The Cloud:
Why It’s More Important than Ever

The cloud is an ever-expanding technology that has revolutionized not only the way we as individuals use the internet but also the way businesses function. With each passing day, the benefits of cloud technology grow stronger, and companies flock toward it, assaulted by the noise of technical vagaries.

This can leave business owners in a sticky situation. How do you know what elements of the cloud to explore? How do you know what cloud solutions will best benefit your business? How can you ensure the best ROI for your investment?

We want to help cut through the noise in the cloud market. In this article, we’ll go over the main elements of the cloud that you need to know for your business, along with the top benefits you should be receiving from your cloud provider. Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to migrate successfully.

What is the cloud?

The term “the cloud” was first popularized 2006 when Amazon released its Elastic Compute Cloud. This product allowed customers to rent Amazon’s unused computing power. This formally introduced the first commercially available platform as a service (PaaS) offering for what would later become the cloud market.

Suddenly, the idea of pulling computing power and storage off the local machine created untold possibilities for how technology could function and the business world began to take notice.

Cloud computing comes in a few different categories.

SaaS

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is a licensing model for cloud-based software. What this means is that, as a consumer, you gain access to real-time use of applications that are actually stored, managed, secured and consistently upgraded in an off-site data center.

Many business apps are considered SaaS because the app is cloud-based and you pay a flat rate for its use, rather than a premium for ownership. Tools such as Office365 and Dropbox fall into this category.

PaaS

Platform-as-a-service offers more expanded cloud usage than SaaS. With PaaS, businesses can build applications and other tools using enterprise-level computing platforms, while retaining the data locally. If you’re developing software, you can host your platform in the cloud for consumers to use. For example, Airbnb built their app using Amazon Web Services’ PaaS tools.

Some of the most successful PaaS offerings include Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

IaaS

Infrastructure-as-a-service delivers fully virtualized resources, including servers, storage, and network hardware, over the internet. This means that your business can now be securely managed and run from the cloud whether you are in the office, on the road, or working from home.

Why use the cloud?

There are some incredible benefits of cloud computing for business.

Security

With cloud computing, you enjoy enterprise-level security, no matter what your company size is. Because your solution is stored in enterprise data centers, you gain the advantages of top physical security for the facility, as well as military-grade encryption and cybersecurity.

Mobility

Mobility is a must in modern business. But without the cloud, mobility is incredibly not easily secured. It’s difficult to execute, as well as difficult to monitor. On the other hand, cloud computing lets you work securely anywhere, anytime.

Recovery

Business continuity should be at the forefront of every business’s long-term planning. In terms of backup and recovery, cloud backup offers you the greatest opportunity for quick recovery times.

If you drop a laptop in a pool, you’re back in business with a simple login from a new device. If local servers and equipment are damaged, the right solution would allow you to spin up virtual servers and desktops in the cloud so you can maintain business operations.