15/02/2014 13:46
Technology has come a long way and as time goes by, the more and more technologically advanced we become. Though this is the case, we need to make sure that we incorporate technology in our day to day lives if we are to make the most out of these technology. What this means is that apart from using technology only for our home, we should also go out of our way to incorporate these advances in technology in our businesses. The only sure way that you can take full advantage of technological advancements is by understanding the different components of the technology in question and how to effectively exploit this technological advancement to improve and build on your business enterprise.
One such technological advancement that will certainly be of use to organisations in this day and age is cloud computing. The first thing that you need to understand when it comes to cloud computing is on what it means. Cloud computing in definition is a model that enables the convenient, on-demand network access to a pool of shared computing resources that can easily and rapidly provided with minimal service provider interaction. These computing resources may include servers, storage, applications, services and networks. In summary cloud computing is the ability of a user to easily and quickly use parts of resources provided in bulk by a cloud service provider.
One question that many would love to know is on the characteristics of cloud services. What are the characteristics that make a service cloud?
Broad network access. What this means is that for a service to be considered cloud, there needs to be the ability to access its service through a variety of standard platforms such as through a desktop, mobile and more.
On demand self-service
Ease of access to services without delays.
Resource pooling
There’s pooling of resources across customers
Elasticity
The service provider can cope with demand peaks easily.
Measured service.
The question that comes to mind for many at this point for many people is on what the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing are.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing holds numerous advantages for businesses the biggest of which is you no longer have to support the technological infrastructure in your company or even have knowledge necessary to maintain such infrastructure. You can now easily focus on other objectives that your business has as you outsource all the hassle that is involved in developing and maintaining IT infrastructure.
Another advantage of cloud computing is in terms of cost. It is very cost efficient to leverage cloud computing capabilities. This way you save on licensing fees and also avoid overhead charges of management, software updates and also data storage. When compared to traditional IT approaches, cloud computing lowers IT expenses that would have otherwise been incurred if you sought your own IT infrastructure.
Yet another advantage is convenience. Cloud computing services are available wherever you may need them. Other than that, service uptime is guaranteed in most cases thus providing you with a continuous supply of resources.
Backup and recovery will not worry you. What this means is that recovering your data is simpler as you don’t have the data on a physical device and losing this data is not easy. The cloud itself in other cases acts as a backup for your data.
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
Other than advantages, there are also disadvantages that are associated with cloud computing that are highlighted.
One disadvantage that is associated with cloud computing is security and privacy. Security and privacy in this case is in the cloud. By hiring cloud services as a company you are at the same time giving away your private and important data that may be confidential and also very sensitive. Being in the hands of the cloud service provider, their reliability is critical. The providers should ideally protect data from users from being accessed by unauthorized users.
Dependency on the provider is essentially another disadvantage of cloud computing. By signing up with a certain provider, you are dependent on them and it will be difficult and near to impossible to migrate to another provider.
Technical failures and downtime is inevitable. This means that even the best cloud service providers out there is subject to downtime and dysfunctions from time to time.
By signing up for services from a cloud service provider you have limited control over a function and execution of hardware and also of software.
Conclusion
It needs to be noted that yes, cloud computing has its fair share of advantages but even though this is the case there are disadvantages that are associated with cloud computing. With this in mind, you need to make sure that all possible alternatives are explored before you make a decision on whether or not you will go for cloud service providers. With this in mind, you can go out of your way to get more advice from Miami IT Support experts
