PaaS: Everything That You Should Know

Platform as a Service solutions are on the rise to help businesses better deliver for their customers with fewer costs. These solutions make use of cloud technology to help companies increase the speed of operations and microservices without making those businesses take up room on their servers or maintaining a large IT department. Since this is a relatively new service, it can be difficult to understand for many companies who would benefit from it. You should know what it is, how it is different from similar solutions and how it can help your business grow and thrive.

What Is It?

So what is PaaS? Platform as a Service can be simply defined as software and hardware available over the internet, but it is much more complicated than that when broken down. Most users will develop applications by using the hardware and software tools provided by the vendor. This helps companies build their own applications without first having to build the platform and without all the responsibilities which come with it. The opposite of this is called On-Premises Platforms and requires a significant investment which may not be worth it to many businesses.

How Is It Different From IaaS and SaaS?

The three biggest cloud-based services for businesses and individuals are Platform as a Service, Software as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service. These are similar in that they are all based in the cloud and offer ways for you to use what you need without having to build and maintain your own systems. The biggest difference between them, and an on-premises system, is the level of administrative knowledge your company will need. On-premises systems require the most knowledge, then infrastructure, platform and software in that order. This means that if you want to be able to develop applications, you can find a Platform as a Service vendor and get started with less overhead and systems administration knowledge than if you develop your own platform.

When Should It Be Used?

To get the most benefits from a Platform as a Service investment, you should use it to develop your own applications. This can be a cost-effective way to build the apps you need to streamline your business operations, create software to sell to customers or even develop mobile gaming apps if you find the right platform. Since you have options in your vendor, you can find one with platforms designed for the types of applications you want and have access to the right software and hardware tools for the project.

How Can It Reduce Costs?

Not only can using these cloud-based services reduce the overhead you need to start projects, they can also cut costs in storage overhead, network bandwidth and much more. Since the vendor is running the platform, you will not need to provide the servers, support personnel or software maintenance for the systems while still being able to access them across the network. You can also avoid mistakes due to inadequate testing of your systems before the applications are developed and have access to the skilled staff of the vendor when questions arise.

How Can It Improve Speed?

By getting a platform from a vendor, you can improve speed by allowing your developers access to the same system without having to build it themselves. This means that there is a faster time to market and the needs of your clients are met sooner. When you use an on-premises system, your developers will first have to set up the software and hardware tools needed for each app, determine whether these things meet the needs of the clients, and then develop the application; but, when you go through a platform vendor, your developers can skip the first two steps and go right to building the product.

Platforms as a Service are gaining in popularity in the digital business landscape. Not only can your development team use these platforms to build applications for customers, but they can be used to create complex solutions to your own processes and streamline your operations.