Leigh G.Are you considering moving your business to the cloud? Learn all about the potential benefits, terminology, and things to look out for before making the jump.
Cloud computing technology allows businesses to store data, applications, and resources on remote servers, accessible from anywhere in the world. With an increased adoption of cloud computing in these current times, it’s essential for business owners to understand the terminology, benefits, and potential challenges of the cloud.
Let’s explore these below!
Terminology
Cloud Computing
In short, this term refers to the delivery of computing resources over the internet. Through the cloud, businesses have access to computing resources like servers, storage, databases, and software on-demand
Public Cloud
This is a type of cloud computing that allows businesses to access shared resources over the internet. The resources are owned and operated by third-party providers like VEXXHOST.
Private Cloud
Imagine having a cloud computing solution that's entirely dedicated to a single organization's needs, with the flexibility to scale up or down as their business requires. A private cloud solution provides this. All resources are owned and operated by the organization itself, and they are not shared.
Hybrid Cloud
Much like its name, the hybrid cloud combines public and private cloud resources. For example, businesses can opt to use public cloud resources for non-sensitive applications and private cloud resources for sensitive applications.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
This is a type of cloud computing model that provides businesses with virtualized computing resources like virtual machines, servers, databases, storage, and networking. It’s also what VEXXHOST specializes in!
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
This type of cloud computing model that provides developers with a platform for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications. Certain PaaS services can support a variety of programming languages.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of cloud computing that provides access to software applications over the internet. Some examples would be cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, online design platforms, or even video conferencing platforms.
Benefits of the cloud
Scalability
Through cloud computing, businesses can scale up or down their computing resources based on demand. If their customers’ needs change, businesses can easily adjust their resources to match them.
Cost-effective
Ideally, every company would want to reduce costs where they can. Cloud computing eliminates the need for businesses to invest in expensive hardware and software, paying only for the resources they use. Definitely a pretty cost-effective option.
Flexibility
Businesses can access their resources from anywhere in the world through the cloud. It allows employees to work remotely from any location and time zone, increasing productivity and efficiency.
Disaster Recovery
In the event of a disaster, every business needs reliable recovery solution to fall back on. With cloud backup, all data will remain safe and secure, so business owners can rest easy knowing they are covered.
Security
With cloud computing, all business data and applications will be in a safe and secure environment. No more worrying about unauthorized access to sensitive data or pesky cyber threats in applications!
Things to look out for:
Security Concerns
While cloud computing provides businesses with a secure environment, there are still security concerns. Businesses need to ensure that their data and applications are protected from cyber threats and unauthorized access.
Compliance
When using the cloud, businesses need to comply with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA to avoid legal trouble and ethically handle sensitive customer data. This is especially important for financial institutions and healthcare providers. It’s crucial to select a good cloud provider that is up to date and compliant with these regulations.
Reliability
Cloud computing is all about having steady access to data and resources, and that means having a dependable internet connection is essential for tapping into the power of the cloud. An e-commerce retailer, for example, would strongly depend on cloud-based platforms for order management systems, inventory management and payment processing. A reliable internet connection would be crucial for maintaining all of these.
Having revolutionized the way modern businesses operate, cloud technology provides many enterprises, large or small, with scalable, budget-friendly, flexible, and secure computing resources. However, businesses need to understand the pros and cons that come with cloud technology to maximize its full potential. Here at VEXXHOST, we can help you with cloud adoption, migration, hosting, or managed solutions to fit your business needs.