Most companies these days are switching to the cloud to host their services and applications considering the numerous advantages they offer such as flexibility, scalability and improved customer support. What confuses most organizations in the early stages of adopting cloud is deciding between private, public and hybrid cloud systems. While each of these have their own set of advantages as well as disadvantages, it is the nature of your business on which the choice of the cloud system you ultimately choose, resides. In this article, we will give you a brief overview over the three types of cloud systems and let you choose what the best option for you is.

First, coming to the most popular option, the Public Cloud. In this system, the service provider hosts your applications and resources on the internet and they are shared between several users. The client does not exercise any control over the applications and resources, although they are made secure so that only authorized users have access. The greatest advantage of Public cloud is their unlimited scalability along with low maintenance and cost. Public clouds handle numerous servers, so they remain unaffected by fluctuations in the activity level or failures in a single node, as the workload gets easily distributed. But the major concern with them is security, as all the applications and resources are available to multiple users. So the public cloud system is best suited for you if your business does not involve sharing sensitive information.

To answer to user’s demand of data security, we have private cloud. As in the case of public clouds, private clouds also allow businesses to host their applications, but the control and access rests with only the client. Private clouds offer a higher level of security, as the data is not accessible from outside the organization. Further, the control of how the applications function now rests in the client’s hands, and you can conveniently change the cloud’s behavior to suit your needs. But, the cost of hardware is high, plus the regular administration and maintenance also becomes your responsibility. But the greatest drawback of the private cloud is that scalability is not as fluid as the public system, owing to the limited hardware. So, if you want to host business critical applications and want data security and full control, at the cost of scalability, go for the private cloud system.

Hybrid cloud is the most popular option among cloud users. As the name suggests it combines both the public as well as the private system. So, you get the scalability and cost-effectiveness of public cloud while addressing the security concerns as in the private cloud system, making sure all your sensitive data are kept secure. However, the downside is that you have to manage the collaboration between public and private cloud users, shielding the business critical information while maintaining efficient communication between all aspects of your business. The hybrid cloud is the best solution where you want a public cloud for your customers, but a more secure cloud for your IT department.

So, it comes down to factors like data security, scalability, budget and control that decide which cloud system best suits your business.