Cloud computing services permit enterprises to access enterprise-level applications without the cost time and hassle of purchasing new hardware and software. This enables companies to move from operations to innovation faster and gain a competitive edge.
Servers aren’t cheap and unless you’re investing in redundancy (like an array of redundant independent disks) there’s a great chance that at the very least one of your servers will shut down at any given point. Furthermore, the maintenance of servers and the space needed to set them up can add up quickly. Add in the fact that servers require constant cooling and you’ll be looking at a substantial operating expense.
You can access your applications and data from anywhere that there is an internet connection. This allows your employees to work more efficiently on the road, in the office or on their mobile devices.
Cloud also allows you to scale up storage and virtual resources quickly. You can quickly and easily add capacity to meet a sudden increase in demand, and you can scale back down as fast when things slow down. This is called elasticity, and it is an important benefit of cloud computing.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google are the three major cloud providers. Other leading contenders are VMware and OpenStack. But as the cloud continues to evolve, we’re seeing a lot more shift towards multi-cloud strategies. This is due to the fact that it avoids the risk of vendor-lock-in, but also because working with multiple providers offers more flexibility.
