Public Cloud Use Cases: 10 Ways Organizations Are Leveraging the Public Cloud

Public cloud adoption has skyrocketed since the first commercial clouds launched 20 years ago. Most of us take for granted that public cloud-related services permeate our lives in countless ways, including social media sites (Instagram), video streaming services (Netflix), and web-based email applications (Gmail).

In the business arena, both large enterprises and small startups use the public cloud computing model to provide the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability they need to fuel business growth. According to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report (link resides outside ibm.com), global spending on public cloud provider services is expected to reach $1.35 trillion by 2027.

Here we look at 10 key business use cases that demonstrate how public cloud forms the foundation of modern business and drives ongoing digital transformation.

What is public cloud?

Public cloud is a type of cloud computing in which computing resources (e.g., ready-to-use software applications) are created by a third-party service provider (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, or Microsoft Azure). , virtual machines (VMs), enterprise-grade infrastructure, and development platforms) are available to users over the public Internet on a per-use basis. Additionally, the public cloud model allows businesses to automatically scale compute and storage resources up or down, along with data security measures and services, to suit individual needs.

How does public cloud computing work?

In the public cloud computing model, cloud service providers (CSPs) own and operate large physical data centers that run client workloads. Public cloud environments are multi-tenant. Here, users share a pool of virtual resources that are automatically provisioned and assigned to individual tenants through a self-service API interface. Multi-tenant hosting allows cloud service providers to maximize the utilization of data center and infrastructure resources to deliver services at a much lower cost than company-owned on-premises data centers.

Cloud service providers are also responsible for maintaining all hardware and providing high-bandwidth network connectivity to ensure rapid access and exchange of applications and data. It also manages native virtualization of servers, operating system software networking, and other infrastructure that powers public cloud data centers and maximizes data center resources. For example, virtualization allows you to split one physical server into multiple individual virtual servers that serve multiple clients.

All major public cloud providers continually update and maintain their infrastructure and utilize the highest data protection and security requirements to prevent data breaches.

It also offers a variety of cloud security tools and solutions, such as identity and access management (IAM), data loss prevention (DLP), and security information and event management (SIEM).

Finally, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) define the relationship between CSPs and clients and address the performance, availability, and manageability of cloud services.

Public cloud service model

Today’s cloud providers offer hundreds of managed services and tools across four major categories: These services are not mutually exclusive. Most large organizations use all four to create a modern IT cloud computing environment.

Benefits of public cloud

Here are some of the benefits organizations can enjoy by adopting public cloud solutions:

• Cost-effective: Reduce spending on hardware and on-premises infrastructure with pay-as-you-go or subscription pricing models.
• efficiency: Eliminate wasted resources by only paying for what you use.
• elasticity: Automatically adds capacity in response to unexpected traffic spikes (e.g. e-commerce flash sales).
• Scalability: Effectively increase workloads by upgrading the capabilities of existing resources (scaling up) or integrating additional resources to share the load (scaling out).
• innovation: Access cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• Spending Predictability: Experience more predictable ongoing operating costs, reducing your overall IT spend.
• Team Collaboration: Entrance Secure public cloud resources from anywhere and enable teams to communicate with each other in real time across distributed locations for faster results.
• High Availability and Reliability: Reduce downtime and ensure data resilience with automatic backup and disaster recovery.
• Sustainability: Reduce your carbon footprint by improving energy efficiency through pooled CSP resources.

Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud vs. Hybrid Cloud vs. Multicloud

In addition to public cloud, cloud deployment models include private cloud, hybrid cloud, and multicloud, each offering unique benefits.

Private cloud refers to a single-tenant cloud infrastructure that is hosted on-premises at the company’s physical location and operated solely for one company. A dedicated cloud provider or third-party infrastructure can also host your private cloud. Private cloud is an ideal setup for organizations in industries with sensitive data that require stringent regulatory or security requirements, such as finance, government, and healthcare.

The hybrid cloud model uses mixed computing environments (e.g., on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud) to create a single, flexible, managed IT infrastructure.

Enterprises today typically combine hybrid cloud environments with multicloud (using public cloud services from multiple providers). A multicloud approach allows organizations to avoid vendor lock-in and choose the best cloud service for their needs.

