Keeping Up with Demand: How Cloud Technology Can Make Your Company More Scalable
Updated On September 28, 2023 | by Louise Simon
Scalability is the ability of a system to adapt to increased demand. It can relate to a company’s capacity, infrastructure, or performance. A scalable business model allows a company to increase its capacity and performance when necessary.
How the Cloud Enables Scalability
With cloud scalability, you’re not limited by the resources of a single server. Instead, you can add new servers as needed. And they’re always available instantly — which means no more waiting hours for an application to be installed when you need it most.
Block storage
Block storage is the most common form of cloud storage. It offers the ability to store and retrieve entire data blocks, which can contain any file, including text, images, and videos.
Cloud distributions like this one can offer flexible block storage for complex platforms like Kubernetes. With a few clicks and a user-friendly API, you can start deploying complex, stateful services in your private, hybrid, and public clouds.
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RAM
Random Access Memory is what enables you to scale your application. If you have a 100% RAM-based database and want to scale up, you add more RAM. For example, if you have a t1.micro instance running on Amazon EC2, you can increase its memory from 1 GB to 2 GB or 1 GB to 4 GB.
In a traditional environment, this may require adding servers, upgrading the processor and memory on each server, installing the new operating system (OS), installing the database software, and then configuring it for your application. On the Cloud, you add more RAM, and you’re done.
CPU
The Central Processing Unit on your server determines how fast your code executes. If you want quicker responses from users and higher throughputs, you’ll need to upgrade your CPU’s speed.
However, this is usually quite costly on traditional shared hosting because each user gets CPU power. And if they go over their allotted amount, they have to pay extra fees for the additional CPU usage.
With cloud hosting, it becomes much easier for users to scale their CPU power without worrying about overpaying for additional resources that they don’t need at any given time.
The Critical Need for Scalability
Scalability is one of the most important aspects of any business, as it allows companies to handle any demand that comes their way. If a company’s IT systems are not scalable, they will be unable to handle an increase in workload or customers.
The lack of scalability can result in poor customer experience and lost revenue. A scalable business model is crucial for companies to adapt quickly to changing market conditions or new technologies.
5 Benefits of Cloud-Assisted Business Scalability
The Cloud provides businesses with elasticity and automation capabilities that allow for better management of business resources and improved performance.
Elasticity means the ability of a system or network resource (such as storage space or computing power) to expand or contract automatically based on usage. Automation refers to automatic processes that reduce human efforts for routine tasks such as provisioning servers.
Risk Reduction
Cloud scalability enables you to reduce business risk by giving you the ability to scale your workloads as needed. If you need more storage space or your workload increases due to a spike in traffic, you can request additional resources from your provider.
Cost Efficiency
The Cloud also helps keep costs down by allowing users to pay only for their use. Cloud providers charge based on usage. No upfront capital expenditures or long-term agreements are required to use their services.
Business Agility
Cloud infrastructure is a highly available, scalable, and flexible platform. You can use it to support business applications in an unexpected surge in traffic. Businesses respond quickly when demand increases and scale up resources to meet peak demand.
High Powered Automation
Cloud providers typically provide customers with tools for automating deployment, provisioning, monitoring, and managing applications across multiple environments.
Disaster Readiness and Recovery
Many cloud providers offer disaster readiness tools that include automated backups, load balancing, and failover mechanisms that ensure that any disruption does not impact your business operations. You also get disaster recovery options for restoring applications onto different servers if an outage has affected your primary location.
Wrap Up
If you find that your company is growing faster than you ever imagined, it’s time to evaluate new technologies that could help scale your business. The Cloud has been a good destination for companies with similar needs.
