Cloud technologies: What are their advantages and how can you save on them?

Cloud technologies have a number of advantages over corporate servers, and the leaders of many companies know this firsthand. However, they also know that it’s usually not enough to just take and transfer everything that is possible to the cloud: if you don’t figure out which cloud services the company really needs and which ones it doesn’t, if you don’t take care of cost optimization, you can easily lose at least some of the main advantages of cloud computing.

Founded in 2000 by Hovig and Annie Safoian, SADA is dedicated to helping businesses across multiple industries use cloud computing in the most accurate and efficient way possible in every sense of the word. 

NEWS.am Tech discussed the main advantages of cloud technologies, the Armenian office of the company and much more with Tony Safoian, SADA President, CEO and Board Member.

Cloud vs On-premise Servers: Key Benefits

Although cloud servers have become widespread in recent years, you can still hear the question: “How are they better than the server installed in our office?”

Actually, cloud servers have a number of advantages, and Tony Safoian named some of them.

Wider Opportunities

According to Safoian, cloud servers offer a wider range of options than local ones. Leveraging the cloud with the right tools makes it possible to scale access to the right services for both employees and customers when needed. In the case of a local server, such scaling is almost impossible, especially if you work with regional or global clients.

Price

You can start using cloud services per hour, per day, per month – as long as you need. In the case of corporate servers, a lot of initial investment would be needed (hardware, software, staff salaries, energy bills, etc.) – and this is despite the fact that it is usually difficult to predict in advance how much infrastructure you may need. Using the cloud, the client pays only for the resources actually used, the amount of which will depend on his needs, therefore, he simply does not make extra costs.

Safety

Of course, you cannot say that the cloud is safe by default. It is made safe by competent professionals. If you have good security experts around you, if you use the right configurations, the right tools and services, working with the cloud, Safoian claims, will provide a much higher level of security than any local server.

To ensure maximum security in the cloud, SADA launched the Security Confidence Program, a comprehensive security offering designed to help businesses improve their cyber security and protect their data and systems from cyber threats.

The program includes a range of services such as vulnerability assessment, security auditing, threat detection and response. SADA's team of cybersecurity experts helps identify potential vulnerabilities in a client's IT infrastructure and then implement solutions to fix those vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of a cyberattack.

Award-Winning Google Partner with 10 Specializations

SADA is a Google Cloud Partner, a status awarded by Google to partners who have demonstrated a high level of expertise and experience in delivering solutions and services on the Google Cloud Platform.

To qualify for such a status, Google Partners must meet certain criteria, including a proven track record of successfully delivering Google Cloud Platform solutions to a wide range of customers, a required number of certified technical staff, and a commitment to continuous learning and development.

According to Safoian, SADA's teams have done impactful work with the most advanced capabilities of Google Cloud’s suite for customers and, in doing so, have earned ten of its prestigious Specializations. This expertise helps customers accelerate their most critical initiatives, increase efficiency, capture market opportunities, and reduce risk.

Achieving a Specialization in a solution area involves establishing a Google Cloud services practice, consistently facilitating customer success, and demonstrating sophisticated technical capabilities. 

Beyond Specializations, SADA is a 5x Google Cloud Partner of the Year award winner.

Go Cloud and Save: Mission Possible

Until 2022, while the economy was growing rapidly and there was a sufficient amount of venture capital investment, many companies did not really focus on minimizing  costs. Many, having switched to cloud services, simply turned on a bunch of things (there are hundreds and thousands of cloud services available to customers, and it is difficult for most without the right advice from specialists to figure out what they need and what they do not), they tested various services, using the "scientific poke" method, they picked up what could be useful to them, not really thinking about how much it all would cost them.

Today, as Safoian noted, a lot has changed, and the issue of cost optimization worries customers no less than security issues.

According to Safoian, if a company has competent specialists who give the right advice and turn on only the services that the company needs to perform specific tasks, this allows the company to reduce the cost of cloud services by 20, 30, or even 40%. In today's environment, this is a very serious savings.

To this end, the FinOps Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps companies properly manage their cloud costs, was founded. SADA was one of the earlier Premier Members of this organization and its leaders have made meaningful contributions to the Foundation’s bank of knowledge and training materials.

“You can configure a cloud environment so that it’s absolutely inefficient and more expensive than on-premises servers. Today, even the largest companies in the world, which can afford absolutely everything, care about cost optimization. Uber, for example, is signing a massive deal with Google. Uber can build whatever they want but they also have a lot of cost pressure, and they are choosing the cloud over on-premise all the time. This once again proves that the use of cloud services is a more effective strategy in the long term,” Safoian said.

SADA in Armenia: Bringing services available in the West to Armenian companies

The SADA office in Armenia opened in 2021, and today the Armenian team (which includes not only Armenians: there are also engineers from India and Russia) provides a number of services, including assistance with cloud migration, application development, data analytics, modernization of infrastructure, security solutions, and others.

As Tony Safoian said, clients in Armenia can have all the same services as clients in North America. True, until recently SADA mainly worked with American-led Armenian companies such as Picsart, Service Titan and Hexact, but now the company is going to more actively promote its services in the Armenian market, realizing that it can help local businesses reach a completely new level.

“I think this will be of great importance for the Armenian office: our Yerevan employees will provide services not only to clients mainly from North America but also to Armenian companies, Armenian organizations, Armenian brands,” Safoian said.

Just a few days ago, the company hired the first regional sales specialist, who, in fact, will be engaged in the promotion of SADA services in the country and in the region.

“We continue to strategically hire for specific roles across all of our regional offices, while addressing the international macroeconomic climate and changes in customer buying and usage behavior.  Our overall strategy is to hire based on demand of our global customers, providing local and global customers support where and when they need it,” Safoian said.

Leaving the "export" of specialists in the past: Armenia should become an "importer" of talent

Tony Safoian said that when they had just opened an office in Armenia, friends and colleagues well aware of the situation in the country warned him not to wait until engineers ready to work for his company would stand in line at his door.

To ensure there were more engineers in the country, SADA started a scholarship at the American University of Armenia (AUA), from where, in the end, it received some really promising personnel. Also, several SADA engineers took part in Picsart's engineering boot camp, where they met talented young professionals whom the company eagerly invited to work with.

In addition, as Safoian noted, there are also engineers from other countries in Armenia today, including from India and Russia. In his opinion, everything possible should be done so that these specialists stay in Armenia, see their future here and work in local companies, including in the field of cloud technologies.

“For many years, Armenia has been an “exporter” of talent – many good specialists left Armenia for other countries. Now we need to make sure that talents begin to return to the country. I think that Armenia should already become an "importer" of talent. We need to do something to convince not only Armenians from the Diaspora but also people from other countries to come to Armenia, to see their future here, their potential new home.”