What Is Cloud Computing And Why Does It Matter?
Cloud computing is an important aspect of today's digital business environment. In this blog post, we'll be discussing what cloud computing is and why it matters. We'll be looking at the different benefits and the types of cloud computing and types of cloud services, so you can decide which type would work best for your business needs.
What is Cloud Computing And Why Is It Important?
Cloud computing technology is the delivery of on-demand computing services such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and intelligence on the Internet with a pay-as-you-go pricing basis.
Cloud computing gets the hard work involved in the processing and crunching data off the device you carry or sit and work on. It also moves that work to enormous clusters of computers very far out in cyberspace. The Internet turns into the cloud. Your data, work, and apps are available anywhere in the world from any device.
Benefits of Cloud Computing
The benefits will vary according to the type of cloud service being used, but using cloud services means companies do not have to purchase or maintain their computing infrastructure.
The use of cloud services means that companies can move faster on projects and test concepts without lengthy procurement and high upfront costs because companies only pay for the resources they consume. The ability to get new services up and running without the time and effort associated with traditional IT procurement should mean it's easier to get started with new applications faster. Even if a new app becomes incredibly popular, the cloud's elastic nature means it's easier to scale it up quickly.
- Agility: The cloud offers you easier access to a wide range of technologies (compute, storage, databases, Internet of Things, machine learning, data lakes, analytics, and much more) so you can innovate faster and create almost anything you can envision. This benefit provides you with the freedom to test new ideas to differentiate customer experiences, to experiment, and transform your business.
- Elasticity: With cloud computing, you don't need to over-provision resources in advance to manage future high business activities. Instead, you provision the number of resources you require.
- Costs: The cloud enables you to trade capital expenses for variable expenses and only pay for IT as you consume it. Plus, the variable costs are much lower than what you would pay to do it yourself because of the economies of scale.
- Globally: By using the cloud, you can expand to new geographic regions and deploy your application to multiple physical locations worldwide with a few clicks. Putting applications closer to end-users reduces latency and improves their experience.
Types of Cloud Computing
All clouds are not equal, and not all types of cloud computing are suitable for everyone. Different types, models, and services evolved to help deliver the proper solution for your needs. There are three ways to implement cloud services: in a public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud.
Public clouds are both owned and operated by third-party cloud service providers, who provide their computing resources, including storage and servers over the Internet.
A private cloud means computing resources in the cloud that a single enterprise or organization exclusively uses. A private cloud may be located physically on the company's on-site data center.
Hybrid clouds mix public and private clouds, linked by technology that enables data and application sharing.
Types of Cloud Services
The three main types of cloud computing services involve infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service. Every type of cloud computing offers multiple levels of flexibility, control, and management so that you can choose the best fit set of services for your needs.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS has the basic components of IT in the cloud. Typically, it gives you access to networking functions, computers, and data storage space. IaaS provides you with the greatest level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources. Perfect for companies that create unique or very specialized patented applications but don't want to waste time or other resources purchasing, storing, setting up, or maintaining the required equipment.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing type of service that offers developers an easy-to-use platform to create their software, web applications, or other programming projects to focus on app deployment and management. This cloud service helps you be more efficient as you don't need to worry about resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance, patching, or others.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS is a type of cloud computing where users can access software applications with no downloading, installation, or storage of that software and its components on their devices or hard drive. Almost all cloud computing software of this kind is subscription-based with an annual or monthly fee. In return, users receive perfect solutions and features with no hardware.
Instead of owning their data centers or computing infrastructure, companies can rent access to anything from applications to storage from a cloud service provider. Using cloud computing services, firms can avoid the upfront cost and complexity of owning and maintaining their own IT infrastructure and instead pay for what they use.
ABM Cloud Services
ABM is a leading Canadian provider of cloud computing services for businesses of all sizes. To learn more about the ABM cloud services, see abmis.ca/services/cloud.