levels of management, monitoring and migration services, and gives customers the undivided storage and connectivity they need to operate their businesses.

As a start-up company, choosing public cloud computing makes perfect sense because it offers basic infrastructure at a cheap cost, however as your business scales, so should your infrastructure.

“If you’re not scaling your infrastructure with your business, you’re going to run into problems down the road,” warns Sudowski, “Not investing in technology can impact you just as harshly as downtime.”

The following are three problems an SMB may face -- telltale signs it is time to switch to a private cloud solution.

1 - Unmanageable Infrastructure

When a business initially starts, they have basic IT needs. However, as their business scales, so should their IT equipment.

“A lot of these companies are startups and have a small IT footprint,” says Jeff Shotnik, Systems Engineer at Handy Networks. “As their business grows, they sometimes forget to focus on their IT infrastructure. So the business side is growing, but their IT equipment is staying small and not scaling.”

Private cloud computing is beneficial to SMBs because it offers the ability to expand and shrink as needed.

Other components SMBs should factor as their IT needs grow are:

• Increased vulnerability to downtime
• Increased security requirements

SMBs should place high importance on selecting a data center that is optimized for security and in compliance with their company’s security policy.

2 - Disproportionate Development and IT Teams

Ideally, when an SMB invests in their development team, their IT team should expand as well. SMBs unwilling to divide capital amongst the two departments should consider moving into private cloud computing.

Private cloud computing offers a solution to the above predicament by allowing companies to focus their business on what makes them money, without compromising their IT needs. Private cloud computing liberates businesses from engaging in system administrative tasks.

3 - Remote Workforce

User experience is key with a remote workforce environment. When these users are connecting back into an office space lacking optimization for a LAN environment, they may have a bad user experience.

A private cloud or data center optimized for these LAN environments will increase user experience and efficiency, ensuring they are getting the best experience possible.

Are you a managed service provider weighing the pros and cons of private cloud computing?