The cloud has revolutionized the possibilities of managing IT infrastructure. However, not all organizations are ready to make the move to the cloud. In this blog, we will discuss why on-premises infrastructure management solutions are still relevant in the cloud age.
The beginnings of on-premises IT
Let’s quickly revisit the journey of IT infrastructure management (ITIM) as a function over the years. ITIM entails a set of processes and activities that comprises planning, deployment, operations, monitoring, and maintaining an organization’s IT infrastructure. Only when all these processes are met, can an IT admin team ensure that the infrastructure is reliable, secure, and able to meet the needs of the organization.
The roots of ITIM can be traced back to the early days of computing, when organizations had to manage their own hardware and software. The need for a specialized function to manage IT infrastructures arose as complexities increased and networks became more interconnected.
In the 2000s, cloud computing emerged as a new avenue and environment to deliver IT services. Cloud infrastructure offered numerous advantages over traditional on-premises IT, including scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. As a result, the cloud rose in popularity, and ITIM had to evolve to meet the challenges of managing cloud-based IT infrastructure.
What led to the emergence of cloud?
The emergence of the cloud was due to the ever-changing complexities and strategies in ITIM. There are several reasons for this shift:
-
Cost: For some organizations, cloud-based monitoring solutions are typically more cost-effective than on-premises solutions.They do not need to purchase and continuously maintain their own hardware and software.
-
Scalability: Cloud-based monitoring solutions are more scalable than on-premises solutions, as businesses can easily add or remove users and devices as needed.
-
Flexibility: Cloud-based monitoring solutions are more flexible than on-premises solutions. Businesses can access them from anywhere with an internet connection.
-
Ease of use: Cloud-based monitoring solutions are typically easier to use than on-premises solutions, as businesses do not need to worry about installing and configuring the software.
-
Security: Cloud-based monitoring solutions are typically more secure than on-premises solutions. Businesses don’t have to worry about securing their own data centers.
More businesses are moving to cloud-based monitoring solutions because of these factors. In fact, a recent study by Gartner® predicts that by 2025, 90% of all IT network monitoring solutions will be cloud-based.
However, it is important to note that there are still some challenges associated with cloud-based monitoring solutions. These challenges include:
-
Data security and compliance: Businesses need to ensure that their data is secure when it is stored in the cloud.
-
Vendor lock-in: Organizations are cautious of committing to cloud vendors and must be careful not to become locked into a particular cloud provider.
-
Performance: Cloud-based monitoring solutions can sometimes have performance issues, especially during peak traffic times. An unforeseen outage or disruption in cloud provider services can be detrimental for organizations that operate in particularly sensitive industries like government, defense, banking, etc.
The space for on-premises infrastructure management solutions
The arrival of a new IT infrastructure environments gives organizations the leeway to design their infrastructure composition tailored to their business needs. Some organizations could go for cloud-centered IT infrastructure, while some organizations could continue with on-premises focused infrastructure due to factors specific to their industry. Modern enterprises largely strike a balance between cloud and on-premises environments. Therefore, it is suffice to say on-premises infrastructure observability solutions will retain their place due to following reasons:
-
Compliance: Some businesses are required to keep their data on-premises for compliance reasons. For example, financial institutions and healthcare organizations may be required to do so by law.
-
Security: Some businesses may feel that their data is more secure on-premises than in the cloud. This is because they have more control over the security of their own data centers.
-
Performance: Businesses may require high performance from their infrastructure management solutions. This may not be possible with cloud-based solutions, as they may be shared with other businesses.
-
Size and complexity: Organizations that are of larger scale with complex IT infrastructures may require more specialized monitoring options. Such organization-specific needs are easier to implement on an on-premises.environment.
-
Cost: The upfront costs of cloud-based infrastructure management solutions may be beyond the budget for some businesses. On-premises solutions may be a more affordable and viable option for these businesses.
-
Control: Organizations may want to exercise more control over their infrastructure management solutions. This may be difficult to do with cloud-based solutions, as businesses are not in control of the underlying infrastructure.
-
IT staff expertise: Organizations that have in-house team of IT staff and have relied on on-premises infrastructure solutions may prefer to continue without making widespread changes to their strategy.
Observe your hybrid IT infrastructure comprehensively with OpManager Plus
OpManager Plus is a feature-packed IT infrastructure observability and management solution that is ideal for hybrid IT infrastructures. Here are some of the key benefits that OpManager Plus offers for hybrid IT environments:
-
Comprehensive full-stack observability: OpManager Plus can monitor all types of on-premises IT devices, including servers, networks, storage, applications, and cloud resources. The performance metrics pulled in from all ends of your infrastructure, including the health and performance metrics, are all shown on a unified console.
-
Performance monitoring: OpManager Plus provides real-time observability into the performance of your IT infrastructure. This allows you to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks before they impact your users.
-
Capacity planning: OpManager Plus can help you with capacity planning by forecasting future demand and identifying potential capacity bottlenecks. This allows you to ensure that your IT infrastructure has the capacity to meet the needs of your business.
-
Alerting and reporting: OpManager Plus can alert you to potential problems before they cause outages. It also provides a variety of reports that can help you to troubleshoot problems, track trends, and measure the performance of your IT infrastructure.
-
Root cause analysis: OpManager Plus can help you to quickly identify the root cause of problems. This allows you to resolve problems quickly and efficiently.
In addition to these key features, OpManager Plus also offers a number of other benefits for on-premises IT environments, including:
-
Scalability: OpManager Plus is a highly scalable solution that can be used to monitor and manage IT infrastructures of all sizes.
-
Security: OpManager Plus is a secure solution that uses industry-standard security protocols to protect your data.
- Ease of use: OpManager Plus is an easy-to-use solution that can be installed and configured quickly and easily.
Understand OpManager Plus closely and check if OpManager Plus meets your requirements by downloading a free, 30-day trial. Schedule a demo with our experts for a technical walk-through.
