In today’s fast-paced digital era, cloud application development is progressing at a very rapid rate. Businesses are readily shifting their processes to the cloud for better accessibility and responsiveness. Major benefits like reduced time to market, better security and agility, flexible data management, and enhanced performance have been contributing to the exponential growth of cloud app development.
You don’t believe us? Here are some facts to prove us right!
- As per Statista, the overall revenue generated by cloud computing in the year 2022 was around $300 billion.
- Over 67% of the companies worldwide today use Microsft Azure for their business processes.
- By 2024, the cloud app development market will reach $166.83 globally.
- Software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is expected to reach $172 bn, $101 bn, and $122 bn respectively by the year 2022.
However, shifting your applications to the cloud platform is not sufficient anymore. To reap the real benefits of cloud migration, you need to pay heed to a lot of factors and your existing business processes. From redesigning your business applications to aligning your business goals with the latest trends and tech innovations, there is a lot more that you need for modern cloud application development!
But, before we proceed, it is vital to discuss the main term – cloud application development.
What is Cloud Application Development?
Cloud computing is a type of IT service that enables businesses to manage all their application along with the database, resources, and servers without actually maintaining the infrastructure. Meaning, they can easily run their apps from third-party servers easily on an access-based model. That in turn not only helps the businesses to manage a huge database and servers but even secures their data from thefts and frauds while adding flexibility in data accessing.
There are majorly three types of cloud deployment models namely private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud deployment models.
- Private Cloud: As the name suggests in the private cloud model, the cloud platform is held by only one company and can be used for storing all the critical databases.
- Public Cloud: In the public cloud, however, the platform is shared by many businesses. The prices are low and the database security and flexibility offered are nearly the same as the private cloud.
- Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud model is indeed a mixture of both the above-mentioned models. With a hybrid cloud deployment model, businesses can easily store and share their critical information on-device apps and can also use the third-party integration facility for enhanced performance.
Read More: What is Mobile Cloud Computing and Why Should You Adopt it
Benefits of Cloud Applications
Modern cloud application development has brought many significant benefits to the global market. Right from reducing the operational cost, and enhancing the team optimization to facilitating the best innovations for business growth, there are limitless advantages of cloud app development that can be leveraged by companies of all sizes. Let’s have a look at some of them!
1. Reduced Cost
One of the foremost benefits of adopting modern cloud application development is reduced operational cost. Now it is no surprise that next-gen technologies like AI and IoT generate a huge amount of data. However, while using cloud applications, you need not invest music on the infrastructure to store and analyze such vast data. Instead, you can use any of the cloud deployment models for data storage and network for your applications.
2. High-Quality Development
Another best benefit of adopting cloud application development is quick and high-quality app development. As we all know the with cloud computing, you need not have to worry about aspects like configuration, deployment tools, resources, networking, and even development platforms.
Hence, your developers can easily focus on enhancing your app’s capabilities with high-quality codes easily. Also, the time taken for development would be less as everything would be available to the developers.
3. Security and Flexibility
Security and flexibility are without a doubt the topmost benefits of cloud application development for businesses of all sizes and niches. The database and other critical aspects are securely stored in a third-party server and can be accessed by you and your team anytime and at any place. You can even offer access-based rights to your team to limit the type of data you want them to see.
4. Ready-to-Use Infrastructure
One of the amazing benefits of modern cloud application development is the ready-to-use infrastructure. With serverless applications, you may not need to invest heavily in the hardware part for the application hosting purpose. Instead, you can use the backend as a service to link your application to a thor party server (BaaS) or can even run your code seamlessly using function as a service (FaaS).
5. Scalable Cloud App Development
Finally, cloud application development offers a scalable application that is foremost essential in today’s digital market. You need to have an app that can be upscaled or downscaled as per your business growth, and cloud application development offers exactly the same. You can easily and features of your choice, or can even include other panels and modules to make your application advanced and user-friendly with cloud app development.
How to Develop Cloud Applications?
Cloud application development may be a beneficial term for businesses but it is not a piece of cake especially for those who are starting new. You must consider a lot of things before initiating cloud app development. For instance, identifying your user’s pain points, checking the scope of automation in your business processes, evaluating your team’s capabilities, and more.
Here’s how your cloud application development process would look like.
Step 1: Market Research & Competitor Analysis
The first and foremost step in cloud application development is a market research and competitor analysis. You need to have a clear idea of what all applications can be deployed on the cloud platform, and to what extent. Apart from that, you would also need to have a proper understanding of the latest trends in the market.
Having proper market research will help you include the most beneficial and user-friendly features in your application making it a hit in the market. Besides that, competitor analysis is one more thing that should be considered during cloud application development. There’s no harm in analyzing the capabilities of your competitors especially when it is for your business growth. So, conduct both these researches before moving to the development part!
Step 2: Including the Best Features and App Architecture
After conducting the market research, you will have the most trending features and architecture that can help you make your cloud application development a hit. So, in this step, you need to finalize some of the best features that are suitable for your enterprise application.
Recently, there are many debates about the use of microservices over the monolithic app for your application’s infrastructure. Hence, you can choose between those for your cloud app development.
Besides that, you should also pay heed to the technology stack that can enhance your cloud application development. Having the right set of features, and technologies will definitely help you to raise the capabilities and eventually the effectiveness of your app. Hence, consult with cloud app development experts to know the best features and tech stack for your cloud application development.
