“Cloud Computing – Internet based development and use of computer technology whereby dynamically scalable virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet.” – Wikipedia
Cloud computing. You know, it’s all the rage these days and a lot of your fellow IT leads are talking about it (and using it).
“We’re moving to the Cloud, Gene”
“I’ll tell you what, Gene – moving your services to the Cloud like we did will help improve your bottom line.”
“We’re using ‘blah blah blah’ as a SaaS tool, Gene. It runs in the Cloud, so there’s no investment in infrastructure on our part.”
Beyond the latest fad or buzzword, cloud computing does have it’s benefits, including:
- Reduced Cost – you pay only for what you use, so costs are directly proportional to your requirements and easier to budget for.
- Levels the Playing Field – SMBs can get the same infrastructure bang as their larger competitors without having to pony up huge dollars or manage it directly.
- Increased Storage Capacity – cloud-based services can scale like crazy, and fast, too. (Amazon Simple Storage Service – ‘Amazon S3‘)
- Automated – with cloud computing, your business doesn’t need a team to handle system updates and back-ups, for example. Automation helps release important internal resources for other high-priority work. Your focus changes to serving the business with technology instead of serving technology.
- Flexibility – change operating systems or platforms as you see fit. Further, you’ll save time when setting up because cloud computing ramps up faster than other systems and also ensures fast recovery, so there’s less of a chance of losing unnecessary time.
- Mobility - work-related cloud computing resources can be accessed (securely) from anywhere, anytime.
- Eco-Friendly – reducing the amount of hardware your business uses and replacing them with cloud computing systems reduces energy costs for running hardware and cooling and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, too.
What’s your thinking around cloud computing? Please join (or start) the discussion by leaving a comment below.
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