Cloud technology has become the focus of attention for organizations looking to increase productivity, scale up business goals and maintain cost-efficiency.
Its regular optimization and security processes help match organizational targets with the added benefits of improved flexibility and accessibility, qualities bound to continue gaining focus in the future or work.
As with any information technology, cloud computing involves the risks of reduced performance, lack of reliability, and environmental unsustainability if proper controls are not set in place. That’s where cloud management platforms come in.
What is cloud management?
Cloud management refers to the management of all cloud infrastructure such as hardware, virtualized software, storage components, and networking servers. The control of resources and assets is employed for public, private, and hybrid cloud infrastructures.
Some well-known cloud infrastructures that you may be familiar with include software-as-a-service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and Platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Google Drive is another popular favorite that manages your data through cloud storage.
Typically, cloud management consists of:
- Cloud migration, automation, and configuration
- Internal and external cloud security services
- Risk assessment and threat analysis
- Monitoring performance through set metrics
- Cost management
Cloud management enables self-service measures for improved flexibility where IT specialists can access cloud-based resources, track usage, and allocate resources.
With remote teams entering the new era of the workforce, cloud management services (CMS) can automate workflows, assist with remote desktop software, and secure data with greater compliance.
Cloud management also includes cloud analysis which helps monitor workloads and user experiences. Depending on the size and complexity of business requirements, they can manage cloud services for testing performance, backup options, recovery systems, and monitoring logs.
Why is cloud management important?
Since the last year, most businesses have managed their resources and operations with the cloud through cloud migration. This shift will continue to rise soon, with companies adapting to grow their performance and revenue by automating operations and processes.
Cloud management platforms are an integral part of managing cloud resources and infrastructure. Here’s how they help in business operations.
Cloud management is the best approach to adhere to cloud optimization practices. It heavily cuts down on user chargeback and billing costs since it essentially acts as a guide to navigating between different vendor pricing models. Cost efficiency is also maintained by choosing the right size of cloud applications for your business.
One of the significant goals of cloud management is also to improve application performance through relevant tools and cloud architecture by reducing energy consumption.
In a nutshell, CMS allows businesses to gain more control over their public cloud environments while minimizing costs, increasing security, and using expert knowledge to promote user efficiency with little to no human assistance.
How do cloud management platforms help?
A cloud management platform (CMP) or cloud management tool is software that incorporates a collection of features or modules that allow various cloud environments to be controlled. Cloud management platforms are significant because a simple virtualization management console cannot control public, private, and hybrid clouds at once.
To maximize resources and service usage, businesses should adopt cloud management platforms to optimize invested cloud infrastructure.
Key features of cloud management platforms
CMPs are tools that sit above cloud platforms such as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), SaaS (Software as a Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service). They can quickly gather business tools, processes, and technologies, to promote cloud environment management.
- Self-service management: Cloud management platforms support managing cloud resources and assets through self-service. This essentially means that organizations can provide resources for themselves without using a predetermined amount. CMPs help decides if the resource allocation is in sync with the cloud environment requirements.
- Task automation: Organizational productivity depends on reducing challenging tasks and eliminating the chances of duplicity and error to manage tasks efficiently. Cloud management platforms can automate repeatable tasks through different architectures and policies.
- Reduced cloud costs: Managing expenses of cloud resources and infrastructure is necessary to maintain the financial health of a company. Cloud management platforms are built to monitor resource expenditure to help you track exactly where and how funds are being spent. This dramatically reduces unnecessary operational costs.
- Easy cloud governance: With the cloud, a single piece of data can be accessible to anyone if there is a lack of constant data checks; Cloud management platforms can simplify this governance through all security levels. They enable an environment that creates and implements required policies and compliances. This provides added control over assets and access.
Better management equals better performance
Managing your cloud services is a great way to manage several infrastructures at once. Using cloud management platforms makes this even simpler by giving you a one-stop-shop for all your operational, financial, storage, and privacy needs for cloud environments.
