Cloud application development is the contemporary hotcake that every smart business wants a piece of, but what’s the best way to go about it? Know the benefits, challenges, process and more, up-close!
The global cloud revenue reportedly soared up to a total of around $474 Billion in 2022 from $408 Billion in 2021.
But both, Gartner calling cloud ‘the Centerpiece of New Digital Experiences’ as well as you giving cloud app development a thought, must be having reasons beyond those striking numbers, right ? Over to that.
Cloud based application development has become an industry favorite over a short span, courtesy the on-demand access of computer system resources, the basic concept of cloud computing, that brought in benefits & operational convenience galore. From data collection at each step to securely storing & managing them, a cloud app is clearly the best bet for any business trying to take its tech foot forward today. A cloud app, powered by technologies like AI/ML, IoT etc. is capable of wooing the users with its multi-experience offering capabilities & bless the business bottom-line alike with its productivity-first approach. Sounds like a win-win? Well indeed, it is and here’s more about that.
Let’s dive deeper into the nitty gritties of cloud development & weigh the ROI ahead!
Source : Statista
Cloud-Based Application : Definition
The entire discussion about cloud apps remains incomplete if we don’t ensure that we are on the same page with our understanding of “What is a cloud-based app” in the first place. No, we are not starting from ‘what is cloud’, rather, jumping straight to the point.
Put simply, a cloud-based application is a program that runs on the internet and leverages the cloud resources, services & storage space for various operational needs across all processes.
Cloud Application Development : Definition
Quite self-explanatory, the sequential process of building a cloud-based app is termed as cloud application development. This umbrella term covers all the steps starting from planning up till market launch. As of the techstack, cutting-edge DevOps practices and tools like Kubernetes are a contemporary favorite for cloud app development. However, at BinaryFolks, our core cloud consultants inspect through your custom requirements and suggest you a technology, or mostly, a combination of technologies to ensure your cloud-based app modules are functional to their highest potential.
You may also like our take on : Mobile Application Development
Benefits of Cloud Based Applications
Cloud development comes with an array of benefits that caters to the business and its users alike. Let’s have a look!
1. Significant reduction in operating costs
Pay-as-you-go is a highly sought after payment model as it guarantees highest productivity for every penny spent. This applies for cloud based app development too, where you only pay for the required cloud storage and services you need to leverage for your development process. That too, without shelling out a mammoth investment upfront, unlike local servers.
2. Tighter data security
When you opt for cloud app development, you also avail the cloud host’s efforts into full-time data security monitoring, which technically is tighter than any traditional in-house process that you may have had in place. Not just that, it's government security standard compliant and there’s an auto-response module to take care of the data recoveries & updates as & when they occur.
3. Resource Provisioning
As you ditch the local server and host your application on cloud, you already avoid a number of restrictions that the former binds you to. With cloud dependence, you’re sorted with provisioning of cloud development resources, as your on-the-go needs like extra bandwidth can quickly be served skipping a long, complex infrastructure update procedure.
4. Mobility to Improve Access
The app users are more in motion than ever today and such should be the mobility your offerings have to offer. With mobile access to your critical business data, your business presence becomes versatile and so does your employee availability, beyond a desk space. Whether it’s your sales teams attending events at multiple geographical locations or a freelance employee serving you remotely, your business data doesn’t have to wait for the updates with a cloud connection. This way, cloud application development gets you the best of both worlds - easy collaboration & high productivity.
5. Actionable Insights
With data stealing the limelight today for all the right reasons, Clive Humby’s ‘data is the new oil’ makes more sense than ever. Amidst the ever-flowing stream of data generated across your business workflow and daily customer interactions, there are data points present like a spoon of water in a bucket of water, that can factually impact the future of your business. Cloud application is the power weapon that helps you sift those valuable insights out of the enormous data pool as a convenient bird’s eye view, so your business decisions are factually supported & growth comes a tad bit easier & a lot faster.
6. Disaster Recovery
After profit what’s that one thing every business would always want ‘more’ and still, never get enough? Yes, control it is. The more control a business has over its processes, the closer it is to its growth goals. However, achieving control beyond a certain limit can be a hard nut to crack, but fortunately, cloud applications extend a helping hand here. No, it doesn’t cast a magic spell to hand you over 100% control, but makes the disaster recovery process easy, curbing downtimes & minimizing inefficiencies.
Characteristics of Cloud Based Application
Application development in the cloud is gaining popularity at a lightning speed and by now, you know why. Coming to the characteristics of cloud based applications now, so that you can reap the benefits to the fullest, making the most of your decision to ditch traditional web applications & getting your head in the clouds, fact-backed!
- Cloud infrastructure is used for data storage and often, partially cached on the user’s device, meaning the application majorly runs off device with very little reliance.
- The next question on your mind might be, what happens when the connectivity goes off - does it mean no access to the information?
- Well, not really. For offline access, the cloud infrastructure enables temporary storage of the info right on the user’s device. Once connected back to the internet, the cloud app self-updates and uploads the changes made during the offline hours back to the cloud storage.
- Cloud apps allow you to perform a set of effective information management activities like scheduling backups, optimizing data, encrypting, compressing etc..
- Easy access & flexible customization opportunities with third-party cloud services through API integration.
- Summarizing the entire concept of cloud application at this point, the only requirement to get the cloud based apps up & running is with internet connectivity, and a device like desktop, smartphones etc, implying zero dependence on browser capacities.
