Over the last 30 years or so, there’s little denying the impact the web and technology have had on all aspects of modern life. From social media and networking apps focused mostly on personal use up to e-commerce and Big Data crunching for business, IT has slowly but relentlessly become an intrinsically interwoven and essential component of today’s world.
However, while computers and tech have undoubtedly had a huge impact on both our personal and work lives, one service has come to dominate the IT sector in recent years. Cloud computing is completely transforming what we can expect from our gadgets and online services and heralding a new age of connectivity and remote working.
What is Cloud Computing?
Before discussing the advantages of cloud technologies, it would perhaps be useful to give an overview of what the cloud is and how it works.
Contrary to what the name might suggest, the ‘cloud’ is in no way related to the weather phenomenon you might see in the sky. Rather, the term ‘cloud technology refers to remote computing services, typically delivered over the internet.
What are Examples of Cloud Computing Systems?
Cloud computing services can encompass everything from remote storage to providing processing grunt or running Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. In short, any computer service that is delivered over the web to your local device could be considered part of the cloud – including common services you likely already use, such as Gmail, Google Photos, Spotify and Netflix.
How the Cloud has Developed To Become So Intrinsic in Modern Web Services
As the boundaries between the real and digital worlds blur and we continue to entrust more and more of our business data and social lives to online services, so the importance of cloud services will continue to increase. Indeed, cloud services are evolving at breakneck speed for both commercial and personal IT users – you can see examples by checking out AWS this week, which refers to one of the biggest and most widely-used cloud services – Amazon Web Services.
The cloud offers significant benefits over traditional computing models in that the data we store and the services we use can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Given almost everyone these days owns a smartphone with a 4G or 5G connection, cloud computing services can be accessed from pretty much anywhere, by anyone with the correct credentials.
Why Cloud Computing is Such a Game-Changer for Business
In truth, the potential benefits and applications of cloud computing go far beyond the scope of this article; however, as a brief overview, embracing cloud tech could bring the following advantages to your firm:
- Access to the best technology
- Reduced operating costs
- 24/7/365 security, backup and support services
- Business agility to respond to changing landscapes – essentially as quickly as calling your support desk to ask for upgrades or downgrades to your service provision
- A truly remote workforce collaborating online
- Lowered in-house office overhead from having staff work from home
Tags: Cloud Technology