The Pros and Cons of Migrating to a Private Cloud

With rising cloud costs and growing compliance pressures, more organizations are rethinking how they manage critical workloads.

Public cloud is flexible, but not always secure or cost-effective. A private cloud offers more control...but at what cost?

In this post, we’ll break down when private cloud makes sense, how it compares to public options, and what to consider before you choose.

TL;DR: Private cloud solutions offer better control, customization, and compliance, but they come with higher upfront and ongoing costs. For many businesses, a managed private cloud or hybrid model is the sweet spot. This guide walks through the pros, cons, and practical considerations to help you choose the right mix for your organization.

Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud

Just to be clear, a private cloud is one of the three types of cloud computing environments. The other two environments are public cloud and hybrid cloud. Here are the differences between them.

Pros of a Private Cloud

Notable advantages are increased cybersecurity, greater customization, a (potentially) lower TCO, and easier regulatory compliance.

1.   Increased Security

One of the primary reasons enterprises prefer migrating to private cloud services over a public cloud is security. Organizations concerned about data privacy make the switch to a private cloud much more easily than to a public cloud.

One reason for this is some clouds are hosted on premises (while other private clouds are hosted off-site on third-party resources). When the servers, network infrastructure, and data center that comprise the private cloud are all housed physically on the organization’s property, this increases the comfort level of leadership, board members and other stakeholders.

Virtual security protections are also typically greater with a private cloud because access to computing resources is controlled by secure network links behind a firewall.

2.   Greater Customization

Public clouds are designed to offer the same resources and services to multiple organizations. They offer little in the way of customization options unless you are willing to pay for the customization. A private cloud, on the other hand, is designed to be customized, particularly to accommodate workloads from proprietary applications and data.

Managed cloud infrastructure is purpose-built so that an organization can customize the cloud to meet the organization’s unique needs around security, access, computing, storage, and more.

3.   Lower TCO if You Host With a Managed Cloud Provider

One of the disadvantages of hosting with a public cloud provider can be hidden and unpredictable charges, such as network bandwidth usage. Roughly 41% of IT decision makers say their private cloud infrastructure is less expensive to operate than a comparable public cloud, which lowers their total cost of ownership (TCO) and increases cost effectiveness!

4.   Regulatory Compliance

If you are concerned about maintaining compliance with regulations governing your use of customer's sensitive data, patients records or other sensitive information, private cloud computing is the way to go. Hosted cloud providers, for example, typically offer resources and expertise to help organizations maintain HIPAA Compliant Hosting and PCI Compliant Hosting, along with other compliance obligations.

Cons of a Private Cloud

While there are plenty of advantages to having a private cloud solution, the decision isn’t a slam-dunk: There are some drawbacks to consider around cost and reliability.

1.   Larger Capital Investment

A private cloud will cost you more to implement than a public cloud if you host your private cloud on-site. You must make capital investments in servers, network infrastructure, data centers and software licenses.

2.   Higher Staffing Costs

Naturally, if you manage your private cloud yourself on premises, you require the IT staff to deploy, configure, patch and manage your hardware and software. This comes at a cost (hiring, onboarding, salaries, benefits, resources, training).

3.   Higher Maintenance Costs

Whether you host your private cloud yourself or host it through a managed cloud provider, your maintenance costs will be higher than if you opted for a public cloud. You will pay more to maintain your cloud infrastructure and services.

4.   Unreliability

Your private cloud is only as reliable as your hardware, software and staff. If something goes wrong (power outage or server failure, for example), you are on the hook to fix it. Large public cloud providers, on the other hand, build their clouds to be redundant. They deploy redundant data centers. They use more than one dedicated internet trunk. They have backup power sources. And they have plenty of staff at the ready to troubleshoot outages or hiccups to get you up and running again.

Where Hybrid Cloud Fits: Real-World Use Cases

Most businesses today are not choosing between public or private cloud. Instead, they are combining both. A hybrid cloud approach blends on-premises infrastructure or private cloud with public cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure or AWS. This setup gives you more flexibility and control, especially when different workloads have different requirements.

Here are a few examples of where hybrid cloud makes the most sense:

1. Compliance-Heavy Workloads

If your business handles regulated data such as healthcare records or federal CMMC contracts, a hybrid model can help. You can keep sensitive workloads in a private cloud while using public cloud services for less critical operations. This approach helps you stay compliant without sacrificing scalability or speed.

2. Cloud Bursting for Peak Demand

You might run your application in a private cloud most of the time, but shift to the public cloud during traffic spikes. For example, product launches or seasonal activity might require temporary extra capacity. Hybrid cloud gives you the ability to scale when needed without overbuilding your core infrastructure.

3. Gradual Cloud Migrations

Few businesses move everything to the cloud all at once. Hybrid environments let you migrate in phases. You can start by moving non-essential workloads to the cloud, then shift more critical systems once the infrastructure is proven and stable.

4. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

A hybrid approach also adds resilience. If your private cloud goes offline, a public cloud environment can act as a backup. This setup ensures you can recover quickly and maintain business continuity in the event of an outage.

Private Cloud vs. Public Cloud? Choose What Works for Your Company

Whether you opt for a private cloud over a public cloud depends to a large degree on your appetite for costs and risk. A private cloud costs more than a public cloud if you host it yourself, but it also lowers your risk of data breaches (all other things being equal). A private cloud costs more to maintain, but it also offers greater customization.

In the end, you must weigh these pros and cons, do your due diligence, and then make your decision.

Want help mapping out the right cloud mix for your business? Talk to our cloud experts about whether public, private, or hybrid cloud makes the most sense, and how to get the most value from your investment.