6 Questions to Ask Before Deploying Cloud-Native On-Premises

Going cloud native isn’t something you want to jump into. Before going through the expense and effort, you need to make sure your enterprise is in the best position to actually benefit from the transformation.

If you’re considering going cloud native on-premises, here are six questions you need to ask and answer before getting started.

1. Where are you in the technology adoption process?

Technical maturity is about whether your enterprise is actually ready and able to deploy and operate cloud-native tech stacks on-premises.

Assessing your technical maturity clarifies whether you’re capable of handling cloud-native on-premises. It also tells you whether you’re in the best position to leverage new and innovative technology.

For more information on technical maturity, check out our free Technical Maturity Framework eBook.

2. How much flexibility do you want?

One of the major benefits of deploying cloud-native technology on-premises is that it provides you with more choices.

If you are a software-as-a-service provider, for example, you may want to make applications available for specific customers in a more contained, in-house datacenter environment. At the same time, you can make that same application available to the majority of your customers at scale via the public cloud.

3. What is your business model?

Not all business models make cloud-native on-premises necessary—or even a good investment.

If you are constantly providing products or services to customers with different security needs, then, as with the software business mentioned above, going cloud-native on-premises can provide you with different lanes of delivery for different customers.  

4. What is your go-to-market model?

Getting your products to market may benefit from a cloud-native on-premises environment, particularly if your go-to-market model involves delivering products and services to sensitive clients.

5. What are your compliance needs?

Whether it’s HIPPA, HITRUST, GDPR, or PCI, your compliance needs inform the direction you take if and when you go cloud-native on-premises. That means you need to thoroughly understand those needs from the outset.

6. What are your security needs?

Similar to compliance, your enterprise may have specific security needs. Some of these needs, like regulatory rules or sensitive data, may actually be the reason you’re looking to go cloud-native on-premises to begin with. Others might create a speed bump for the process. Know what you need, then build around that.

For even more on going cloud-native, download our free eBook: Migrating Cloud-Native Tech Stacks On-Premises.

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Migrating Cloud-Native Tech Stacks On-Premises

Want to dive deeper? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Building and Deploying Cloud Native Solutions On-Premises to better understand how a modern datacenter allows you to better tap into your enterprise's data.