We’re moving to the Cloud

 

What are these people talking about? How are they putting their data and infrastructure into a cloud – And, doesn’t it float away? If this is a thought that has crossed your mind – This article is for you, we’re going to look at What Cloud Computing is, why you would want to move to the cloud, and why you might need some help from a consultant.

What is Cloud Computing?

Starting with the basics – Let’s take a look at what Cloud Computing is. Cloud Computing is not a technology in itself. It is a model for providing IT services that allow on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources such as:

  • Networks
  • Servers
  • Storage
  • Applications & Services

These resources can be provisioned and released with minimal effort and service provider interaction.   This model of providing IT Services is convenient for businesses as they can easily scale up or down based on their current needs. Still confused? The cloud is a set of servers, databases and applications that are accessed through Internet and are hosted in a remote datacentre, and cloud computing is techspeak for interacting and interfacing with software and services that run on these remote datacenters, through the Internet, instead of traditional servers and hard drives that run on premise.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

 

The most significant benefit of Cloud Computing is that your service provider takes care of creating, installing and maintaining the infrastructure of your company’s core IT technology based on your current needs. This will help you with focusing on your key business offerings and not worry about the IT operations that are associated.

  • Cost-Efficient Since companies don’t need to set up the entire infrastructure to support their technological needs and are instead supported by an external service provider via the cloud, the company can shave off a lot of expenses.
  • Unlimited Storage The ease of scaling services provided by cloud computing gives companies access to unlimited storage and services that they require to run their business.
  • Backup & Recovery With storing your data on the cloud, it is a lot easier to create backups vs having your data on a hardware device. On the cloud, your data can be automatically backed up and quickly recovered should you lose something. A lot of the cloud providers also provide snapshotting features whereby you can create a snapshot ship it off to another department and have them restore the snapshot as a way to share data.
  • Automatic Software Integration With Cloud Computing, your software will automatically integrate while you work and set up. You can choose the products and services you need; these services will integrate and make your work-life easier.
  • Easy Access to Information Gone are the days when you have to walk up and down between your colleagues with a USB-drive. Cloud Computing makes it easy to share information throughout your company.
  • Cloud Services are Trackable You can easily keep an audit trail of who is using which service at what time. Your service provider can also track what you are using and bill you just for the services that you use.

Types of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing can take different forms depending on what your business needs are. Here are some forms cloud computing takes to ease the technological strain of a business:

  • Virtual IT (information technology): Setting up and deploying remote servers as an extension to a company’s local IT network.
  • Software: Creating access to commercial software applications or remotely hosting custom-built applications
  • Network storage: Archiving data across the Internet without having to know the physical location of data.
  • Serverless Computing: This is when you deploy some code into the cloud and you only pay for it when someone executes the code and you don’t worry about the server that this code runs on.

Cloud computing systems are designed to support large numbers of customers and surges in demand.

Why you need Cloud Computing Consulting

Moving your business to the cloud can be a huge decision based on the infrastructure you currently own, the technologies you are using and the number of users needing to access information. A consultant will be able to help you assess your cloud readiness from technological readiness as well as people readiness within your organisation. They can then take into consideration your current usage as well as future needs to offer you a Cloud Computing service that fits your business.   If you are already struggling with keeping up to date with your technological equipment and needs; don’t take it on yourself to “Move to the Cloud”. Our consultants can understand both your current and future needs and provide you with only the se