First steps to cloud-native transformation

Cloud-native focuses on how - not where - applications are created and deployed.

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First steps to cloud-native transformation

In a world thriving on instantaneous action, cloud-native apps use data visibility to provide businesses with an advantage in tapping into changes in customer tastes and trends.

As businesses move more confidently into the cloud environment, they are becoming increasingly cognizant of cloud’s distinct advantages. The cloud-native approach capitalises on cloud features which promote rapid innovation, agility and injects disruptive qualities which businesses aim to gain through digital transformation.

Cloud-native focuses on how - not where - applications are created and deployed. It employs new approaches in developing applications which become major competitive differentiators for business entities.

The cornerstones of cloud-native - microservices, DevOps, continuous delivery and containers – are built on scalable and flexible modern application frameworks which empowers development teams to do more innovative work.

Under the microservices architecture model, each application is a collection of small services that can be operated independently of other services in the application. This simplifies development and testing, allowing different development teams to create, deploy and scale their services without disrupting other parts of the application.

DevOps focuses on the speed of development, enabling software to migrate from design to production as quickly as possible. Automation plays a large part in this process.

Automation is also a key feature of continuous delivery, enabling the easy moving of small batches of software to production swiftly. Such agility empowers businesses to deliver applications rapidly, obtain feedback and make appropriate changes.

Containers, with its own unique writable file system, are fast to create and equally fast to destroy, as well as portable, scalable and ideal for running microservices.

Getting the basics right

Building a data architecture which draws these features together is a crucial step in successfully using cloud-native to drive transformation. To suit the unique requirements of individual businesses, your data architecture must align to your business goals and strategy.

As the cloud-native approach is heavily dependent on encouraging individualism as well as collaboration between teams, it is vital that this strategy is communicated well across the organisation. Such practice is part of a wider cultural shift to adopting a more open environment which rewards quick response to market demands, and a bold approach to exploiting new technologies and embracing changes.

Remember, digital transformation is a journey, not a sprint. Cloud-native transformation is a long-term blueprint for your business, so you may not see its rewards immediately. For example, your initial costs may increase, but you will save more in the long run as you pay only for what you consume.

The other benefits of being cloud-native such as higher data availability, the agility of application delivery, faster applications development and product speed-to-market, greater scalability, and reduced systems complexity will kick in over time.

Building a cloud-native environment

When setting up a cloud-native data architecture, the focus should be in taking full advantage of cloud-native agility, speed and innovative qualities, and moulding it to suit your business needs.

Take microservices for instance. How can microservices help in your business growth? The basic idea behind microservices is to create small, independent, single-purpose services which will eventually be brought together. Single-purpose teams are more agile and can give their full attention to solving single issues including the most effective use of programming language, platform and data structure. To be effective, however, it is important that its objective and scope is clearly understood.

Interoperability across a multi-cloud environment is another vital factor to be considered when setting up the data architecture. As many businesses adopt a multi-cloud strategy to avoid dependency on any one provider, application codes will have to be independent of platforms and flexible to run across any platforms without slowing down your access to data or ability to recover data as needed. Consider, too, how your organisation can set up the containers to move your data seamlessly across the different spectrum of clouds.

The cloud-native impact

The impact of going cloud-native will be felt along the entire organisation and through the entire pipeline from conception, development, testing and delivery, to sales and after-sales.

Cloud-native applications cut down the time and distance between the customer and the business, giving organisations a closer look into customer demands and concerns, and the ability to improve on their response time. In a world thriving on instantaneous action, the ability to take advantage of data visibility and to act on it quickly provides businesses with a cutting-edge advantage in tapping into changes in tastes and trends.

To learn more about how your business can transition to cloud-native apps with Singtel Cloud, contact us for more information. 

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