Pros and Cons of Cloud Agnostic

Cloud computing benefits organizations in several ways. More than half of businesses that adopt cloud services say that they experience better security. An impressive 87% of companies say that cloud services accelerate their business processes. Cloud agnostic has become a popular option for companies that want more flexibility, scalability, and cost controls. Cloud agnostic can also create disadvantages, though, so it’s important for organizations to learn about their options before adopting cloud agnostic technology.

Schedule your demo today with IronWorker to see how it can improve your cloud agnostic experience.

Table of Contents

• The Definition of Cloud Agnostic
• The Pros of Cloud Agnostic
• The Cons of Cloud Agnostic
• Is Cloud Agnostic Right for You?
• Finding the Right Cloud Agnostic Solution

The Definition of Cloud Agnostic

Cloud agnostic simply means that a tool doesn’t have to run on a specific cloud platform. Tools that only function on certain platforms are called “cloud native.” If you have a cloud native application, it will only work correctly on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or the platform it was built on.

Strategies for cloud agnostic architectures can influence several aspects of your business’s performance. Not every organization decides that it wants to use cloud agnostic exclusively. It has become increasingly common, though, for organizations to add cloud agnostic applications to their lists of tools.

The Pros of Cloud Agnostic

There are plenty of advantages to adopting a cloud agnostic approach. If you work within a medium-sized or enterprise-level organization, you will probably benefit from the following features.

Cloud Agnostic Tools Let You Choose Your Own Cloud Solution

Cloud technology evolves quickly. The platform that stands out today may not seem like the best option within a few years. Do you want your tools tied to a specific cloud solution forever?

Cloud agnostic tools help you avoid that problem. Since cloud agnostic tools can operate on any platform, you can feel free to choose better options as they emerge.

With cloud native apps, you can get stuck in the past. Cloud agnostic helps you move forward no matter how the technology changes.

Cloud Agnostic Applications Can Easily Scale When Needed

Since you can use cloud agnostic applications, you can scale must more easily than companies that use cloud native apps that only operate on one cloud platform.

With cloud agnostic, you can scale quickly by moving your app to several servers. Feel free to put your tools on multiple public and private cloud platforms. You can even operate them from an on-premises server.

When your competitors scramble to meet increased demands, you already have a plan in place to overcome scaling obstacles.

Cloud Agnostic Gives You More Freedom

Cloud agnostic lets you take more control of your tools and give them the unique features that your organization needs. If you can’t find an existing application that fits your business, it makes sense to develop a cloud agnostic option that’s customized for your work.

Cloud Agnostic Can Lower Long-Term Costs

Research shows that cloud agnostic strategies can help businesses save money while improving big data efficiency.

The research gets pretty technical and involves specific tools. You don’t need to read an academic article to understand the cost-saving advantages of cloud agnostic strategies, though. Consider the cost-saving potential that you get from the freedom to move from platform to platform. If a company offers you a better deal, you can move your tools to its cloud platform to cut costs.

The Cons of Cloud Agnostic

All technologies have potential disadvantages that you should consider before spending money on them. The following cons of cloud agnostic may influence your decision.

Cloud Agnostic Tools May Have High Upfront Costs

While cloud agnostic tools can potentially save you money over time, you may face higher upfront costs while developing and deploying applications. In many cases, you won’t use out-of-the-box tools because you want to take advantage of unique features. That means spending time and money on a development team.

You may find that you can overcome some of this burden by using IronWorker, which follows a DevOps philosophy based on agile workloads. If you can speed up development, then you can lower your costs.

Cloud Agnostic Applications May Not Take Advantage of All Platform Features

There are advantages of using specific cloud platforms. Many cloud platforms are built to excel in specific areas. AWS, for example, stands out as an excellent option for many e-commerce businesses. If you want the specific features built-in to a cloud platform, then it makes sense to choose it.

Keep in mind that if you build your application based on a specific platform, it probably won’t work as desired on other platforms.

Is Cloud Agnostic Right for You?

Companies need to decide for themselves whether cloud agnostic will work for them. If you’re primarily interested in flexibility, unique features, and freedom, and lowering costs, then you should take a closer look at cloud agnostic strategies. If you want a quick solution that doesn’t require much development, then you might prefer a cloud native approach.

 Finding the Right Cloud Agnostic Solution

Before you decide whether you want to follow a cloud agnostic or cloud native strategy, reach out to Iron to talk about your options. A team representative can go over Iron solutions and give you a free trial to explore features.