What Small Businesses Need to Know About AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a platform essential not just for mega-corporations. One might think the opposite when looking at Netflix, Comcast, and other companies actively using AWS; however, AWS can also be useful for small businesses that need a simple data solution. Affordable computing resources, fast scaling, a versatile approach - these are the benefits that AWS offers to any company, regardless of its size. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how AWS works for business and why the platform is suitable even for small companies.
What is AWS?
AWS is a cloud-based platform that offers a wide range of digital services for businesses of all sizes. Most commonly, AWS is used for creating a company's digital infrastructure and working with data. This data can be cloud storage, ML algorithms, data analytics tools, etc.
Rapid growth and fast scaling are the main goals and a key indicator of success for modern businesses. However, to achieve them, it is necessary to provide the appropriate infrastructure. Gaining a million-client database is not enough; you also need to have resources and tools to work with it.
Among other reasons, AWS was also created to solve the above-mentioned problem for small businesses and startups. Customers of the services have access to the largest cloud computing network. Even if the business grows from zero to a million in a day, AWS allows you to quickly reconfigure the tariff and platform capabilities for the new conditions. AWS is ideal for small businesses straining to achieve impressive growth in a short period of time.
Building virtual infrastructure "brick by brick"
One of the key benefits of the AWS platform is the ability to build the required infrastructure brick by brick, from individual services. You can rent space on Amazon servers instead of buying hardware and maintaining a local server.
On your platform, you can add services for all the necessary areas: finance, marketing, programming, etc. For example, to support serverless applications, services like GW, Lambda, and DynamoDB API can be used.
Help from AI and ML
Another attractive feature of cloud service providers is that they provide the ability to use ready-made AI and ML solutions. For example, companies can use AI-APIs developed by Amazon in conjunction with Microsoft. Also, AWS offers a more advanced ML-API for in-house development.
Amazon is actively expanding its product line. A novice business user can find it difficult at first to dig into the features and range of services. In order to save time and money, you can turn to professional consultants who will help you choose the right solutions and optimally implement them in your business. For example, Andersen has been using AWS for client projects for many years, as well as providing consulting services in this area.
How much does it cost to run a website on AWS?
Hosting a static website will cost from $1 to $3 per month, depending on its complexity. There is also a free trial period with a basic set of features.
The cost of maintaining a website or service on AWS depends on the size of the business. Pricing plans range from tens to tens of thousands of dollars. What is convenient here is that the payment is made on a fact-of-use basis - the company pays for the volume of services that were actually used during a month.
Thanks to a flexible billing system, a company can spend more money on tools for collecting analytics one month, and on cloud storage the next month. This gives the opportunity to invest in the development of those areas that are most relevant at that moment.
Is AWS suitable for small businesses?
With flexible payment options and customizable features, AWS is ideal for small businesses looking to scale quickly and reduce overhead costs. AWS offers equal opportunities to both large corporations and small businesses. In some sense, this even gives an advantage to small companies that are accustomed to operating in the shadow of large competitors and compromising on solutions due to a limited budget.
Written by Andersen