Why Your Startups Should Migrate to the Cloud and Benefits to Your Business

by | Sep 27, 2023 | BTS Consulting, Oracle Cloud Knowledge, Oracle Solution and Implementations, Oracle Technologies

Why Your Startups Should Migrate to the Cloud?

If your organization still relies primarily on an on-premises data center, migrating to cloud computing offers numerous business benefits and technical capabilities. Cloud computing models provide capacity, scalability, performance, security, and cost advantages, potentially surpassing on-premises solutions without the upfront cost and employee overhead.

Cloud computing involves computing resources, data, and applications running on servers in a data center maintained by a cloud vendor, accessible over the internet.

Moving to a cloud computing model yields benefits extending beyond IT operations. It reduces upfront capital expenditure and ongoing staffing costs associated with on-premises data centers. It allows IT teams to focus on new projects and development, leveraging industry best practices built into cloud applications to enhance business processes and increase employee productivity. Cloud infrastructure enables remote access, improving efficiency, facilitating remote work, and contributing to enhanced employee satisfaction and retention. The ability to quickly adjust computing capacity and adopt new capabilities positions organizations to seize opportunities or respond to downturns effectively.

The weight of the evidence suggests that adapting cloud strategy can help the startups to reduce an IT department’s total cost of ownership and automates repetitive tasks, allowing teams to focus on more valuable work. It also helps to improve data security and provides robust disaster recovery capabilities at a lower cost than on-premises data centers. It enables organizations to add infrastructure and capabilities to keep pace with their needs and scale back if growth slows. Additionally, cloud resources offer flexible remote access, improving collaboration.

Cloud Models to be delivered

While all IT resources including computing resources, data and application are all to be made available and delivered by a cloud vendor, organizations can choose to use them on the cloud via three main models (Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud) with four ways to have their IT digital assets be deployed:

Public Cloud: Cloud provider offers computing capacity and applications over the internet. Multiple organizations share the vendor’s IT infrastructure. Public cloud providers offer tiered pay-per-use models. Organizations are relieved from maintenance duties as these are the responsibility of the provider. This enables organizations to focus on creative work and explore cloud-enabled features like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

This model is the most common way for the organization to deploy their IT by sharing cloud with multiple customers who are using the server’s resources.

Private Cloud: A single organization uses a dedicated portion of the cloud vendor’s computing resources. Resources may be in the cloud provider’s data center or hosted in the customer organization’s data center. Private clouds are chosen for sensitive data or specific performance criteria, with costs higher than public clouds.

This model is maintained by the vendor. It is one customer who has dedicated access to all server resources, either deployed in the provider’s cloud data center or on the customer’s premises.

Hybrid Cloud: Utilizes both public and private clouds, sometimes integrating on-premises data centers. Configuration is based on data control needs, with clear plans for functionality, security, and performance.

This model is for organization that requires clear delineations and appropriate integration for successful operation. It has configuration to be deployed by using public and private cloud resources, sometimes including on-premises data centers.

Multicloud: Configuration is deployed by using multiple cloud vendors, allowing organizations to choose the best-suited cloud for specific workloads. Success depends on strong connectivity and secure data sharing.

Cloud Services to be accessible through the Internet

There are three main cloud services with cloud computing stack. From Infrastructure stack to Platform stack to Software stack, each one is designed with operational ready environment to meet organizations’ specific business needs as suitable as possible:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Fundamental computing, storage, and networking services of a data center, delivered via the internet. Frees IT staff from data center maintenance, allowing easy scalability.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): Adds cloud-based capabilities like databases and operating systems to IaaS, providing technology for application development without worrying about underlying infrastructure. Sold using a pay-for-use pricing model.

Software as a Service (SaaS): Involves internet-accessible applications run, patched, and updated by the cloud provider. Users engage through a web browser or mobile app, paying by subscription. Examples include ERP, CRM, social media, streaming services, and videoconferencing.

What Are the Benefits of Moving to the Cloud?

