No matter your technical knowledge, we’re all familiar with the elusive cloud – that magical place in the sky that stores our thousands of pictures, contact back-ups, and other digital media and resources that we depend on.
In the development world, cloud-based environments provide a wealth of both information, open-source applications, and flexibility when creating, deploying, and managing applications. The idea behind a “cloud-first” or “cloud-native” approach is that when any new software development project begins, the development team’s first instinct should be to think about how the technology should be provisioned and managed within a cloud network.
A virtual cloud environment is established quickly and easily, changing dynamically to fit both current and future demands. Previously, before a single line of code was written, servers needed to be spun up with a finite amount of resources, memory, and disk space based on what was assumed to be the resources necessary both to complete and sustain the project.
Benefits of Cloud-Based Development for Clients
Cloud-first or cloud-native development is quickly becoming the new normal, moving past structural debates and beginning to execute application cloud-first development at a striking place. What does this mean, and why should you consider development teams who operate with a cloud-first mentality
1. Cost
Yes, we’re going to start with the main benefit just in case you decide to contact us now rather than continue scrolling. Cloud computing, in general, saves a tremendous amount of time and money within every level of development. First, open source code allows developers to focus their time on the specific details of each project and use code already available in a global cloud network to save additional development time (and money).
Second, development teams aren’t having to allocate tremendous hardware resources upfront, which passes along savings to the client. As software applications grow and scale, in either development or once live, cloud-based environments can scale up accordingly. Consider this scenario: you have four photos to store, but Google only has a storage plan available for $50/mo. Now, a year later, you have 40,000 photos to store. Rather than start with a $50/month plan, you’d prefer to tier up in resources as your needs grow. In a simple sense, the same is true for development resource needs.
2. Faster Development
As software development moves towards a dynamic open-source environment, software engineers from around the globe are able to share their code resources and achievements for the wide-spread use of many. Open source applications are sustainably housed in cloud environments allowing development teams to recycle and modify code for the use of common functionality (think photo uploads and contact forms). Rather than a development team having to re-create all of these functions, open-source code can be used, adapted, and fit into the new project environment.
3. Response to Change
Agile software development is often synonymous with a cloud-native approach. Agile teams work quickly and in tandem with their clients to respond to project needs and changes. Rolling out updates can take days or weeks instead of months or even years!
4. Scalability
As your business or software use grows, it is important that like in the initial development, you are able to scale resources as well. Quickly and easily. Rather than having to reassess every level of your project for growth, capacity is built in to accommodate.
Interested in cloud development or have a software project you’re considering? You can count on our team to deliver a fast, friendly, and affordable solution. Ready to learn more? We’d be happy to provide a free, no-pressure consultation!
