At its core, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. Instead of buying, housing, and maintaining physical servers and software on-site, your business can access what it needs on demand—compute power, storage, databases, networking, analytics, applications, and more.
That shift brings clear advantages:
- On-demand resources whenever you need them
- Access from any device, anywhere
- Pay-only-for-what-you-use pricing
- Fast scalability as your needs evolve
And increasingly, cloud platforms make it easier to deploy AI tools and automated workflows—helping teams move faster, reduce manual work, and unlock insights from data in real time.
Types of cloud
Most cloud environments fall into two categories:
Public cloud
A third-party provider owns and operates the infrastructure, delivering services over the internet.
Private cloud
A cloud environment dedicated to a single organization. It may be hosted in your own data center or managed by a third party.
Many organizations use a hybrid approach (a blend of public and private), but public and private cloud are the essential building blocks.
Cloud service models
Cloud providers typically offer three layers of service. You can use one layer or stack them together into a complete system:
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
The foundation of cloud computing: servers, storage, networks, and operating systems delivered via the cloud.
PaaS (Platform as a Service)
Cloud-based tools and environments developers use to build, test, and deploy applications quickly.
SaaS (Software as a Service)
End-user applications delivered through the browser—no local installs, no upkeep.
How we got here
Cloud computing has existed as a concept since the 1990s, but adoption surged in the mid-2000s with the rise of major providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Today, cloud infrastructure is the standard foundation for modern software, data systems, and AI-enabled products.
Why migrating to the cloud helps your business
Cloud migration means a remote provider supplies your computing capacity on demand—and you pay only for what you use. Practically, that allows organizations to operate more efficiently, reduce overhead, and scale without the limits of physical infrastructure.
Key benefits include:
Reduced cost
Pay-as-you-go and subscription pricing lower capital expenses and eliminate the need to buy and maintain on-prem systems.
Rapid deployment
Provision environments, servers, and services in minutes—not days or weeks.
Always-current technology
Cloud providers continuously update platforms, removing the burden of legacy maintenance.
Flexibility
Enable remote work, global access, and instant scaling to meet demand.
Improved security
Leading providers invest heavily in encryption, monitoring, and compliance—often beyond what internal teams can reasonably sustain alone.
Reliability
Cloud systems make redundancy, backup, and disaster recovery easier to build in from day one.
Three primary migration paths
There’s no single “right” way to move to the cloud. Most migrations follow one of three approaches:
Rehost (“lift and shift”)
Move existing software to the cloud with minimal change. Fast and cost-effective, but may not fully unlock cloud benefits.
Refactor
Rewrite or optimize parts of applications to take better advantage of cloud capabilities. More benefit, more effort.
Rebuild
Create new cloud-native applications from scratch. Higher upfront investment, but often the best long-term ROI, agility, and scalability—especially for data-heavy and AI-driven operations.
At Lukasa, we know cloud migration can feel daunting—but it doesn’t have to be. We work alongside your team from strategy and architecture through execution and ongoing support, helping you choose the right approach and build a cloud environment that’s cost-effective today, AI-ready tomorrow, and built for long-term growth. And if you need more than migration, we also design and develop custom software—integrations, internal tools, and modern applications—tailored to your workflows and ready to scale as you grow.