After we better understood what types of cloud models exist and what types of cloud services are there, you may ask what actual advantages do you have for transfering your valuable IT digital assets from your own on-premises data centers or legacy infrastructure to the cloud. By knowing what options are there, it’s time to find out how your business can benefit from cloud migration:

  1. Cost Reduction: Cloud services typically cost less than running an on-premises data center, with savings passed on to customers. Fewer maintenance-focused IT professionals are needed.
  2. Agility: Cloud infrastructure allows quick responses to new opportunities and problems, facilitating faster implementation of new applications.
  3. Flexibility and Scalability: Cloud infrastructure enables organizations to adjust computing power based on demand, meeting sudden shifts in requirements.
  4. Security: Cloud vendors offer dedicated resources for security monitoring, patching, and research & development (R&D), enhancing security beyond on-premises capabilities.
  5. Sustainability: Cloud vendors run servers at higher utilization rates, reducing energy waste and committing to carbon emission reduction.
  6. Reliability: Cloud solutions provide layers of mitigation, automated resource management, and failover options for uninterrupted operations.
  7. Accessibility: Cloud migration facilitates remote work, allowing easy access to critical applications via browsers.
  8. Availability: Cloud providers maximize availability with redundancy and distribution through separate zones and data centers. Disaster recovery is built into the cloud computing strategy.
  9. Efficiency: Cloud adoption eliminates time-consuming maintenance tasks, handled efficiently by cloud vendors through automation.
  10. Collaboration: Cloud applications facilitate effective remote access and collaboration, ensuring all employees work with the same information.
  11. Growth: The speed of adopting cloud infrastructure allows companies to seize new business opportunities and scale rapidly. Cloud providers can accommodate spikes in demand, supporting customer-facing systems during growth.

5 Case Studies Illustrating the Power of Oracle Cloud for Startups

1. BotSupply: Unleashing Expansion Across EMEA

  • Challenge: Technology infrastructure costs stalling startup growth.
  • Solution: Moving to Oracle Cloud for cost savings and transparent pricing.
  • Result: BotSupply is expanding across EMEA, reinvesting savings back into the business.
  • CEO Speak: “I know exactly what I’m paying for—no surprises,” says Asser Smidt.

    BotSupply’s Reference: Video at Oracle

2. AptivIO: Navigating Fluctuating Customer Demand

  • Challenge: Cloud spend on unused infrastructure.
  • Solution: Utilizing Oracle Cloud for scalable resources and reliability.
  • Result: AptivIO processes billions of data points daily with no latency or downtime.
  • CEO Insight: ” We process billions of data points daily and we can’t afford any latency or downtime,”.”Oracle Cloud gives us the assurance we need to keep innovating with confidence,” shares Guy Mounier.

3. GridMarkets: Elevating Startup Credibility with Enterprise Security

  • Challenge: Earning and maintaining customer trust for growth.
  • Solution: Partnering with Oracle for enterprise expertise and security-first architecture.
  • Result: GridMarkets gains credibility globally with highly secure Oracle Cloud.
  • Co-founder’s Perspective: “GridMarkets is backed by the highly secure and highly robust Oracle Cloud, and that’s helping to open even more doors for us across the globe ” says Mark Ross.

4. Sauce: Embracing Openness for Seamless Development

  • Challenge: Developers facing headaches due to limited platform support.
  • Solution: Choosing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for openness and open source support.
  • Result: Oracle’s commitment to open source projects aligns with Sauce’s goals.
  • CTO’s Take:* “One of the key reasons we were excited to move from AWS to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was Oracle’s renewed focus on utilizing, and contributing, to open source projects,” notes Jonathan Girven.

5. Kinetica: Powering High-Performance Computing for Cutting-Edge Fields

  • Challenge: Competing with large enterprises in data-intensive fields.
  • Solution: Opting for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure with world-class GPU instances.
  • Result: Kinetica, part of Oracle for Startups, meets heavy HPC demands.
  • CMO’s Perspective: “Oracle has world-class GPU instances that deliver power, performance, and scalability,” states Daniel Raskin.

Bonus: Case Study Illustrating the Power of Oracle Cloud for Formula 1 Constructors’ Champion

Red Bull Racing: Promote Fan Experience through Marketing Consulting

  • Challenge: Shaking things up as Formula 1 Champion to set an example in sports and entertainment.
  • Solution: Partnering with Oracle for ideal product suite to create a fan experience unique to Formula 1.
  • Result: Red Bull Racing can now provide its global fan base with easy access to an experience that money can’t buy: behind-the-scenes content and fans-only access.
  • Team Principal’s Experience: “Oracle brings huge capability, innovation, and expertise to many of the world’s largest and most successful businesses. To be able to tap into that exceptional power and knowledge is a major step forward for our team.” said Christian Horner

    Red Bull Racing’s Reference: Video at Oracle

In these real-world examples, Oracle Cloud emerges as the catalyst for startup and enterprise success, providing not just solutions to immediate challenges but becoming a strategic partner in their journey towards growth, innovation, and credibility in the competitive business landscape.