A Complete Guide to Cloud Based Application Development

The cloud has garnered immense popularity amongst businesses due to features like scalability, improved productivity, and cost-effectiveness.

Therefore, cloud-based application development is becoming a norm in the corporate world. Many have transitioned. At the same time, others are still deploying this technology.  

This blog will be your guide to answer all the questions about cloud-based application development and how it will protect your business better.

The “Cloud”!

The cloud simply refers to the software or services accessed over the internet. To put it differently, this technology has data centers to store the information, ensuring access to files and applications from any device and anywhere. 

For this reason, a business that deploys cloud technology can save on IT costs, overheads, skipping frequent updates, and maintenance of servers. Most importantly, you can operate your business processes from different locations remotely. To illustrate, Google Drive, Dropbox, Apple iCloud, and Microsoft OneDrive are well-known and widely used cloud services today.

What is a Cloud-Based Application?

The last decade has seen an incredible boost in cloud computing investment.  By the end of 2024, the global cloud market is estimated to reach over $623 billion. 

To simplify it, application development in cloud computing is a process of developing an internet-run program with its components stored online while most of its processes are carried out online. 

Companies prefer cloud-based solutions because they offer scalability, functionality, and augment capacity while at the same time reducing maintenance and in-house team costs. 

Cloud-Based Applications

Have a look at the most commonly used cloud-based applications:

• Email
• File storage and sharing
• Inventory management
• Order entry services
• Word processing
• Customer relationship management software (CRM)
• Data collection
• Financial accounting services

Recommended: SAAS APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT – HOW TO START YOUR SAAS BUSINESS?

Benefits of Using Cloud-Based Apps

The heavy reliance of companies on cloud technology is apparent from the Gartner survey, which predicted that over 60% of the companies would rely on cloud technology to run their operation by 2024. This depicts that the cloud based web application development projects offer huge benefits to businesses.

Henceforth, we have discussed some of the benefits of a cloud-based application delivery process down below in detail. 

Data Sharing and Security Features

The data stored on the cloud is quickly and instantly available to its users. This easy access to data often raises questions about security and privacy. However, enhancements in cloud architecture are fiercely focused on enhancing data security and privacy. 

As a matter of fact, cloud technology providers guarantee data security, making it the most viable and used option for data storage. While developing cloud applications, they provide a streamlined solution to restore data and back it up in case of data loss.

Enhanced Collaboration

As the cloud allows sharing across platforms and locations, cloud-based applications are the most efficient and effective for collaboration. These cloud -engined products allow employees to work on projects in groups and with individuals from remote locations and in real-time.

Ultimately, these collaborations can reduce the time to market the enterprises and enhance customer services. 

Cost-Efficient

Cloud-based applications are cost-effective for businesses as they can be scaled up and down according to the company’s needs and resources. Cloud providers ensure that you are only paying for what you use, making it the most used option. 

Moreover, most cloud providers offer seamless support and maintenance, which lessens the burden of spending on maintenance and support services yourself. The platform can store data safely to share without having to buy different devices for storage. Due to all these reasons, cloud-based applications are a cost-effective option.

Types of Cloud Based Development

Before starting and choosing the type of application you want, you need to understand the various types of cloud-based solutions available for enterprises. Also, the primary difference is in the architecture of the applications.

SaaS – Software as a Service

SaaS includes traditional as well as cloud applications. The applications run on third-party hardware and don’t use the user’s device. You can host the software remotely. It is beneficial because you won’t need to buy additional hardware or software update licenses. 

In addition, it allows startups to develop custom tech solutions with zero investment and capital. The SaaS vendors provide customers with a solution that they only have to purchase and will be ready to use. 

Learn more about SaaS: SAAS APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT: HOW TO START YOUR SAAS BUSINESS?

IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

IaaS is a cloud computing service offering essential storage, computing, and resources on demand. It often requires middleware and app support from the clients. This type of cloud architecture can be extremely beneficial for the subscribers, such as making workloads faster, easier, and more cost-effective.  Some of the services are

• Detailed billing.
• Logging access management.
• Monitoring and security.
• Clustering.
• Storage, replication, recovery, and backup.

However, IaaS lets you develop a customized product without building the basic component from scratch.

PaaS – Platform as a Service

This cloud based app development service is a model whereby a third-party provider delivers hardware and software tools over the internet. PaaS providers allow customers to use their hardware and basic development software.

