With on-premise database infrastructure and legacy systems slowly fading, agile, scalable, cost effective database management in the cloud is taking over.
This is because organisations now understand that to adopt to the innovations in database management system (DBMS) they need to move to the cloud. DBMS on cloud offers flexible pricing models, no capital expenses and better operating expense leveraging the pay-as-you-go model. Unsurprisingly then, the popularity of ‘database as a service’ is increasing.
According to market studies, by 2021, DBMS revenue will account for 50% of total DBMS market revenue. By 2023, 75% of all databases will be on a Cloud platform. These trends will have a major impact on the DBMS vendor landscape.
What is cloud database as a service?
Cloud database as a service (DBaaS) enables an organisation to access, alter and manage corporate data without the need to setting up on-premise infrastructure. The DBMS is hosted on a cloud which frees the operations and maintenance personnel from the routine tasks necessary for running the enterprise database. When a database cluster is in the cloud, everything concerned with the infrastructure is dealt with and managed by the cloud provider. This allows the enterprise to concentrate better on its actual business objectives. Cloud DBaaS is gaining in popularity because big businesses are able to cut back costs on infrastructure and manpower and spend on value additions to their core products and services.
Industry segments opting for cloud DBaaS
Any large enterprise that needs data synchronisation across geographical locations, eCommerce companies trying to manage real-time transactions, core trading systems, mobile application developers, data storage, data migrations are some of the industry segments opting for a Cloud DBaaS model.
So too are companies in healthcare, banking and finance, and IT services which are choosing cloud DBaaS over traditional database management systems. Moreover, non-traditional sectors – like social networking organisations, online music and gaming stores, e-learning and media organisations – are looking at cloud-based database management setup since flexibility and scalability is important for their business.
This is where a cloud service and infrastructure provider comes in, to offer a simplified set of fully managed state of the art database management services and products.
We see three key trends that will drive the acceptance of cloud DBaaS:
Shift towards cloud-native architecture
It is a well-known fact that more and more organisations are adopting cloud infrastructure. They are not only moving their generic business process applications on to the cloud, but also their mission critical applications and data.
According to recent industry research, 75% of all databases will be deployed or migrated to a cloud platform by 2022. This means that organisations are in need of cloud services and solutions that will support their cloud native architecture. In fact, business organisation are developing or sourcing cloud native applications since it allows the business processes to be more dynamic. This goes for their database management system as well.
Disaster recovery is a major consideration
With the vast amount of data that continuously flows through a business, most being mission-critical, means that dynamic organisations cannot afford downtime. This is especially important if the enterprise is in the banking and financial sector or an eCommerce business. That is why today, most enterprises look for a stable disaster recovery infrastructure from their cloud services provider.
Security is vital when adopting the cloud
With sensitive data residing within an organisation, ensuring data is secure is highly crucial. Data security ensures that businesses retain the trust of their customers, and target audience. That is why when they deploy a cloud architecture within the organisation, the first concern is the security of the business data that resides in the cloud.
A solution for the future
Many enterprise organisations are looking at data intelligence and data analytics for better business performance. All this requires strong database systems and highly efficient data warehouse solutions. Organisations in eCommerce, e-learning, media, gaming, mobile applications and the fintech segments, also need capabilities like auto-scaling, tiered storage architecture, disaster recovery, quick backup, secure access to data, and the ability to handle big data in real-time interactively.
It is fair to say then that cloud DBaaS can deliver on their requirements, securing its position as the future of database management for the enterprise.

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