Custom vs off-the-shelf cloud solutions: The pros and cons

When it comes to cloud solutions, do you choose a custom-built option tailored to your business’s needs or an off-the-shelf solution from a hyperscale provider? 

With 89% of organisations embracing multi-cloud services, making the right choice is crucial. We explore the benefits and drawbacks of custom and ready-made cloud solutions to help you navigate this important decision for your business.

Custom cloud solutions

Pros

1. Tailored to your needs: Custom cloud solutions are designed with your specific requirements, ensuring that every feature aligns with your business operations.
2. Scalability: As your business evolves, a custom solution can be easily adapted to meet new challenges or scale with your operations.
3. Competitive advantage: A solution built specifically for your business can give you an edge over competitors using generic products.
4. Integration with existing systems: Custom solutions can be built to integrate with your current software and systems seamlessly.

Cons

1. Higher initial costs: Developing a custom solution requires more time and resources, leading to higher initial expenses.
2. Longer deployment time: Custom solutions require a development period before deployment.
3. Maintenance responsibility: You are responsible for updates, bug fixes, and maintenance unless you have an ongoing contract with the developers.

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The Case For Custom Cloud Solutions

Off-the-shelf cloud solutions might seem simpler on the surface, but they’re not optimal for every organisation. What commercial solutions offer in deployment speed, shifting the burden of maintenance, and cheaper initial costs, they lack flexibility, control, and business alignment.

Kinetic IT works with many organisations with large, complex environments and legacy business-critical systems, and we’ve seen how off-the-shelf cloud offerings can’t always meet these organisations’ intricacies and unique requirements. Cloud providers offer countless products, services, blueprints, and frameworks to meet various needs. Still, they don’t consider an organisation’s unique business context and can’t account for every potential complexity. Organisations must consider whether an off-the-shelf or customised approach is better suited to solving their business challenges, especially when they have legacy data, systems and applications critical for operating their business.

Kinetic IT Enterprise Architect John Jamieson warns that overlooking data dependencies, system integrations, and business processes can be costly—and the data backs him up. A McKinsey report highlights that missteps in coordinating migrations drive up costs by 14% and delay migrations for 38% of companies. Additionally, IT research firm ADAPT notes that deeply ingrained legacy systems and applications are a significant barrier for Australian organisations, with 55% citing them as their primary obstacle.

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Balancing the drive for efficiency with the risks of cloud migration and cybersecurity services is critical. Success can improve performance, availability, and security, while mistakes can result in costly setbacks.

Beyond just choosing a provider, selecting the best solutions for specific applications, workloads, and cybersecurity needs is vital. Flexibility is crucial as organisations increasingly adopt hybrid or multi-cloud models—60% now use more than one type of IT infrastructure. With evolving business needs, a single approach to IT and cybersecurity no longer suffice, making strategic cloud investments essential to maximise business value while adapting to emerging technologies.

Additionally, as cloud strategies evolve, organisations must address the challenges of managing diverse IT environments. Multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructures often complicate governance, security, and compliance. So, businesses need a robust cloud governance framework to mitigate risks, maintain control, and ensure consistency across platforms. Partnering with trusted cloud service providers or experts can help organisations navigate these complexities and fully realise the benefits of their cloud investments while staying agile in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

READ MORE: Discover the critical factors for cloud migration success in our new report, Cracking the Code to Cloud Migration Success: 5 Key Insights from Australian Organisations.

Off-the-shelf cloud solutions

Pros

1. Quick deployment: One of the most significant advantages of off-the-shelf cloud solutions is that they can be deployed immediately, allowing businesses to benefit from them without delays.
2. Cost-effectiveness: Ready-made solutions are generally less expensive in the short term since no development costs are involved.
3. Standardised features: These solutions often come with a set of standard features developed based on industry best practices.
4. Community support: Popular off-the-shelf solutions tend to have a large user base, meaning there’s a good chance you can find community support, tutorials, and resources.

Cons

1. Limited customisation: One size does not fit all. There might be features you need that aren’t included or functionalities you don’t need but can’t remove.
2. Potential redundancy: You might end up paying for features you don’t need.
3. Scalability concerns: As your business grows, you might outgrow the solution’s capabilities and need to switch or upgrade.

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The Case For Off-The-Shelf Cloud Solutions

Organisations might be swayed to build custom cloud infrastructure due to data sovereignty and security concerns, particularly if they believe their homegrown infrastructure is more secure. They may also believe their infrastructure is more cost-effective in the long run than cloud providers or simply want complete control over their infrastructure and develop solutions tailored to their specific needs.

However, attempting to build cloud solutions or infrastructure from scratch instead of leveraging the platforms and tools of hyperscale cloud providers (like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure) can create more cloud migration challenges than it’s worth. This route is often time-consuming, expensive, unreliable, and a headache.

If you want to make the most of cloud provider services and infrastructure, you’ll need to:

• Get to know the benefits: Look to those who have gone before and stand on the shoulders of giants. Work with cloud providers and their partners to understand their advantages, such as global infrastructure, scalability, flexibility, and access to advanced technologies and services.
• Tailor existing services: You don’t need to build your infrastructure to get a custom cloud solution. Hyperscale cloud providers have hundreds of services and tools that are constantly updated. When you work with a cloud provider partner, they can build tailored solutions using these services to meet your business needs.
• Perform a cost-benefit analysis: Analyse the costs and benefits of using cloud providers versus building your solution. Consider ongoing expenses such as hosting, floor space, power, and cooling rather than server and storage costs.
• Focus on core competencies: Rather than investing time and resources in building and maintaining infrastructure, concentrate on your organisation’s core capabilities and let the cloud providers and their partners handle the infrastructure.

With these steps, your organisation can make an informed decision about using cloud service providers and saving time and resources.

READ MORE: 7 common cloud migration challenges and how to avoid them

What’s right for your business?

The choice between custom and off-the-shelf cloud solutions isn’t black and white. When making the decision, consider these key factors:

• Budget: If you’re operating on a tight budget and need a solution immediately, off-the-shelf might be the best option. Unique requirements: Custom could be worth the investment if your business has specific needs that generic software doesn’t address.
• Long-term vision: Consider your business’s future. If rapid scaling or pivoting is on the horizon, a flexible custom solution might be beneficial.
• Technical expertise: This option can be viable if you have an in-house IT team capable of maintaining and tweaking a custom solution. If not, the simplicity of an off-the-shelf product could be preferable.

Making the right cloud choice starts with deeply understanding your business’s unique needs, budget, and future goals. Assessing these factors before moving to the cloud is crucial to ensure your cloud strategy aligns with your company’s vision. This helps create a cloud environment that supports growth and enhances efficiency and performance. Thoughtful planning is vital to building a cloud infrastructure that drives success and meets your long-term objectives.

Want to find out more? Contact us to speak about your cloud requirements.

Get started with our 5-minute Cloud Readiness Assessment. In just 17 essential questions, you’ll gain a clear understanding of your organisation’s readiness to move to the cloud, including any potential gaps in your cloud migration plan and your recommended next steps.

Interested in learning about real-world examples of how we deliver tailored technology solutions? Browse our selection of case studies.