Developers get to use the latest software version as it gets updated continuously. It offers scalability as per the needs of the customer. Cost-effectiveness and flexibility are some of the key features of PaaS.

Features to Consider When Developing

The cloud can do wonders for your organization if employed the right way. It is imperative to have a clear objective and benefits chalked out before starting to develop a cloud-based application. 

Few things to consider while determining the features of your cloud-based apps.

Proper Market Research

Before starting the development of your cloud-based application, thorough market research is a must. It’s important to understand the pain points of your targeted audience, and the solution should be aimed at solving those problems. 

Flexibility and Scalability

One of the cloud-based solutions' most important and valued features is that they provide ample space for flexibility and scalability. It ensures the safe storage of data which can be expanded as per convenience. 

Application Data and App Security

While the storage aspect of the cloud is a winner, data security is always a concern. When investing in cloud-based application development, you must prioritize data and app security by developing a code-based architecture for high security.

Define the Tech Stack of Your App

While deciding on the app architecture, you should also consult with the experts for the technology stack that will meet your cloud application development requirements. After analyzing your business needs, they will suggest the best solutions. 

In addition, you must consider app scalability.  Undoubtedly, the cloud has many benefits, but cloud hosting comes with a cost. Data size optimization and condensed user requests should be at the top of your list of priorities while developing a cloud platform.

For these and many such benefits that the cloud has to offer, you must partner with developers who are familiar with the diverse range of cloud platforms to develop software that perfectly aligns with your business needs.  

Following an agile approach will allow you to collaborate better with your developers, programmers, designers, data architects, and QA managers to achieve improved development efficiency. For this reason, at InvoZone, we ensure client participation at every step of the app development.

Tech Challenges

The whole process of cloud application development is a very intimidating task because of the technical complexities.  If you’re a cloud computing development provider or intend to build a cloud computing app based on third-party solutions, in either scenario, there ought to be some technical challenges.

We have discussed these in detail to give you a better understanding of what may be.

Security

You can store most of the data over various cloud locations and make it accessible to anyone from the organization. But it will also put everyone’s privacy and security at risk. If you plan to expand your business via cloud-based apps, you should ensure your security and privacy are well-protected.

If you’re a service provider, you should use strong data encryption and SSL to increase the security level of your cloud-based apps.

Reliability

Choose a reliable cloud framework for your cloud solutions because customers prefer service providers that work without delays and errors. You can use Amazon Web Services (AWS) for your cloud application development. It gives users the freedom to back up their data securely and also some advanced tech features for developers to work with.

Performance

It is advisable for service providers to have as many data centers as possible. For instance, most global providers locate their servers to provide their customers with the same loading speed and experience, irrespective of the location. You can use Content delivery networks (CDNs) to speed up content delivery.

Scalability

The scalability feature depends on the quality of the server. You must provide a scalable solution with the service you have chosen. If a product doesn’t have the scalable feature, falls over with a sudden influx of traffic, or cannot deliver services to a large audience, it is bound to lose potential profits.

Interoperability

The cloud environment should be supportive of your app on different devices and integrate other cloud services into your infrastructure. You may not be able to mix components from different services because not all cloud systems support them.

Tools to Build Cloud Apps

The technological stack is of utmost importance while developing cloud-based apps. If you don’t choose your tech stack approach wisely, it will have consequences for your business. You can opt for a cloud service vendor from market leaders. We have briefly discussed cloud application development platforms below:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS has been leading the market with a 32% share since 2019 as a leading service provider. It comes with 140 flexible and integrative services, which facilitate the developers in building any custom app that they like. 

Google Cloud Platform

As a PaaS, it provides cloud computing, API services, advanced analytics, storage, NoSQL database service, and even virtual machines. It is a great platform for startups because of its affordability and flexibility.  

Microsoft Azure

It is specially designed for enterprises looking for scaling solutions or dealing with many web products. It may include services like ML modules, mobile back-end, database services, and virtual machines. 

Structure of Cloud-Based Apps

Scholars have divided cloud architecture components into three categories: front-end platforms, backend platforms, and cloud-based delivery. The system's architecture necessitates the use of the Internet for communication between the front end and the back end.

The delivery system, as the name implies, is responsible for information distribution between the front end and the back end. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and others are examples.

