Cloud Computing – Your New Business Frontier

Businesses across industries and size are moving towards cloud computing. Market studies have already shown that businesses who moved to cloud computing have experienced improved revenue growth. Most people using Google Drive, Gmail, Facebook do not even realize they are using cloud-based applications. However, many businesses still hesitate to move away from a traditional way of operating. We have listed out below the advantages of cloud computing that address the common concerns that businesses usually have.

What is cloud computing

Traditionally, applications or programs are run from software on a physical computer or server on-site. In cloud computing, these functions are performed through a network (usually the Internet). The main computing is done on remote servers by hosting databases (Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS), platforms (Platform as a Service – PaaS), and software (Software as a Service – SaaS). This frees up the memory and computing power of individual devices accessing the cloud server.

Types of cloud servers

Public cloud services are delivered by a third-party cloud service provider via the Internet to anyone who needs their services.

Private cloud services are delivered by a business’s data centre over the Internet or a private internal network to select users only.

Hybrid cloud services combine public and private clouds by sharing data and applications between them.

Advantages of cloud computing

Cost Efficiency – You will be reducing costs on many fronts.

• You don’t need to spend on facilities, hardware and building a data centre.
• You don’t need to maintain and train a large IT team.
• Reduced energy consumption and costs.
• Low costs on fixing downtime as they are very rare in cloud environments.

Data Security – This is a major concern for businesses hesitating for a cloud environment. Cloud servers offer advanced security features to ensure secure storage and handling of your data. They provide identity and access management tools, and encryption for your data. You can log into the cloud only with the credentials provided by the service provider. You can also go for additional security measures of your own.

Disaster Recovery– Cloud service providers can get you quick data recovery for any kind of situation – malware/virus attacks, power outages, local PC damage or natural disasters. And you can prevent data loss as your data is stored on a remote server and not on a local computer. So, you can always access your data if you have a device with an internet connection.

Scalability–With cloud computing, you can easily scale up or down the services. You pay only for what you use, so if you scale down, you pay lesser. If you need to scale up your cloud capacity, you can do that quickly without having to pay for additional physical infrastructure. This is a huge advantage for companies whose business model involves fluctuating computing and bandwidth demands.

Accessibility – Cloud servers can be accessed by smartphones, laptops, and devices from anywhere, anytime as long as you have internet connectivity. Since the data is stored at a single place, it ensures that all users are accessing the same data in real time and makes sharing of data easier. This ensures data quality and data accessibility for all users irrespective of where they are at that moment.

Competitive edge – While more and more companies are turning to cloud services, there are still companies who prefer the traditional computing way. But sooner than later, they will get there, as they become aware of the top-class technology, they will have access to, on a cloud environment. Moving to cloud computing now will give you the advantage of being ahead of your competitors.