REALIZING
THE POTENTIAL
OF THE CLOUD
By Randy Fradin, Tech Fellow and Co-Head of Aladdin Infrastructure Hosting & Eli Hamburger, Tech Fellow and Co-Head of Aladdin Infrastructure Hosting
How do I deploy compute at scale in response to rapidly shifting demands? Is my firm able to rapidly adopt new technology, like generative AI? Do my developers have the tools they need to maximize their impact?
Cloud computing is key to answering these questions. It has become indispensable for unlocking scale and innovation—since the computing capabilities required by some of the most innovative technologies would otherwise be unavailable to a wide number of companies—but managing the complexity of the cloud requires a deliberate approach or else you risk losing out on the potential benefits.
A core attribute of the cloud is the ability to deploy computing power at scale globally. Significant value also comes from adopting managed cloud services at higher layers of the stack. Meaning: your organization can take advantage of the capabilities offered by cloud providers to power its tech, taking advantage of economies of scale and engineering firepower.
Cloud is also changing how companies collaborate with customers and vendors because it allows them to co-locate the technology footprint with partner organizations. This fosters the growth of industry ecosystems rich in capabilities, creating places where companies can meet, exchange information, and collaborate. It opens data access to customers and creates new opportunities for integration.
But the cloud also carries risks if the complexity isn’t managed effectively.
A poorly executed cloud strategy can create unexpected costs and unacceptable gaps in a company’s resilience and information security posture. It’s imperative to avoid taking a disorganized approach where development teams operate independently and duplicate efforts. Such a disparate approach results in inconsistent application of best practices and slower innovation as teams constantly reinvent the wheel and get mired in ongoing platform maintenance after the initial solution is developed.
So, what’s the antidote? A deliberate—and typically centralized—approach to platform engineering that yields cloud “paved pathways” tailored to the needs of developers in your organization. All developers should be cloud-literate, but only a dedicated bench of platform engineers needs to dive deep into the complex details of configuring cloud services and policies. This strategy enables your developers to focus on their individual areas, and then use simple recipes to deliver complex cloud solutions to production. This creates consistency, reduces inefficiency and operational risk, and unlocks rapid innovation.
But companies should decide what’s right for their own adoption practices.
Regardless, whether you’re a small firm focused on solving a few major problems or a larger firm solving multiple complex issues, you need the right people providing reliable guidance and scalable solutions to navigate the numerous hype cycles, capabilities, costs, and ever-shifting regulatory environments that define the current cloud-state-of-play.
ALADDIN INNOVATIONS When it comes to Aladdin® tech, clients can tap into our platform—allowing them to leverage our cloud expertise so they can focus on making strategic investments everywhere else.
Our cloud migration to Microsoft Azure enables us to deliver better, client-focused solutions—faster. The cloud-native approach is the foundation for future growth, flexibility, and scale, and will continue to unlock further innovation; we have already unlocked rich new capabilities—including Aladdin® Compute, Compliance Research Hub, and our Aladdin® Copilot Ecosystem. It’s also made us more resilient as a provider overall.
When clients connect to Aladdin®, they are now taking full advantage of the capabilities offered by the cloud.
And Aladdin® Data Cloud is a next-generation data platform powered by Snowflake’s cloud-native technology—enabling clients to securely store their Aladdin and non-Aladdin data together on a single cloud-agnostic platform to optimize high performance, security, and reliability.
Fewer than a third of firms have a cloud-native integrated tech platform—falling to 16% among firms with $10B+ AUM.
Source: Institutional Investor’s Tech Futures Survey 2024
