How to choose your IT infrastructure? When it has been chosen according to technological developments or announcements, the IT infrastructure can become a very heterogeneous complex: a database here, an application there, an integration that is never completed... All of which adds to the workload of the business. And, to top it all off, it can make you more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
But is it really that important to rethink your choice of IT infrastructure? Yes, because an aging infrastructure is the opposite of the agility and flexibility that will prepare the company for tomorrow's world. But there's no moralizing here. Instead, let's look at the elements to take into account and the existing solutions to know why and how to migrate your IT infrastructure.
A good IT infrastructure choice integrates resources, environments and strategy
The human being remains at the center of the decision
The first thing to look at is your team. What skills does it have? What are the upcoming recruitments? What is the team's level of maturity? If it relies on its internal resources, the IT department must adapt its choices. However, the company can reach its objective more quickly if it engages service providers to provide the missing skills, either on a one-off basis or for a longer period.
Constraints also have a place in the thinking
Banking, healthcare, insurance (see our article dedicated to the challenges facing the insurance industry in 2024)... Sectors with strong regulatory constraints are subject to a second limit: legislation. When the data at stake is sensitive, it is subject to more stringent legislation, forcing entities to organize the space in which they access said data. Not all sectors organize their IT infrastructure in the same way. We have written an article on healthcare data and the RGPD.
When the historical infrastructure blocks evolution, changing a small element can give the business enough impetus to free up management and review its way of working. For example, the company can think of the bimodal infrastructure, a mixture of Cloud and monolithic infrastructure, which modernizes without renewing everything. Access to APIs also offers the possibility of simplifying procedures while respecting legal constraints.
The ROI in the line of sight to choose its infrastructure
In a world of constant change, one may wonder about the value of changing IT infrastructure. Staying up-to-date, yes, but for how long? Will we have to rethink everything in 5 years? Renewing your IT infrastructure is a huge cost, as Gartner shows, estimating that it will cost $3.9 billion by 2021. The IT department probably doesn't want to invest in the (too) short term. Especially when the company is still sponging the damage of the Covid crisis. The choice of infrastructure must therefore respond to a technological strategy, but also financial.
Should you prefer an on-premise infrastructure or Cloud ?
38% of executives talk about pressure on IT teams to migrate to Cloud. But on-premise has not said its last word. For reasons of legislation, security or speed, it remains the preferred choice.
Conduct an audit to gain a better understanding of the situation and chart a course for the future
Let's stop with the ready-made solution, let's first take stock of the current IT infrastructure by looking at :
- His level;
- Its evolutions;
- Team and user management;
- Incidents;
- Availability
The audit is designed to help you make the right choice of IT infrastructure, not just the most enticing solution.
What are the differences with respect to data management?
When it comes to the proximity between data and applications, an on-premise system is best so that the two elements are physically close. Dave Nielsen, head of ecosystems at Redis Labs, explains it well:
"Big data collections can take hours or even days to move from a data center to cloud. On-premise applications working with big data need to be located close to the data, where they can better interact with the data."
Another point of difference: data backups. In the cloud, these are more recurrent and managed directly by the Cloud provider, becoming a differentiating element according to the company's strategy.
What are the differences in costs?
When looking at the distribution of budgets, there are many variables between the two types of structures:
- The current and future size of the IT infrastructure. If it is not intended to change, the optimum ROI for investment in an on-premise infrastructure is around 3 to 5 years. Cloud is the solution of choice to meet the need for flexibility and scalability, as it can handle variations in infrastructure size while smoothing out costs.
- The hardware: the preference is clearly for Cloud since it does not represent a budget, at least, not isolated.
- The ISP: it is quite transparent when you have an in-house infrastructure. On Cloud, it requires a higher throughput, therefore a higher cost.
- Ancillary costs: the data center and its maintenance, air conditioning or electricity are to be considered on site. Remotely, they represent nothing more than the cost of the subscription.
Depending on the distribution of budgets, the cash available at the time and the possibilities of evolution, the choice will be made for one or the other IT infrastructure.
What are the differences in terms of security?
The on-premise infrastructure is preferred to store sensitive data and historical applications that cannot be sent to cloud. However, it is not immune to the risk of physical incidents. If the infrastructure is not replicated, in whole or in part, all is lost.
When the IT department targets an infrastructure Cloud, its mission is to question the security measures: hosting location, certifications, audits, cybersecurity experts...
To keep up with today's world and anticipate tomorrow's, thinking about your IT infrastructure is a must. The most important thing is not to choose the solution that makes the most noise, but the one that best suits your own parameters. To help you in your choice, ask our team your questions.
