cloud-first

Online before local

Cloud-first is a strategy that prioritizes cloud computing solutions over traditional on-premises infrastructure when making technology decisions.

Organizations adopting a cloud-first approach evaluate cloud options before considering local servers or data centers: The agency's cloud-first policy requires justification for any non-cloud purchase.

The term emerged in enterprise IT planning around 2010 and signals institutional commitment to cloud migration.

architecture

strategy

Planned approach to goals

migrationMovement to new territory
nativeOriginating from a place
infrastructureBasic physical systems

deployment · microservices · containers · serverless · SaaS · scalability · elasticity · orchestration · AWS · Azure

business

transformation

Thorough change in form

digitalOf discrete data
initiativeSelf-directed action capacity
mandateFormal authoritative directive

policy · adoption · roadmap · vendor · procurement · subscription · agility · innovation · competitive · disruption

development

build

Create a structure

deployPosition for use
pipelinesTubes for transporting fluids
repositoriesPlaces for storing things

automation · testing · integration · stateless · immutable · provisioning · environments · staging · production · rollback

Opposites

infrastructure deployment priority

cloud-firston-premises

Installed locally, not cloud

on-prem

technology philosophy spectrum

cloud-firstmulti-cloud

Computing across multiple providers

Family

cloud, first, clouds, cloudy, cloudiness, clouded, clouding, cloudless, cloudlike

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Abstract · Rated G