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Cloud Application Development – A Crucial Tool for Enterprises

Since the advent of cloud computing, the technology scene for developers has changed rapidly. Previously developing and running applications on-premise would be complex, slow and most importantly very expensive. Cloud computing now has removed need for enterprises to invest in high priced computing resources to secure their app development needs. Application development in cloud is possible via different models like Saas (Software as a Service), Iaas (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and Paas (Platform as a Service).

Reports from Cowen and Company’s Mid-Year 2015 IT Spending Survey show how cloud computing features among the list of highest spending priorities for enterprises in 2015. The fact that 53% of enterprises intend to purchase Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service) from an IT service provider prove that cloud application development is becoming crucial for different organizations.

Even though cloud application development may come up with its unique set of challenges for developers, calling for different skill sets, the technology definitely offers distinct advantages.

Advantages of application development in cloud benefits an organization in multiple ways.

Less time consuming

Given the cloud platform’s efficiency in streamlining the entire development process, time required to develop any cloud-based app is significantly less. The traditional way of developing a custom application would be a long-time process as different additional components were needed for creating an app. The cloud platform has made it way easier for developers to gather the development assets online. Developers no more have to worry about infrastructure provisioning. As a result, they can now work their way out smoothly and deploy apps faster to enhance overall productivity.

Gone are the days when buying and installing equipments would take several weeks or months. Equipment in the cloud technology can get ready within hours. Ric Telford, VP of IBM Cloud Services noted “Rapid provisioning and also being able to be highly elastic- to have lots of processing power for a short period of time – are two ways that you get time to value.”

Reduced Costs

A major benefit of adopting the cloud application development approach lies in its ability to reduce a significant amount of cost. Earlier most small-scale businesses would be faced with budget issues when it came to setting up the infrastructure for developing, testing and deploying custom-based applications. But in cloud, the application development components are readily available online; coming in various types of subscription models for everyone to use.

According to the Citigroup, in the last three years, prices have gone down by around a quarter. With cloud providers building more data centres and fighting for market share, the cost for cloud application development is getting cheaper. In fact, Microsoft started offering free Azure cloud services to startups as a part of their customer retention strategy.

Scalability

Traditional application development used to make businesses walk a fine line between creating the right set of provision and under-provisioning; both of them resulting in performance issues. With cloud computing bursting into the scenario, organizations no longer have to worry about laying the provision for the right kind of infrastructure.
Both big, medium and small organizations can scale their assets whenever they deem it necessary. They can do it by either adding or compressing their required resources, i.e they do not need to pay for assets they are not using. While big organizations typically prefer the private cloud model, midsize businesses find public cloud models feasible.

Multi-device compatibility

No matter what the operating system of a device is, cloud-based apps are capable of running on multiple devices. Thus, this mode of application development allows mobile application development companies to design apps that are compatible with a host of devices.

To increase availability of apps, developers are left with no choice but build apps with multi-device compatibility. Integration of cross-platform ability in mobile apps definitely creates a lot of work for app developers. However, they can always overcome such issues by choosing to store the apps and their data in server running in mobile cloud, and not storing it on a mobile device. In this way, users can access the apps and its content through browsers running of various mobile devices.

Keeping in mind the economic benefits cloud technology has reaped, it has definitely become a prime support for the app developers. However, the development mode cannot be selected solely on the basis of price flexibility and must also take into consideration factors like agile development and business objectives. Still it cannot be ignored that the advantages of cloud app development have been so conspicuous that it has become an integral part of corporate strategy.