Here’s a tech stack for a SaaS application that our developers use at Matellio:
- Backend: Python and related frameworks like Django, Flask, and other languages like Java, Node.js, etc.
- Frontend: React.js
- Cloud Provider: Amazon Web Services. Microsft Azure, Google Cloud
- Architecture: Docker Microservice Architecture
- Database: Amazon DynamoDB/ Amazon RDS, and PostgreSQL
- Cloud Storage: Amazon S3
- CDN: Amazon Cloudfront CDN
- Caching System: AWS ElastiCache
Step 3: Hiring the Perfect Cloud App Development Company
The next and most crucial step in cloud application development is to choose a reliable and experienced cloud app development company. You need to be very sure in choosing your development partner as it will directly impact your cloud application. Even if you are not sure how to conduct market research or what features and technologies to include in your app, then an experienced cloud app development company can help you in all of that.
Hence, make sure to conduct proper research and then choose the most reliable and cost-effective firm for your cloud application development.
Step 4: Creating an MVP
MVP or minimum viable product is definitely a promising aspect of the software engineering market that reduces the overall development cost and offers an exact software/app development. With MVP, you can easily get an idea of how your cloud application will look like once it is developed with your choice of features and tech stack.
You can easily change the complete layout if you are not satisfied with your MVP. the amazing thing is that your cloud application will still not be in the development phase, hence the loss of time and resources would not be a big concern for you. Also, you can always ask for better designs by hiring the perfect UI/UX designers for your app. But, make sure your development partner offers MVP creation services. If not, try to look for a firm that offers such amazing services for your cloud application development!
Step 5: Following Agile Methodology for Cloud Application Development
Once you have finalized your MVP for the project, your team would kickstart your project instantly. However, there are many ways or approaches through which you can initiate your cloud application development like the Waterfall method, Agile method, Scrum methodology, and so on. But, we always suggest going for an agile app development methodology for your app development.
That’s because agile methodology ensures the best and error-free app development for your firm. You can get updates after every sprint and can easily suggest changes without worrying about starting the app development from the very starting. Plus, the cost of testing also reduces significantly as the changes are already employed after each sprint. Hence, go for a development firm that offers an agile development methodology.
Step 6: Testing and Deployment
Finally, it is time to deploy your cloud application on various platforms. But before that, it is very essential to test it for any errors. With testing, you can get a clear view of all the major and minor glitches that were left unidentified during the development process. You can get an idea of what all thighs could hamper your app’s growth and how to overcome those errors.
Hence, you should use either manual or automated testing methods for your cloud application development. Also, keep in mind that cloud application is not a generic app development, it requires a broad spectrum and thinking capabilities, hence, try to get all those services mentioned above from a single provider.
Tech Challenges to Consider During Cloud Application Development
Like every coin has two sides, so is cloud application development. We have already discussed the benefits and development aspects of cloud applications. However, you should also be aware of the technical challenges that need to be addressed for a successful cloud application development.
a. Development Team
Firstly, you need to have a proper and experienced development team. As discussed earlier, cloud app development is a complex process that requires detailing and analysis. Hence, you need to have a functional team ready before your development starts. Also, hiring in-house experts is not a feasible option as you may not need those experts after a certain time. Hence, offshore development will be the best option for your cloud app development.
b. Third-Party Integrations
Third-party integrations are not a new aspect of the market, but their amazing benefits are slowly rolling out in the app development sector. You should always opt for a cloud application development that can be easily integrated with other third-party applications for increased capability and performance. One of the best ways to do that is to opt for microservices during your product architecture.
c. App Architecture
Another major challenge that needs to be addressed before cloud application development is app architecture. You need to have a proper understanding of what sort of cloud-based deployment model you will need for your application. Apart from that, you should also analyze the type of modern architecture that may be suitable for your app. Nowadays, serverless applications are trending exponentially due to the benefit of having no hardware needs. Hence, you should consult with your development partner about that!
d. Security
Security has always been the topmost concern of businesses when adopting any new digital technology, and cloud app development is not an exception. Although most of the development firms talk about security, there are only a few that actually offers secure and scalable cloud app development. And what is a cloud app with no security and scalability? Hence, you should always choose the best firm and should personally pay heed to include the best security tools for your cloud app development.
Also Read: Cloud Migration Strategy: Driving Your Business Growth
Ready to Get Started?
So, that was all about cloud application development. To conclude, we can say that the digital era is changing rapidly and so are the business needs. You need to match the fast pace moving world in order to compete with the leading brands, and adopting cloud application development is one such approach. With cloud app development, you can easily scale your application, need not be concerned about security, and can even ensure a high-quality code for your app in minimum time. However, besides that, you should also have a reliable and experienced development partner to ensure the complete success of your app. That’s where Matellio comes in!
With a decade-long experience, we have experts that are proficient in developing custom cloud applications as per your business needs. Whether a startup or a Fortune 500 company, we have always excelled in delivering cloud applications to multiple businesses across the USA and other parts of the globe. Free consultation, market research, and a detailed competitor analysis make us one of the best cloud application development companies for your business. You can visit us or can fill our form to get started today!
Till then, Happy Reading!
