What is cloud computing? – 12 facts that every owner of a small or medium business should know
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The last 3 years have seen drastic changes in the way enterprise computing is developed, especially in larger companies. Traditionally, companies build their own IT infrastructure, buy expensive equipment and servers, and install everything locally. They need to keep the hardware up and running, the software compatible, and make sure that information input and output really meets the needs of the business.
Things have changed. With the advent of cloud computing, a business can have reliable and secure business computing delivered as a public service. Today we no longer dig wells for water or use our own generator for electricity. These services are available as a public service. So too with IT, you can “buy” IT infrastructure as a service, pay for what you need, and focus on the business, not the technology.
1.What is cloud computing?
Computing is delivered over the Internet as a public service that can be accessed from any device that has an Internet connection. Computing power resides and occurs outside the enterprise on external servers, so the enterprise does not need to own or operate computing hardware. In fact, a well-known market research company, Gartner, has estimated that by the end of 2012, 20% of all companies will own no IT assets! The move to the cloud is underway.
2.What would full cloud computing look like in my office?
Imagine your server room or server area gone, no more major capital expenditures on equipment and facilities. Imagine desktops that don’t crash and hard drives that don’t crash, but with the same user experience. Imagine a secure environment for your systems and data serviced by experts not on your direct payroll for a flat monthly fee that covers everything at a lower cost than what you pay today. This is what cloud computing can look like NOW.
3.Why isn’t everyone doing it?
Large companies have commonly been using cloud computing technology for a while. Now, smaller businesses are increasingly turning to this way of running IT. Specialized managed IT firms are helping these smaller businesses move their IT to the cloud and then run their IT efficiently, and this is accelerating the trend.
4.With Cloud Computing do you have to buy servers?
No. There is no cost charge for server ownership and therefore no high capital expenses. You buy “server usage” of a virtual server built for you in an external data center and pay for it with a simple monthly fee.
5.Company Specific Software
In a cloud computing setup, a company’s current servers, with their existing business software, are moved to newly created virtual servers that are theirs alone. The company accesses everything as before, except that it now communicates over the Internet and not the company’s local area network.
6.How cloud computing can ditch PCs
With a full Cloud Computing implementation, there are no servers or PCs at business locations. Data is securely protected and continuously monitored on servers in a secure local physical environment and backed up behind a firewall. All PCs are changed to “Virtualized Desktops”. Employees will have a thin client, mouse, keyboard, and screen, but nothing will change in their computing experience. They will be looking at their screens with all their familiar programs like Office, Outlook, etc. They will be able to save to “My Documents” and other drives as usual.
The cloud management company will take care of the equipment, Microsoft software licenses, antivirus, spam filtering, security, secure backup, virtual desktop and server monitoring, and everything else. IT headaches you’d rather not worry about. It’s easy to add desks as you grow, or just as easily remove them if you need to downsize, paying for what you need.
7.Cloud computing and the IT person/department
The typical IT person working in or for a company spends up to 80% of their time keeping things running: PCs, hard drives, office software updates, virus protection issues and spam. It is a “busy job” that does nothing to improve the performance of the company. With a Cloud Computing solution, a company does not have to spend time on these activities. More time can be spent on activities that support the business; or, if appropriate, staff may be reduced or redeployed.
8.Can cloud computing save money?
It’s easy to forget how much information technology costs. In addition to the “hard costs” like the cost of hardware, infrastructure, and software licenses, there are the more intangible “soft costs” like IT staff, troubleshooting, energy costs to run servers and desktops and cool down the server room and building. Typically, you should look for fully budgeted savings in the area of 30-50% per year. With these levels of savings, a business owner should, at a minimum, consider cloud computing in his or her organization.
9.IT people often say that cloud computing is less secure than internal infrastructure. Is this true?
Typically, due to the physical security and security of the data being used, security protection in the cloud is almost always much better than most on-premises business networks. Internet security is extremely high with firewalls forming barriers and continuously monitored. Advanced backup and data recovery means that even a disaster can recover quickly. And because all company data is stored on remote company servers and not stored everywhere (such as on local hard drives, USB sticks, etc.), the likelihood of software contamination and theft is reduced. and data.
10. What happens if a cloud server goes down or catastrophic data loss occurs?
This is a very important theme. Companies often think that their own server rooms are somehow immune to catastrophes, and too often, they are also unfortunately ill-prepared for a disaster. Simply backing up to tape, putting tapes in fireproof boxes, and other methods can give a false sense of security. The reality is that if disaster strikes, you need the latest backup data recovery technology so you can be up and running in minutes or hours, not days, weeks, or ever! Cloud computing solutions typically take incremental snapshots backed up to multiple locations physically elsewhere to ensure you’ll be up and running again very quickly.
11. Moving offices if you are using Cloud Computing
Moving offices or facilities is trivial when a company has a Cloud Computing configuration. Because the infrastructure is in place (separate from the old and new company facilities), data can be accessed from anywhere. In theory, once the Internet connection to the new location is up and running, the entire enterprise can be up and running as fast as the thin clients can connect to the Internet.
12. Mobile computing
With Cloud Computing, your virtual desktop can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Other solutions require your office PC to be turned on and your office Internet connection to be active. Most internet connected devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones can be used to connect to your desktop. Imagine being able to run Excel, PowerPoint, or any of your business-specific software from an iPad or smartphone! And security is kept at a high level for remote access, as only keystrokes and screen updates are sent between the data center and your smart device, not actual data.
In short, the benefits of moving to the cloud are great. Cloud computing is already more and more the way IT is handled and therefore it would be wise for owners to take a look and adopt the technology now.