What Is Cloud Computing?

• Cloud Computing Definition

  Cloud Computing Definition

  Cloud computing refers to the rapid provisioning and release of configurable and scalable IT resources over the internet with the help of web-based tools and applications. These resources, such as servers, data storage, and networking tools, are accessible to companies on an as-needed basis, typically under a subscription model. Cloud vendors use three popular service delivery models—Software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and platform-as-a-service (PaaS)—to deliver these services to customers.
• What are popular cloud computing services?

  What are popular cloud computing services?

  Outlined below are examples of popular cloud computing services:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): As a leading global cloud platform for building scalable, secure, and cost-effective business solutions, the AWS cloud portfolio comprises services such as Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3), and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
  • Microsoft Azure: Another major cloud service provider,  businesses can choose from Azure computing, networking, and storage cloud services while building applications.
  • Google Cloud: This platform is known for cost-efficiency, application security, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

  Examples of popular cloud applications:

  • Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Enterprise: Cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools businesses use to store and access critical data and applications from anywhere and on any device.
  • Zoom and Skype: Cloud-driven, enterprise-grade video conferencing apps that enable users to connect and exchange information securely over the internet.
  • AWS Lambda: This application allows developers to build agile and scalable apps with automated resource provisioning. They also get a high availability compute infrastructure to run and test their application code.
• What are important cloud computing features?

  What are important cloud computing features?

  Choosing the right cloud vendor is essential in cloud computing to achieve optimal business results in the long run. The presence of multiple cloud vendors in the market, each with its unique selling proposition, makes it challenging for companies to find an ideal partner.

  Outlined below are some of the crucial factors to consider while evaluating a cloud service partner:

  • Compliance: Businesses must select cloud vendors who demonstrate compliance with global data privacy and security standards and frameworks, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO, and CSA.
  • Technology infrastructure: Alignment between your existing technology environment and the service provider’s cloud platform and services is crucial for cloud migration. Assess the quality of support the cloud vendor offers for transitioning to their platform.
  • Data governance: A cloud vendor should be transparent about their data governance policies and data center locations and must notify business partners after making changes in any of them. Work with cloud vendors who give you the ability to store and process data as per region-specific laws or jurisdiction.
  • Vendor partnerships: Cloud vendors often collaborate with multiple third parties for service delivery. For instance, SaaS CRM vendors typically offer pre-built integrations with finance tools. Assess their partner’s accreditation levels and security capabilities and check whether your service partner has highlighted all these relationships.
  • Contracts and service level agreement (SLA): Cloud agreements are typically complex to understand due to non-uniform industry standards and misleading language. There are four key areas to monitor in a cloud contract: service deliverables, business terms, data assurance, and legal protections. Ensure the information highlighted in these sections is unambiguous and relevant without any illicit terms that limit the service provider’s liability in events like data breaches and unexpected service breakdown.
  • Performance: Examine the cloud vendor’s performance against its expected benchmark levels or SLA for the last three months. Ensure your partner has documented and proven processes for handling disaster recovery scenarios, such as network downtime and data loss.
• Types of cloud computing solutions

  Types of cloud computing solutions

  Outlined below are the three main types of cloud computing solutions:

  1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Renting the elementary compute, networking, and storage resources is simpler using IaaS cloud services. IaaS provides maximum flexibility and control over the underlying IT infrastructure while building applications from the ground up. Users can easily upscale or downscale the computing resources on an as-needed basis with IaaS and avoid the hassle of buying or managing their own physical servers.
  2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): An on-demand platform for rapid software development. Developers can quickly build applications without thinking of provisioning or administration of underlying infrastructure—including servers, storage, network, middleware, operating system, and database. In short, end users manage only the applications or services they build, while cloud vendors handle everything else required for app development.
  3. Software as a Service (SaaS): A complete application package managed by the cloud vendor. Users generally rely on web browsers to navigate SaaS applications with pay-as-you-use pricing. Under the SaaS model, cloud vendors handle all aspects of application security and maintenance, allowing businesses to run their operations smoothly. Examples of popular SaaS apps include Gmail, Microsoft 365, and Zoom.
• Benefits, advantages, and risks of cloud computing

  Benefits, advantages, and risks of cloud computing

  Cloud computing services can help provide the following advantages to improve your workflow:

  • Agility: Cloud computing solutions offer access to various cutting-edge and modern technologies that allow businesses to innovate faster and stay abreast with changing market needs. IT teams can rapidly test out ideas and move swiftly across projects without lengthy procurement, high upfront costs, and scalability issues.
  • Elasticity: Businesses can dynamically scale the underlying computing resources of an app to handle sudden peaks in usage with cloud computing solutions. This also saves companies from overprovisioning resources upfront and instead investing only in necessary computing infrastructure.
  • Global scale: Expanding to new geographies or making deployments globally are straightforward with cloud computing solutions. For instance, cloud vendors such as AWS and Azure have a global cloud infrastructure with multiple availability zones and regions that allow businesses to deploy applications in close geographic proximity of target users to eliminate latency issues and help improve their experience.
  • Flexibility: With cloud computing services, businesses get flexibility in areas like IT costs and resource utilization. Employees can access data stored in the cloud on the go, helping ensure seamless team collaboration and business continuity.
  • Reliability: Modern cloud vendors make data backup and recovery processes less expensive and complex. Businesses can store mirrored copies of their critical data across multiple locations over the cloud network to minimize the recovery time and meet SLAs during a crisis.

  Potential risks of using cloud computing solutions can include:

  • Data loss and recovery: Technical outages can happen at the cloud vendor’s end for various reasons, such as power loss, equipment failure, and natural disasters. This can result in data loss or service breakdown. Organizations must thoroughly assess the disaster recovery capabilities of their potential cloud partner before any engagement.
  • Cloud migration: Migrating existing data or applications to the cloud isn’t an easy task for businesses, especially those who lack cloud expertise. Similarly, switching from one cloud service provider to another is arduous for companies due to lengthy vendor lock-in and platform differences.
  • Privacy and service level agreement: Businesses must acutely understand the roles, responsibilities, and obligations of the parties involved in the cloud SLA. In some cases, organizations are responsible for configuring the cloud applications independently to get the optimum level of service. So, they must closely evaluate every condition to avoid conflicts later.
  • Security risks based on misconfiguration: In cloud computing, security is a “shared responsibility” which means the providers take care of physical security to data centers, and securing the platform and making it resilient to attacks like DDoS. But the configuration of the subscribed resources falls into the responsibility of the customer, and mistakes like low or missing encryption levels can happen.