Cloud application development offers considerably higher scalability, flexibility, and updatability than other app development methods. For example, Uber couldn’t scale its app until it migrated to the cloud.
Since cloud application development offers numerous benefits for businesses of different sizes, it is a topic worth attention.
Let’s review it closer!
What is cloud application development?
Cloud application development is the process of developing applications that run in a cloud environment and are not hosted on a local server.
The first and foremost differentiator with cloud computing is the ability to continuously develop and deploy software pieces. This is also known as a DevOps (development + operations) method of project organization, which allows developing and updating a product in small portions, making the whole process more manageable.
For example, when Uber pushed its app to the cloud, it broke the code into different blocks. Each block was for a separate feature: client interface, admin interface, driver interface, payment, etc.
This made the aforementioned continuous deployment possible: the teams didn’t have to wait until the product was fully developed to deploy their features. This enabled minor quick fixes that could be done without altering the whole product.
The Amazon website followed a similar path when it could not sustain the rising traffic. Their cloud transformation was so successful that the company started providing cloud services to others. Since the benefits of cloud computing were evident, this trend developed into a market that is now over USD 750 billion.
By the way, 30% of the market still belongs to Amazon.
Benefits of cloud computing
The cloud infrastructure provides numerous benefits for app development, including better scalability and flexibility, improved security, increased DevOps efficiency, and better performance.
Scalability: Automated deployment
When developing applications on the cloud, businesses can get more computing power in moments of high computer-processing demand. They have no need to buy physical hardware.
Some computing models streamline this process even further, allowing for automated infrastructure management. Serverless computing, for example, automatically allocates computing resources without the developer’s intervention.
Flexibility: Faster response to market change
Cloud computing is perfect for dealing with unstable workloads and seasonal traffic spikes. It allows for easy scaling up or down.
Also, flexible cloud infrastructure allows you to be lean and adaptive in your relations with a customer.
Companies that switched to the cloud report that they experience 35% faster time to market for new product features, as reported by recent PwC research.
Security: Relying on Cloud Provider
Cloud services use the latest security technologies to withstand cybersecurity threats.
Leading cloud providers put a lot of effort into keeping up with the highest security standards in encryption, identity, and access management. Plus, they are already compliant with the latest industry regulations.
Here’s an interesting fact: 70% of businesses that implemented cloud successfully have further migrated their security to the cloud (PWC).
Agility: Increased DevOps efficiency
Cloud computing allows different teams to work on a product simultaneously. It simplifies communication during the design, development, and deployment stages, making DevOps what it’s meant to be—a real tool of continuous development.
An effective communication process naturally increases productivity. 72% of the early cloud adopters and 39% of other businesses that implemented cloud computing report increased productivity among other benefits (PwC).
Performance: App stability and high availability
On-premise app development is vulnerable to downtime. The cloud app is almost always live.
The microservices architecture that comes with cloud app development also helps in this process. It helps an app stay online even if one of its components fails.
Cost efficiency: Reduce infrastructure-related costs
Businesses do not need to invest in physical hardware and infrastructure for cloud application development. The company only pays for the resources it uses on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. Companies adopting the cloud receive 35% of cost savings, which goes up to 65% in the case of company-wide cloud adoption (PwC).
Cloud applications compared to traditional enterprise apps
Traditional application development was about a strict order. Developers had to work on a large batch of code with all the functionalities inside before being sent to testing and deployment.
Adjustments or fixes took too much time. Updates and scaling were hard or almost impossible.
Cloud application development is about collaboration. Cloud apps consist of multiple services that work together but can be altered independently. Developers can work on different features simultaneously, resulting in highly scalable, easy-to-update apps.
The features of the cloud application development
The specific features of cloud application development are continuous integration, continuous delivery, DevOps, and serverless computing.
Continuous integration (CI)
Continuous integration is the practice of making small and frequent changes. Developers integrate changes in shared code as soon as they are ready. Special CI tools automatically assess code quality, so development teams can release code with greater confidence.
Continuous delivery (CD)
Together with continuous integration, continuous deployment helps ensure that microservices are always ready to be deployed. Automated software reduces the risk of making changes, such as bug fixes.
DevOps
DevOps is a software development culture in which the development and operations teams work on the product together, not in strict order. This allows for quick fixes or the introduction of new features based on consumer demand.
Serverless computing
Serverless computing is a practice in which the cloud service automatically provides the needed infrastructure without requiring developers to request extra computing space. This practice follows the pay-as-you-go principle. Once the resources are no longer required, serverless architecture automatically removes them.
The effectiveness of these practices is evident. With the wave of cloud migration and native app development, the cloud is becoming the new IT.
Summing up
Cloud application development is about new types of apps continuously developed and deployed by people working on the product collectively. This approach allows products to be continually changed and adapted to the constantly shifting demands of the contemporary consumer.
Want to try the benefits of cloud application development, or do you currently run a project and need to augment your infrastructure?
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