Hybrid multicloud has become the de facto choice for large enterprises that want maximum control over where their workloads are deployed and scaled.

Key public cloud use cases

Here are 10 ways companies are leveraging public cloud computing services to reduce costs, innovate, and achieve overall business growth.

1. Storage

Public cloud storage consists of storage capacity and technology-as-a-service that helps organizations reduce or eliminate the capital costs of building and maintaining internal storage capabilities. By storing the same company data across multiple systems, cloud storage provides the redundancy needed to support business continuity in the event of a natural disaster, power outage, or other emergency situation.

2. Dynamic resource allocation

Public cloud provides elasticity for businesses to scale their resources up or down based on business needs. For example, an e-commerce site with peak season sales can quickly scale its online services through the public cloud. You pay only for added capacity during peak periods and can scale back capacity during regular sales periods.

3. Development and testing

A public cloud setup provides an ideal environment for developing and testing new applications compared to the traditional waterfall approach, which can be significantly more costly and time-consuming. For example, developers can provision test environments on public cloud-based virtual machines (VMs) in just minutes. Developers can easily exit when they are finished using the testing environment.

4. Cloud native applications and DevOps

Public cloud settings support cloud-native applications, i.e. software programs made up of multiple small, interdependent services called microservices, an important part of DevOps practices. Developers use DevOp tools to automate cloud-native development and rapid delivery of high-quality software, building containerized applications once and deploying them anywhere.

5. Low code

Low code is a visual approach to software that features a graphical user interface with drag-and-drop functionality to help automate the development process. Low-code platforms democratize app development for “citizen” developers – users with little formal coding experience. Low code helps businesses streamline workflows and accelerate next-generation, cloud-based technologies such as website and mobile app development, external plugin integration, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

6. Analysis

As more data is collected from mobile phones, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other smart devices, businesses need to analyze that data faster than ever. Big data analytics, which uses advanced analytical techniques on very large and diverse big data sets, has become critical to business success. Public cloud environments provide the computing and networking infrastructure needed to support big data, allowing businesses to make faster data-driven decisions and deliver better customer experiences in real time and at scale.

7. Hybrid multicloud strategy

Public cloud is the backbone of your hybrid multicloud strategy.. By integrating public cloud services with private cloud or on-premises infrastructure, organizations can choose where to run their workloads and select the best services from a variety of CSPs. For example, a financial institution may want to deploy fraud-sensitive and regulated workloads on a private cloud hosted by a dedicated CSP, while also using the public cloud to test and develop new applications.

8. Generative AI

Because it requires enormous computing, storage, and networking capabilities, generative AI requires the cloud to process data at scale and in real time. Public cloud providers give enterprises the ability to access data and leverage the processing power of multiple distributed data centers that can support generative AI workloads.

9. Edge computing

Edge computing brings enterprise applications closer to their data sources (e.g. phones, sensors, IoT, devices, or local edge servers), providing faster insights, improved response times, and better bandwidth. For example, edge devices can help reduce energy consumption by monitoring grid operations. trash In the energy sector. Public cloud creates synergies by connecting edge services to centralized public clouds or other edge data centers. In most cases, only the most relevant data is processed at the edge. Meanwhile, less important data is sent to the underlying public cloud data center for processing, freeing up computing resources and ensuring low latency.

10. Quantum computing

Quantum Computing Uses Computer hardware, algorithms, and other quantum mechanics techniques to solve complex problems. Quantum computing for business is still in its infancy, but organizations in industries that require massive computing capabilities (e.g. chemicals, biology, healthcare, finance) are beginning to harness the potential of quantum to transform the way they do business. Today’s public cloud service providers are beginning to offer services that include quantum machine rentals and platforms for developing utility-scale quantum algorithms and applications.

IBM’s public cloud solutions

You need an enterprise-grade platform to take advantage of the full power of the public cloud. We can deliver a high-performance, secure, and compliant cloud environment. Built to support the most mission-critical workloads, IBM Cloud offers more than 170 public cloud solutions that help customers mitigate third-party and fourth-party risk, increase time to value and lower cost of ownership (TCO). It is a full-stack cloud platform equipped with ).

Start your journey with IBM Cloud