Why We Use Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service to Build Digital Products

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) are two helpful technologies to leverage for your organization’s growth and development—and they provide a surefire way to build powerful digital products in less time.

Whether you’re looking to completely re-envision your organization’s tech stack or you’re just curious about how IaaS and PaaS solutions might help your team, keep reading for our recommendations on leveraging IaaS and PaaS to drive efficiency.

What Is Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service?

Let’s start with a quick overview of what these two solutions are—and how they can help your business.

Although you may not be familiar with the intricacies of IaaS or PaaS, both of these solutions are cloud-based and have transformed the way that most businesses build digital products, including infrastructures, platforms, software, and applications.

IaaS: Not too long ago, if a business wanted to build a digital product, they would need to purchase a physical server and network equipment to connect their application or software to the internet, ensure security, and access data storage. In today’s modern world, instead of relying on servers stored on-site, IaaS enables companies to manage their business resources fully on the cloud. This essentially means that in just a few clicks, companies have the ability to “rent” or use servers and network configurations from providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud.

PaaS: As more and more companies adopted the cloud and shifted to IaaS, a new innovation called PaaS entered the market. PaaS runs on top of IaaS and provides an additional value-add layer for developers building web-based applications like websites, portals, mobile apps, and APIs. The idea is not only to get the benefit of cloud-based hosting, but for the server, networking, and deployment configuration to be completely managed by the PaaS (instead of by the developer). At LaunchPad Lab, we build frequently with Heroku, a PaaS solution that makes it seamless to build fully-functional apps—all with decreased development time, improved security options, and a streamlined workflow.

Why Choose IaaS or PaaS for Your Product?

Nearly all businesses today rely on a combination of IaaS and PaaS solutions to ensure digital success. Due to the expert opportunities available on the market today, more and more companies opt for out-of-the-box solutions—instead of building a digital experience entirely from scratch.

At LaunchPad Lab, we work with our clients to provide custom application development services that offer a truly unique user experience. If your goal is to provide an unforgettable experience for your users, leveraging a combination of PaaS and IaaS is the perfect option to support those unique features while getting to market quickly.

The Benefits of Building With IaaS or PaaS

Save Time

When our clients leverage a combination of IaaS or PaaS solutions, they notice a faster time to market, all thanks to a streamlined, efficient process.

One of the fastest ways to get to market is to leverage Heroku: a popular PaaS solution, Heroku serves as an out-of-box infrastructure for your app. This means that your team doesn’t have to spend countless hours setting up servers or building a robust foundation—instead, they can focus their attention on the design and user experience. Plus, our LaunchPad Lab team has extensive Heroku app development experience. Clients that have used Heroku and LaunchPad Lab’s Accelerator as the foundational base for their apps can get to market 50% faster than without.

Lessen Risk

Rolling custom code for your organization or infrastructure comes with added pressure. Not only does your digital experience need to function properly for your users, but you also need to configure networking rules, security groups, and other highly-important details.

By using a combination of IaaS or PaaS solutions, you can feel fully confident in your app’s security architecture. From Amazon Web Services to Heroku, IaaS and PaaS offerings help to reduce overall risk and uncertainty when it comes to your digital product.

Reduce Maintenance Costs

Building and deploying fully custom code often comes with a number of maintenance requirements—and many businesses are not equipped with the web development expertise to handle these requirements.

For example, if you leverage PaaS and IaaS solutions, your team will likely only need to rely on the work of a few full-stack engineers. However, if you’ve chosen the route of bespoke code, you’ll need a DevOps engineer to keep things maintained and up-to-date—and this is often a much more substantial financial investment.

Focus on What Matters

When you think about your digital product, what is the most important element? For many businesses, the user experience and best-in-class security rank top of mind. If your primary objective is to provide a seamless digital experience for your clients, choose an infrastructure that enables you to prioritize these elements.

For nearly all organizations, relying on a combination of IaaS and PaaS solutions can push your business closer to that end—all with fewer hurdles and complications along the way.

Scale as You Need

Lastly, choosing an IaaS or PaaS solution enables you to scale your digital product as much as you need.

Heroku is automatically-built to be architecturally scalable. This means, for example, if the first day, your app has 100 users and a week later it spikes to a million users, Heroku makes it simple to add servers and scale your product without stress.

If you do not leverage a PaaS for this type of product, additional work is often required. Choosing Heroku helps businesses prioritize best practices with their digital product, which plays a key role in long-term company success.

Ready to Learn More?

If you’re interested in leveraging a PaaS or IaaS solution to help your product get to market quickly—all with improved security, scalability, and efficiency—we’re here to help. Our Heroku app development team at LaunchPad Lab can help you stand out from your competitors with an amazing, one-of-a-kind digital experience.

Book your free discovery call with our digital product agency today to get started!

Ryan Francis

Partner, President, & Head of Sales

As ambitious as he is tall, Ryan has a passion for creation. In 2012, he created Francis Lofts & Bunks, a company in Western Ohio that manufactures aluminum loft beds and bunk beds. Equipped with a burning desire to build things that are useful to others, Ryan has come into his own in web development, combining creativity, logic, and an empathy for others to help clients launch outstanding, easy-to-use products.