Cloud Computing 101: A Beginner's Guide
In a more conventional way, businesses use hard drives of computers and servers, that allow a considerable amount of data to be stored, retrieved and processed quickly. However, with a significant growth that most businesses are witnessing these days, the need for storage as well as need to take the business online has increased tremendously.
This calls for maintaining an infrastructure as well as a team of experts who can manage the hardware and software while ensuring the processes run smoothly. To avoid these challenges of high cost of setup and limited storage space, is where cloud services play an important role.
What is Cloud Computing
The term Cloud Computing was coined in 1996 by a group of Compaq engineers, but it wasn’t until mid-2000’s that concept began to gain traction.
Cloud Computing refers to the delivery of computing services over the internet including servers, databases, software and analytics. At it’s core, Cloud Computing is an online platform that enables you to store and access data over the internet without any constraints.
Instead of businesses having to own and manage their own infrastructure, they can leverage cloud computing services to access these resources on demand and pay for them on a pay-per-use basis.
Sounds simple? Let’s understand the benefits of cloud computing for businesses.
Why is Cloud important for business
Scalability: With cloud services, Businesses can easily set up an automated monitoring tool to forecast the customer demands. This allows them to easily scale their IT resources up or down based on their changing needs. Businesses can therefore, stay competitive by being more agile and responsive to changing customer demands, rather than spending time and resources on IT infrastructure management.
Cost Savings: By leveraging cloud services, businesses can reduce their capital expenses associated with buying and maintaining physical infrastructure. Instead, they can pay to use the host’s resources on pay-per-use basis. Once it outgrows your needs, it can be replaced with better configuration which can help reduce overall cost.
Accessibility: With Cloud computing, businesses can access data, services and applications from anywhere and at any time with an internet connection, enabling remote work and increasing flexibility for employees.
Security: Cloud providers are highly invested in the security of their customers data. The data stored in the cloud is encrypted and their safeguard measures are compliant with the industry standards. This means that businesses can benefit from the latest security measures without having to invest on their own.
Flexibility: Cloud Computing offers businesses the flexibility to try out new technologies and services without committing to a long-term investment. This can help businesses innovate and stay competitive in their industry.
Collaboration: Cloud enables teams to collaborate more easily and efficiently. Whether they are working in the same office or remotely. This can help improve productivity and streamline communication.
Disaster Recovery: Cloud Computing providers offer disaster recovery services that can help businesses quickly recover their data and applications in the event of a disaster. This can help minimize downtime and ensure business continuity.
Who should use Cloud services
Small and Medium-sized businesses:
Cloud services can provide small and medium-sized businesses access to enterprise-grade IT infrastructure and software at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-premise solutions. This can help level the playing field and enable these businesses to compete more effectively with larger competitors.
Startups:
Cloud services can be a great option for startups, as they allow them to quickly and easily launch new products and services without having to invest in expensive IT infrastructure upfront. This can help them get to market faster and more efficiently.
Remote workers:
Cloud services enables remote workers to access their work resources from anywhere with an internet connection. This can help improve productivity and collaboration for remote workers and enable them to work more flexibly.
IT Departments:
Cloud services can be beneficial for IT departments, as they can help reduce the burden of maintaining on- premise IT infrastructure. This can free up IT staff to focus on more strategic initiatives, rather than spending more time on routine maintenance tasks.
Developers:
Cloud services can be a great asset for developers, as they can provide access to development tools, testing environments and deployment platforms. This can help speed up the development process and improve collaboration between developers.
Facts and Forecasts
- The first cloud computing platform was launched by Amazon in 2006, which paved the way for the cloud computing industry we know today.
- AWS is currently the largest computing provider, with a 32% share of the market.
- The industry was valued at 405.65 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow from $480.04 billion in 2022 to $1712.44 billion by 2029, exhibiting a Compound Annual Growth Rate of19.9% during the forecast period (Source: Fortune Business Insights).
- By 2025, it is expected that more than 85% of global enterprises will have deployed artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications on the cloud. (Source: Gartner)
Cloud computing is constantly evolving, with new technologies like edge computing and server less architecture making strides and ready to take the industry to next level. By understanding the benefits of different services and models, you can use the Cloud to your advantage.
