The Cloud-Native Approach

Cloud-native is a set of principles, practices and characteristics that make a well-architected cloud system. A cloud-native approach helps you take advantage of the benefits of the cloud.

Migrating on-premises infrastructure to the cloud presents increasing opportunities in cost reduction, scalability and automation. A cloud provider, such as AWS or GCP, offers a competitive advantage with access to world-class reliability, security and a global network.

- Cloud Native Computing Foundation Charter

Identifying Transformation Opportunities

Although copying your existing architecture in a “lift-and-shift” maintains familiar design patterns whilst bringing in benefits of the cloud, it does not fully leverage the opportunity.

Moving to the cloud presents an opportunity to align your design with your business goals. Investing in the cloud brings a return on investment by driving down costs and the benefits of a world-class provider and you can also build your cloud system around scalability, reliability or maintainability.

Select A Best-Fit Cloud Platform

Once you have decided to move, you will need to choose within the marketplace of cloud providers. Each offers unique advantages and a different set of services.

Cloud platforms present an opportunity to utilise breakthrough technologies, sparking innovation with artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and the internet of things.

If choosing one cloud provider is difficult, you can adopt an open cloud model to make your design easy to migrate, reducing the risk of making the wrong decision or market factors changing. In the open cloud model, services such as Google Anthos allow you to use multiple providers, including your existing on-premises servers.

Architecting for the Cloud

On-premises, each server needs to be maintained for the long-term and every new piece of equipment is a bet on predicted demand. The cloud, however, has the potential for speed and agility. A well-designed system can be scalable and modular and fit precisely to business needs.

Among the cloud-native patterns are microservices, dividing monolithic systems and offering long-term maintainability and flexibility. Similarly, containerised solutions take advantage of the scalability of demand and eliminate costly maintenance outages.

Changing Development Practices

Use a new architecture as a driving force behind stronger development and deployment practices, including the continuous integration and delivery technologies that run on the cloud.

For example, a rapidly-developing organisation can deploy faster and more often with Docker and Kubernetes. An agile methodology helps you iterate and build fast.

Beginning Your Transformation

With knowledge of the cloud-native approach, you can begin to identify the elements of the cloud that bring value to your organisation.

As an AWS and GCP partner, Riley brings 10 years of cloud enablement across varied industries, bringing expertise and best practices to projects. Our cloud-native approach helps businesses modernise their infrastructure and thrive.