Types of Cloud Applications for Enterprises - at a glance
Cloud application development solutions vary depending on an enterprise’s needs. There are three major groups :
(a) SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS), as the name suggests, is the model where you use the software on-demand, while it’s owned and maintained remotely by the providing company. These software ideally include a common code put in a one-to-many structure, so every customer with a shared purpose pays a subscription & uses the software as per requirement, without interrupting fellow user’s experience.
(b) PaaS
Platform as a Service, termed as PaaS, is a 360° development and deployment environment hosted on cloud, which an enterprise can access using a web browser. PaaS enables an enterprise to rent all sorts of services & resources required to build an app using cloud infrastructure, OS, middleware and other necessary tools.
(c) IaaS
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the model where a third-party cloud provider manages end-to-end business infrastructure through a private or public cloud. Another advantage of opting for IaaS is its auto-adjusting scalability and SLA guaranteeing uptime & performance. So, your enterprise can skip the manual hassle of provisioning and physical server management altogether.
Examples of Cloud-based Applications
We’re all using cloud applications in our daily lives, knowingly or unknowingly and the following examples of cloud applications will prove so!
Think of your go-to entertainment stop Netflix. That’s a classic example of SaaS !
Whereas, Google app engine, the for-sure-familiar one, is an example of PaaS.
AWS, the buzzword in the business space, is an IaaS.
Technical Challenges of developing Cloud based applications
Must have heard the common saying goes, “if it’s easy, it won’t be worth it” - the pitfalls along the way of cloud app development are only another burning proof of that. Hold on before you think we’re scaring you away with a list of what can go wrong along the way, since we’ll also be discussing how to bypass them like a pro!
(1) Interoperability Issues
Talking about cloud app development, the biggest challenge is interoperability i.e. making the ‘common code’ seamlessly work across different cloud providers with equal efficiency, without being impacted by their differences. Often, the cloud apps fail to run components in another cloud infra as they’re written specifically for one cloud environment. That’s exactly where a cloud app loses its potential, killing the major benefit of shared resource usage for efficient operating as the systems do not talk to each other & remain partially defunct.
Pro-move
However, at BinaryFolks, the core cloud app development team puts a set of cutting-edge standardized cloud protocols in place to ensure your app works at its peak efficiency in other cloud environments too. Here, they focus on securely increasing accessibility of your cloud app data in order to attain interoperability while bringing down the overall operating cost by significant bucks.
(2) Performance Inconsistency
One of the major advantages of cloud apps is that there’s no need for physical data centers and that is exactly what often turns into the prime reason for cloud app performance degradation. How? Simple, since there’s no data center, the data rendering time becomes a guessing game. While it may seem that it’s just a ‘few more minutes’ that your cloud app takes, the fact is there are just ‘a ton of other app choices’ present for your users to choose from, apart from you. Frown-worthy?
Pro-move
BinaryFolks recommends & assists with periodic-monitoring of your cloud-based apps post development to make sure the performance doesn’t take a plunge. With frequent & consistent app performance check-up, your applications stays on top of efficient functioning and your users’ good book alike!
(3) Availability Issue
For cloud apps to work wonders, the first criteria is to be available when it’s needed, right? Well, as funny as it may sound, cloud app outages are so common that you should be aware before launching yours.
Pro-move
BinaryFolks develops applications with multiple redundancy and disaster recovery options. Also there are load balancing and other techniques to make sure there is virtually zero downtime.
How to Develop Cloud Based Applications?
Coming to the main point now that we’re done with the background details, so :
“How to develop cloud applications?”
While developing applications for the cloud doesn’t have a set process, we at BinaryFolks, have found the one that works wonders for our clients. Take a look!
- Document your cloud application development expectations
- Do an extensive vendor research & select a development partner
- Fix the scope & select a befitting techstack
- The obvious step, development & testing
- Launch the cloud-based application
- Periodic updates & maintenance
Hire Cloud Application Developers
With outsourcing gaining popularity across the globe, hiring cloud application developers makes more sense today. Partnering with a cloud app development company helps you in two major aspects:
One, your project is seasoned with vital insights from previously launched successful projects
And,
Two, you get a fully-functional cloud-based app under a comparatively short timeline, with all development risks managed before it makes to your hands
Cloud coding in your mind?
Talk to BinaryFolks Cloud Consultants
Developing Applications for the Cloud with BinaryFolks
In the decade-long journey as a custom software development company, working with cutting-edge technologies including AI/ML, AR/VR, cloud computing, data analytics, IoT etc, BinaryFolks has gotten its hands dirty in 70+ cloud-based application development for companies of all sizes!
Getting started with us is simple, you can start with a complimentary first-round consultation where our industry veteran consultants analyze your requirements & share a high-level time, cost & effort estimation. Following that, you can have a detailed scope discussion and techstack talk with our core cloud application developers team, to create a best-in-class versatile cloud app in-line with your business goals.
Conclusion
That was all about application development in cloud and with that going into your app plan strategically, success should be a half cracked nut.
To sum it up, the secret to ace cloud application development is to :
- Carry out a thorough market research, so you are on top of disruptive trends in the cloud space
- Weigh the investment & ROI to achieve your development goals the most reasonable way possible
- Find the right hands to build your cloud based application, because after all, the mammoth investment that goes into the development process, shouldn’t go unvalidated, right?
