In recent years, the rapid adoption of public cloud has transformed the IT landscape, offering businesses agility and scalability, all whilst dangling a cost saving carrot. Fast forward and after 10 years of public cloud, a growing trend has emerged: cloud repatriation. This involves organisations moving all or part of their data, applications, or infrastructure back from public cloud platforms to on-premise or colocation environments. Why? There is a myriad of reasons, the biggest driver often cited is cost. To find out more, download our whitepaper. In the meantime, the following blog delves into the why of repatriation, outlining what you need to consider as part of your journey out of public cloud.

Making the leap out of public cloud

The decision to repatriate cloud workloads typically stems from one or more of the following:

1. Cost: As businesses scale their usage of public cloud services, the associated costs can quickly spiral out of control, especially when it comes to data egress and storage fees.
2. Regulatory compliance: Certain industries, such as finance, healthcare, and government, face strict data privacy and security regulations that can be challenging to fully address within the shared model of public cloud.
3. Performance and reliability: For data-intensive workloads or mission-critical applications that require low latency and predictable performance, the shared nature of public cloud infrastructure may not be able to consistently meet the required service-level agreements (SLAs).
4. Vendor lock-in concerns: Some organisations may be wary of becoming overly dependent on a single public cloud provider, fearing the potential for vendor lock-in and limited flexibility in the long run.
    

What you need to consider when undertaking Cloud Repatriation

As business IT requirements continue to evolve, it’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to hosting is no longer viable. Organisations shoud be willing to explore a range of hosting models, including colocation and public cloud, to find the optimal solution that aligns with their specific requirements.
When evaluating hosting options, decision-makers should carefully consider the following factors:

1. What investment will be required?
   Businesses that had previously offloaded their infrastructure to the public cloud may need to invest in server hardware and networking equipment. To avoid costly infrastructure investment, businesses can choose to host their equipment in a colocation data centre facility, where power, cooling and network connectivity are provided, alongside strict security controls.
2. Application Migration Planning
   Migrating data and applications from the public cloud back to an on-premises environment can be complex and resource-intensive. Organisations must carefully plan and execute the data transfer process to limit downtime during the migration.
3. Application Refactoring and Optimisation
   Many businesses may have refactored applications for the public cloud environment. Repatriating these workloads to an on-premise setting may require refactoring and optimisation to ensure they function correctly in the new hosting environment.
4. Talent and Skill Gaps
   Organisations that have become heavily reliant on cloud-centric talent may find themselves facing a skills gap when it comes to operating and maintaining their own data centers and infrastructure. That’s where a good colocation partner can offer support.
5. Operational Complexity
   Maintaining a hybrid IT environment that combines on-premise and public cloud components can introduce operational complexities. Organisations must establish robust governance frameworks, integration mechanisms, and monitoring systems to ensure seamless performance, security, and cost optimisation across the various hosting platforms. The strain on internal resource can be absorbed hosting on premise in a colocation data centre.
    

Should you consider hybrid?

One of the key advantages of public cloud adoption is the ability to quickly scale resources, deploy new applications, and iterate on digital initiatives. Organisations need to understand which applications need this flexibility and should therefore remain in public cloud, against those with intensive data transfer or security demands which are better suited to a on-premise/colocation hosting solution.

A well-designed hybrid strategy can enable organisations to:

1. Optimise costs by allocating workloads to the most cost-effective hosting platforms, whether that’s public cloud for variable or seasonal workloads or on-premises infrastructure for highly sensitive or data-intensive processes.
2. Enhance security and compliance by maintaining direct control over sensitive data and applications within on-premise/colocation environments, while leveraging public cloud services for less critical workloads.
3. Improve performance and reliability by utilizing the customization and dedicated resources of colocation or on premise solutions for latency-sensitive or resource-intensive applications, while scaling public cloud capacity to handle spikes in demand.
4. Increase agility and flexibility by retaining the ability to rapidly scale resources, deploy new applications, and migrate data between different hosting platforms as needed, without being beholden to the limitations of a single environment.

Of course, implementing and managing a hybrid architecture requires a high level of technical expertise and a well-defined governance framework. Careful planning, integration, and ongoing monitoring are essential to ensure seamless performance, security, and resource optimisation across the various hosting solutions.

If you’re currently hosting in public cloud and are considering repatriation to a colocation facility, get in touch to speak to one of the team.