We have briefly discussed a few components below: 

Data Architecture

Another aspect to take into consideration while cloud application development is data architecture. A cloud app operates as a collection of interconnected services or APIs.

If you want to obtain the maximum benefits of cloud services, you will have to establish a connection while ensuring what kind of components you have to make sure that those services are well integrated.

Data Organization

You must consider data organization. The app architecture must facilitate the cloud services as to how to decouple the data. Also, it will allow you to store app components on either the public or private cloud, providing you with flexibility and enabling you to achieve better web performance. 

Communication Bridge

A communication logic between the data and services of your app is important to establish because it ensures quick communication. If you don’t work on getting the logic right, the app experience will be poor due to the slow loading speed.

Communication optimization is important and applies either single-channel streaming or system message grouping.

Scaling

Scaling is something you should think of well in advance. Consider keeping the margin for future traffic extensions and safety for operational channels. An operational model to help back-end components and storage server customers will greatly help in extreme situations.

Security Algorithm

The last consideration should be the security algorithm. You should keep in mind the dedicated standards of banking, retail, and healthcare so that your tools can live up to their expectations.

It is pertinent to check the security algorithms for any vulnerabilities in your cloud-based solutions and ensure that the encryption is strong. Place a cloud identity and access management (IAM) approach to ensure your product’s security and cost-effectiveness.

How To Develop Cloud Applications?

I'd like to emphasize six phases in the process of developing cloud-based software.

Stage I: Market research 

The first stage in every procedure is to investigate the status quo. That is, determining what is going on in the market and the niche into which you are about to enter. Here's what you can do at this point:

• Investigate the trends: What's going on in the world?
• Consider your competitors: How can you distinguish yourself from them?
• Create a buyer persona: Who exactly are they? What are their pain points?
• Finally, define your value: How will you resolve the issue for your users?

Your hypothesis, which you must confirm, will answer the final question.

Stage II: Hire a Development Team

The second step is to locate a development team with which you wish to collaborate. The initial development phase will comprise business analysis, technical specification development, cost estimation, and project planning.

Before you begin developing your mobile app, you and your app development team should build an app development methodology, choose the app's core features, and design an app idea. The development team should then establish project milestones and begin working on the MVP.

Stage III: Tech Research 

Choosing a cloud provider is a critical step in designing cloud-based apps. Several major cloud providers on the market differ in pricing, offerings, and service territory:

• Amazon Web Service (AWS)
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Azure

Many famous cloud providers offer ready-to-use solutions that can be integrated into your app. In AWS, for example, this is an authorization. Simultaneously, cloud providers strive to stay up with global technology developments such as Big Data, IoT, and machine learning.

So, how do you pick the best provider for your product? I would recommend considering the following criteria:

• Security: Does the service provide the required level of data security?
• Scalability: Can you scale up your services with the provider?
• Price: Is the storage reasonably priced for you to use?
• Processing Data Speed: Does data processing speed slow down your app?

Stage IV: Launch MVP and Run Tests

It is time to move on to the development stage. Your development team will work on the technical implementation of your product's initial version. With this simple version, you may test your concept with users to determine if:

• They enjoy your concept; 
• Users are eager to put it into action.

Collect customer input, enhance your product in the next iteration, and relaunch!

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Cloud-based Application?

The following factors determine the cost of producing a cloud-based mobile app:

• Specifications of the product
• Product development
• Your development team's hourly rate
• Size and complexity of the project
• Technology stack Number of project team members Time frame

What are cloud-based applications?

A cloud application is software that distributes its processing logic and data storage over two systems: client-side and server-side. Some processing occurs on an end user's local hardware, such as a desktop or mobile device, while others occur on a distant server.

What is an example of a cloud-based application?

A classic example of a cloud application is Google Docs or Office 365. To use Google Docs or Office 365, all you need is a computer that can run a web browser and an internet connection. Remote servers provide the interface and full functionality, including data storage.

How do you develop an app using cloud computing?

You can develop an application on cloud computing in the following steps: 

1. Design the application as a collection of services. 
2. Decouple the data. 
3. Consider communications between application components. 
4. Model and design for performance and scaling.
5. Make security systemic within the application.

What is the difference between web applications and cloud applications?

A web application or web-based program requires a constant internet connection. A cloud application or cloud-based program, on the other hand, executes processing operations on a local computer or workstation. An internet connection is generally essential for downloading or uploading data.