A Comprehensive Guide About Cloud Computing

Cloud is an important pillar of digital transformation and the world would be entirely different without cloud computing. Cloud computing is taking off the load from businesses helping them increase their ROI and bring down their operational costs.

Let’s explore in detail about this…

What is Cloud Computing? 

Cloud computing is a method of remotely storing and accessing data. It is software that uses the internet rather than hosting data on the hard drive. It refers to the delivery of computing services (such as databases, servers, software, and networking) over the Internet. Thus, allowing users to avoid direct management of those systems.  

What’s so Great About Cloud Computing? 

It enables businesses to operate more efficiently and virtually from anywhere. The following are some of the advantages: 

• Cost savings: One of the most significant advantages of cloud computing is cost savings. Businesses do not need to build their own IT infrastructure or purchase hardware or equipment. It allows them to significantly reduce capital expenses. 
• Scalability/flexibility: It provides greater flexibility and scalability to businesses of all sizes. They can seamlessly scale up or down computing resources based on their needs and budget. No matter if they require additional bandwidth, computing power, or storage space. 
• Security: Data security is a major concern for businesses nowadays. Cloud vendors offer advanced security features such as authentication, access management, data encryption, and so on to make sure sensitive and confidential information is handled and stored securely. 

• Mobility: Using the internet, users can access corporate data from any device, anywhere, and at any time. Employees can stay productive even when they are on the go because the information is easily accessible. 
• Increased collaboration: Increased collaboration: Cloud applications enable businesses to communicate seamlessly and securely while accessing and sharing information, thus making collaboration simple and seamless. It allows multiple users to edit documents or work on files transparently & simultaneously. 
• Disaster recovery: Data loss & downtime can cause irreversible damage to organizations of all sizes. To ensure high application availability and business continuity, major cloud merchants are well-suited to withstand unforeseen disruptive events such as software/hardware failures, power outages & natural disasters.  
• Automatic updates: Performing manual organization-wide software updates can take up a lot of valuable IT staff time. Nevertheless, with cloud computing, service providers usually refresh & update systems with the latest technology to provide organizations with the latest software versions, the latest servers & upgraded processing power. 

What is it Lacking In? 

The benefits of working on the cloud are numerous. However, there are some drawbacks that businesses should be aware of before switching to the cloud. The top 5 drawbacks are listed below: 

• Downtime: Because cloud computing solutions are fully reliant on the internet, organizations cannot access data or apps hosted in the cloud without an active internet connection. In 2020, Google experienced three significant disruptions that impacted the bulk of its services and users around the world. 
• Vendor lock-in: A fundamental challenge in computing is migrating a company’s workloads and services from one cloud provider to another. Compatibility and integration challenges may arise due to differences in cloud environments. 
• Limited control: Businesses adopting these services have minimal control over their data, apps, and services because the cloud infrastructure is completely owned and maintained by the cloud vendor. As a result, a good end-user license agreement (EULA) is required to comprehend what a company may and may not do within a cloud architecture. 
• Security: The security of a company’s sensitive data stored in the cloud is one of the primary issues. However, cloud service providers implement advanced security measures, and storing important data on remote servers that are wholly owned and operated by a 3rd party always opens up security risks. When a company adopts a cloud computing model, the cloud vendor and the user share responsibility for IT security. As a result, each partner is in charge of the assets, processes, and functions that they have control over. 
• Data loss or theft: Storing confidential material in virtual data centers exposes users to a number of risks that could result in data loss, including cloud misconfiguration, data theft, security breaches, and stolen credentials, among others. Furthermore, cloud service providers like Microsoft and Google adopt a shared responsibility model, in which the vendor is responsible for application availability and all that entails, while the customer is responsible for application data, administration, and user management. 

How Does Cloud Computing Work? 

Cloud computing is the transmission of computing resources through the internet, such as IT infrastructure or data centers. Instead of developing and maintaining their own IT infrastructure or data center, organizations can rent storage space or access software packages from a cloud service provider. One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing is that businesses just pay for the resources they utilize. 

The front-end component of cloud computing allows users to utilize an internet browser or a cloud computing application to access data and programs stored in the cloud. The backend consists of computers, servers & databases that store the data. 

What is The Importance of Computing? 

Before cloud computing, companies had to download software or programs to their physical computers or on-premises servers in order to use them. For any company, building & managing its own IT infrastructure or data centers can be troublesome. Allocating a significant number of IT administrators and resources is difficult even for those who operate their own data centers. 

Cloud computing and virtualization was a breakthrough moment in the technology industry. Instead of creating & managing their own IT infrastructure & paying for servers, power, etc., cloud computing allows companies to rent computing resources from cloud service providers.  This saves organizations money in the long run by avoiding the high upfront expenses and complexity of managing their own data centers. Companies pay only for what they use, such as computing resources and disc space, when they rent cloud services. This enables businesses to forecast costs more precisely. 

Businesses save time, effort, and money by letting cloud service providers handle the hard lifting of monitoring and maintaining IT infrastructure. The cloud also enables businesses to seamlessly scale up or down their computing infrastructure as and when required. In comparison to the traditional on-premises data center architecture, the cloud enables effective collaboration and increased productivity by providing quick access to data from anywhere and on any device with internet connectivity. 

Is Cloud Computing Secure? 

Cloud providers are particularly concerned about cloud security. Vendors have built comprehensive security methods based on encryption and authentication, and they take precautions to ensure that renters do not have access to their neighbors’ data. 

Generally, servers are regulated by the laws of the country in which they are based which particularly means that the data stored on a European server will be regulated contradictorily than a server in the U.S. Organizations that handle private user data required to be knowledgeable of all regulations that may commit to their cloud solutions. 

The Bottom Line 

When weighing the benefits and drawbacks of cloud computing, it’s also vital to consider the source of these cloud services. Before choosing one right away, compare other service providers and their offerings. Even if the disadvantages of cloud computing are little and insignificant, technological developments will undoubtedly eradicate them in the future. If you wish to know more about Cloud computing then feel free to contact Big Oh Tech, a company that excels in cloud computing.