Who needs a Cloud Platform?

When an Organization Requires Its Own Cloud Platform

Many organizations start their cloud journey by leveraging Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers, no-code solutions, or selectively using services from an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider. These approaches are often sufficient for small-scale applications, limited workloads, or companies looking for a simplified entry into cloud computing. However, as an organization’s operational needs evolve, they may reach a point where the limitations of these approaches no longer align with their growing complexity, scalability requirements, or strategic goals. At this stage, the organization may require its own Cloud Platform to meet its unique demands.

This page discusses the key indicators that suggest an organization has outgrown conventional PaaS, no-code solutions, or a simple collection of IaaS services and should consider building or adopting a Cloud Platform for their operations.

Key Indicators That Your Organization Needs Its Own Cloud Platform

1. Growing Complexity in Application and Infrastructure Requirements

   As organizations scale, they often encounter complex application and infrastructure needs that outstrip the capabilities of a pre-built PaaS or no-code platform. PaaS solutions are designed to simplify deployment and infrastructure management but come with certain constraints:

   • Limited customization: PaaS platforms typically offer a curated selection of services and predefined configurations. Organizations that require fine-grained control over infrastructure, custom deployment pipelines, or specialized services may find PaaS platforms restrictive.
   • Operational complexity: When applications become more complex—using microservices, hybrid cloud setups, or multiple regions—PaaS may no longer provide the necessary operational flexibility. A custom Cloud Platform can integrate the exact services and infrastructure components required, while maintaining operational consistency.

   For organizations with complex, distributed applications, needing to orchestrate containers, virtual machines, databases, and third-party services across multiple cloud environments, a Cloud Platform provides the ability to manage these resources in a standardized, efficient way.

2. Need for Multi-Cloud or Hybrid Cloud Strategies

   Many businesses eventually adopt multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies to avoid vendor lock-in, achieve higher availability, or optimize costs by choosing the most appropriate services from different cloud providers. PaaS and no-code platforms are typically designed to work within a single provider ecosystem, which makes it difficult to manage workloads across multiple clouds or on-premises environments.

   A custom Cloud Platform allows an organization to:

   • Abstract differences between cloud providers: A Cloud Platform can provide a unified interface for managing infrastructure, deployments, and operations across multiple cloud providers or on-premises environments.
   • Optimize service selection: Organizations can mix and match services from various providers, such as leveraging AWS for compute while using Google Cloud's machine learning tools, without being constrained by a single provider’s PaaS limitations.

   Organizations looking for flexibility in cloud provider choice and needing to move workloads between different environments or scale across them seamlessly would benefit from their own Cloud Platform.

3. Custom Governance, Security, and Compliance Requirements

   PaaS and no-code solutions often provide basic security and governance features, but these features may not meet the specific requirements of certain industries, such as finance, healthcare, or government sectors, where compliance and data sovereignty are critical. Additionally, organizations with unique internal governance policies may need more customization than what a PaaS platform can provide.

   A custom Cloud Platform allows for:

   • Custom security policies: Implementing tailored access controls, encryption, network segmentation, and identity management that go beyond what is offered by default in PaaS or no-code tools.
   • Compliance automation: Automating auditing, logging, encryption, and governance policies to meet industry-specific regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, etc.) across multiple environments.
   • Operational governance: Enforcing specific cost controls, usage policies, and operational procedures that are unique to the organization.

   For businesses that operate in highly regulated industries or have stringent security requirements, their own Cloud Platform provides the necessary control to ensure compliance and minimize risks.

4. Scalability Challenges Beyond PaaS and No-Code Platforms

   PaaS platforms are often optimized for small to medium-sized workloads and can struggle when dealing with massive scale or highly variable traffic patterns. Organizations that experience significant growth or operate large-scale applications may encounter limitations with PaaS:

   • Resource constraints: PaaS solutions may offer limited scalability or predefined resource limits that are insufficient for high-performance or high-throughput applications.
   • Performance tuning: Tuning an application’s performance at scale often requires control over the underlying infrastructure, such as fine-tuning networking, storage, and compute configurations, which may not be possible with PaaS platforms.

   A custom Cloud Platform offers full control over the infrastructure and resource scaling, enabling organizations to tailor their platform to handle large-scale workloads, peak traffic demands, and variable load patterns in a cost-effective and performant manner.

5. Need for Tailored Development and Operational Workflows

   Development teams often require specific tooling, workflows, and pipelines that align with their methodologies, such as DevOps practices, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). While some PaaS platforms provide basic CI/CD tools, they may not offer the flexibility required for more advanced workflows:

   • Custom build pipelines: Teams may need to customize build, test, and deployment processes to align with their application architecture or development methodology.
   • Integration with third-party tools: Organizations often need to integrate external tools for logging, monitoring, security, or observability, which may not be easily configurable in a PaaS environment.
   • Self-service infrastructure: Development teams may need the ability to provision their own infrastructure, but with the guardrails that ensure they operate within the organization’s policies and security standards.

   A custom Cloud Platform enables the creation of tailored workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and a self-service portal that empowers development teams while enforcing operational consistency.

6. Cost Management and Optimization

   As businesses grow and their usage of cloud resources increases, managing costs becomes a significant concern. PaaS platforms and no-code solutions often come with pricing models that may not scale well for organizations with large or highly variable workloads. These platforms often bundle services in ways that may not align with the specific needs of the business, leading to inefficiencies and unnecessary costs.

   A custom Cloud Platform provides the ability to:

   • Optimize resource allocation: Tailor resource allocation to specific workloads, dynamically adjusting compute, storage, and network resources based on actual demand.
   • Implement cost governance: Monitor and enforce cost policies, optimize usage, and track spending across multiple cloud environments.
   • Leverage spot instances or specialized pricing models: Organizations can take advantage of specific cloud provider offerings (e.g., spot instances, reserved instances) to reduce costs for certain workloads that are flexible or predictable in terms of resource consumption.

   For organizations seeking to optimize cloud costs at scale, building a Cloud Platform that provides full visibility into resource usage and spending is often a necessity.

In Summary...

While PaaS, no-code platforms, and basic IaaS services offer valuable solutions for smaller-scale applications and less complex environments, they often fall short when an organization faces growing complexity, scalability, security, or operational challenges. As businesses evolve, they may need a more tailored solution that gives them control over their infrastructure, integrates multiple cloud environments, enforces custom policies, and provides scalability beyond what traditional PaaS platforms can handle.

At this point, investing in a custom Cloud Platform becomes a strategic move, enabling the organization to align its infrastructure and operations with its unique needs, reduce operational overhead, and support large-scale growth. By creating a unified platform that standardizes application deployment, integrates multiple cloud providers, and automates governance, businesses can future-proof their operations and ensure they can continue to innovate and scale efficiently.