LEVERAGING AWS CLOUD TECHNOLOGY IN BUILDING PRODUCTS
Tags: aws, cloud, developer, product
Published: 2023-12-11 11:19:32

Meet Nana Kojo, a startup founder with a vision to create a global study group app. With a validated problem and comprehensive requirements for the app, he's ready to bring his idea to life. Although he's heard about the cloud, he's uncertain about its suitability for his app's development. Come along as I take Nana Kojo on a journey to discover the power of leveraging the cloud for product building.



In a changing world of business and technology where innovation knows no bounds, Like Nana, individuals and organizations are constantly seeking ways to turn ideas into reality and I believe cloud technology is a major catalyst to spearhead this. In this article, I highlight the power of leveraging cloud technology in building products. Ready? Let’s go!

Cost savings: Leveraging the cloud to build products allows you to save costs. Cloud computing operates on a pay-as-you-go model which allows you to pay for resources you use rather than the upfront investment in physical infrastructure to build. This means you only pay for the computing resources you use, eliminating upfront capital expenditures and reducing operational costs. Thinking of this digital product you would want to build, you will need to invest more in the infrastructure. The challenging aspect is that your application might not require every part of the infrastructure to be running at its maximum capacity, resulting in unnecessary operational costs. The cloud eliminates the burden of thinking about the underlying infrastructure for your product and allows you to focus on business needs while saving you costs by just paying for resources you use at a time.

Elasticity and Scalability: Cloud enables your product to adapt and meet changing customer demands. Let’s take your product as a store that experiences busy and slow periods. You can set up your application to dynamically allocate additional resources during peak times, ensuring it can handle the increased customer requirements without compromising performance.

On the flip side, your product is likely to experience lower demands during specific periods, and that's when the cloud’s elastic nature comes to save the day. During periods of high demand, the cloud increases your computing power to accommodate the surge, and when demand decreases, it scales down. This ensures that your product serves all customers at all times, without compromising performance and cost

High Availability: I am sure you would like to build a product that serves your customers at all times with very minimal downtimes and also serves customers across the globe efficiently. Cloud technology allows you to build your products across various locations called Availability Zones. This ensures consistent accessibility and rare disruptions for users. With Availability zones, you can guarantee that when one zone experiences downtime, the other zones keep operating to serve your customers. 

In serving your global user base efficiently, the cloud uses Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to enhance availability and performance for end users. Visualize your product as one of the best coffee shops located in Ghana. Demand from global users surges and this affects delivery times. To improve their user experience, you decide to have mini outlets in areas closer to your users to ensure swift delivery times

This is exactly how the cloud operates through its CDNs. It delivers content from the closest server to each user, hence minimizing latency (the amount of delay on a network) and increasing customer satisfaction.

Faster time to market: Cloud technology advances your products' journey to the market with its various built-in tools that streamline the development process. There is a diverse range of services and products that meet your building needs. Be it computing, database, storage, networking, storage, etc., the cloud has you sorted. Access to such services allows you to easily test out new ideas and design your products. You get the opportunity to focus more on activities that drive revenue and other critical aspects of products.

While the AWS cloud offers numerous advantages in building your products, it's important to acknowledge that it's not without its downsides. Regardless of these challenges, however, the advantages of using the cloud for building products, such as scalability, and cost-effectiveness, amongst others remain significant and often outweigh the disadvantages if you follow best practices

So, as Nana Kojo embarks on this building journey to create a global study group app and embrace the cloud, he embraces a partner that will propel his aspirations into reality. 

Anytime you think of building, think of leveraging the cloud to be a catalyst for development and growth.