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Technology continues to advance at alarming rates. The evolution of technology, however, is not a direct line but rather a series of gradual improvements and enhancements. The experience of the unified cloud platform illustrates this well.

First Generation – Single Service Cloud Platforms

In the mid 2000s, Salesforce.com heavily invested in research and development, which led to the introduction of revolutionizing cloud-based services. While the Salesforce signature cloud CRM (customer relationship management) platforms certainly changed the IT universe, it was later advancements and modifications that propelled the services to new heights.

Cloud CRM not only changed the way companies implement and utilize their CRM services, it also secured their move from onsite solutions to cloud outsourcing. Over the last ten years, start-up ventures and established companies have helped the cloud industry progress by offering a myriad of services to clients and businesses.

Second Generation – Unified Cloud Platforms

While the first generation set the groundwork for cloud services and technologies, the second generation delivered a precise and concise way to secure multiple cloud services via one central infrastructure.

This change was based on the demands of so many IT departments migrating services to the cloud. After intricate research and development, unified cloud platforms (UCP) was launched to facilitate the needs of unified cloud service providers and companies. The platforms centralized and streamlined the processes for multiple services and were mapped out by the following:

Multi-Vendor Approach

1. Cloud Storage – Scalability
2. Cloud PBX – Availability, QoS (quality of service), and SLA (service-level agreement)
3. Cloud Collaboration – Security, Reliability, and Support

Unified Cloud Services – Storage, Communications, Collaborations

1. Security
2. Reliability
3. Availability
4. Scalability
5. QoS
6. Support
7. SLA

UCP Aspects

Unified cloud platforms entail these multiple attributes:

• Back-end services – UCPs feature common portals for back-end services. This unifies and simplifies reporting, analytics, billing, and administration for each cloud service.
• Front-end interfaces - UCPs feature a range of common interfaces, including single user setup portals, secure logins, mobile app installations, and contact management.
• User/group management – This is an important feature of UCPs. It can be tedious managing groups and users within enterprises utilizing multiple IT services. This is especially true with dynamic groups, from which users are added and deleted on a regular basis. With central user/group management, services can interact and establish strong uniformity and consistency across the board. This feature also makes the management process simpler and more effective.
• Single cloud infrastructure – UCPs enable cloud services to run on single cloud infrastructures. This secures consistent services, maintainable costs, and simplified monitoring protocols. With single cloud infrastructure, cloud services are highly secure, reliable, and scalable.
• QoS Multi-Service – UCPs implement and utilize multi-service QoS to manage and maintain high-quality cloud services.

The Benefits

There are several benefits associated with UCP. For one, the single common infrastructure secures lower operational costs for the service provider. This helps increase market reach and visibility while helping the enterprise as a whole.

Sharing resources across cloud services also increases and maximizes the quality of these services. This results in better QoS across the cloud while dramatically reducing downtime and occasional service dropouts.

Common cloud infrastructures even enable service providers to develop back-end services for all IT services and protocols. This increases development and deployment, while removing obstacles and hurdles that hinder overall cloud and IT performance.