Cloud Computing: Typical Benefits
Cloud computing is typically defined as a utility-based model to for computing resources with the ability to dynamically scale. AWS and Azure (the two leadning providers) define the term as follows (respectively):
“… the on-demand delivery of compute power, database, storage, applications, and other IT resources via the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.”
What is Cloud Computing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing/
“… the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.”
What Is Cloud Computing? A Beginner's Guide: Microsoft Azure. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/overview/what-is-cloud-computing/
What this model provides in general is a greatly reduced upfront cost with a relatively smaller ongoing cost based on usage. This necessarily frees up budget allocations to be applied in a more agile manner on technology, and to adapt more easily due to the flexibility of changing the technology landscape for the organization in a real-time basis. Cloud providers typically have the resources to invest into a security and a broad array of technologies that individual corporations would have difficulty running independently, especially if these are not the corporation’s main areas of business. This translates into improved security at the infrastructure and physical layers, and improved scalability in most cases.
Business.com lists these as the main benefits of cloud computing as well as improvements in data availability due to cloud provider’s improved abilities in the areas of backup, recovery, and local and geographical redundancy; again due to cloud provider’s greater ability to focus on the investments needed at the infrstructure and physical levels needed to achieve these benefits (i.e. having multiple datacenters in geographic areas globally)
Main benefits listed by Business.com
easier updates,
greater security,
data avilability,
on-demand scalability
How to Increase Business Agility with Cloud Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/how-to-increase-business-agility-with-cloud-technology/