On-premise IT infrastructures have been the standard practice for businesses around the world for the greater part of the last decade. Everchanging work environments, increased security breaches, and technology innovations have driven decision makers to consider, plan, and execute cloud migrations. Before making the transition, Private Equity & mid market IT teams have been tasked with researching all aspects of the cloud, with one of the most important topics being, “What are the three cloud computing service models?”.
Follow along as the RKON team highlights these three cloud computing service delivery models.
Software-As-A-Service (SaaS)
Our first cloud computing service model is Software-as-a-service. This is an application hosted in the cloud, but the application typically does not require any downloads or installations. Instead, these programs are accessible via a web browser and are not managed by your company. Therefore, the software provider is responsible for operational tasks, software maintenance, security, data management, infrastructure management, and more. Generally, these applications are licensed on a subscription basis, with billing varying depending on the number of users, amount of stored data, usage time, and transaction frequency. Some common examples of software-as-a-service include Salesforce.com, Google Apps, and Docusign.
Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure-as-a-service is a “pay as you go” approach to cloud computing. Organizations pay a third party for the ability to use remote data center infrastructures. IaaS allows for enhanced agility, as businesses only pay for what they need and scale services with changes in demand. Additionally, this eases the financial burden for businesses, as the host is responsible for all of the upfront costs associated with building and maintaining a data center. Rackspace, Cisco Metacloud, and DigitalOcean are some of the most popular examples of IaaS.
Platform-As-A-Service (PaaS)
Lastly, Platform-as-a-service is the smallest of the three cloud computing service models, but still offers value to some organizations. PaaS is a hybrid of SaaS and IaaS, as the offering allows organizations to build, run, and manage applications without responsibility of the IT infrastructure. This allows businesses a certain level of freedom, as IT teams don’t have to worry about the time consuming tasks of infrastructure management. Rather, organizations can focus on the development, deployment, and maintenance of applications. Popular examples of a PaaS cloud platforms include Microsoft Azure, SAP Cloud, and AWS Lambda.
