The cloud is a virtual environment where you store your data. This means it is not stored on your computer, but on a remote server. In practice, this means that you or any of your colleagues can access the data stored in the cloud from any device in any location, all you need is an internet connection (although some clouds can also work offline). This means you don't have to carry flashdrives, external hard drives and other means of data transfer with you all the time. All you need is the cloud. Some of the best known are Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox.
Another undeniable advantage of the cloud is that you don't have to worry about hardware and can store your data securely. So if your personal hard drive fails, you won't have to laboriously try to recover valuable data. You won't lose any of your data because it's automatically backed up. In addition, cloud-connected applications allow multiple employees to work simultaneously on the same document, with many other benefits such as document versioning.
Based on the services offered, we can divide cloud computing into 3 types, depending on whether they are software, hardware or a combination of both.
Or Software as a Service is, as the name suggests, a software type of cloud computing that provides services for various applications. It consists in the fact that users do not buy the application itself, but only access it through a web interface. The application is managed by a provider who takes care of software maintenance, bug fixes and updates. Examples include email (Gmail, Outlook...) or Google Apps or MS Office 365.
SaaS is a great option for small businesses that couldn't manage an entire IT department in-house. Above all, it saves them a lot of time associated with software maintenance. However, security and performance can be a risk. So it's important to choose a provider you can trust and follow general cybersecurity rules to ensure your data doesn't leak anywhere.
Platform as a Service is especially useful for developers and programmers, as it allows users to develop and manage their own applications without having to maintain the underlying infrastructure themselves. Thus, the customer rents a platform that provides them with the facilities to create and run their own software.
The platform usually has built-in software components to create applications, which reduces the amount of code that programmers have to write themselves. An example of such a platform is AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
Infrastructure as a Service, is a hardware-based type of cloud computing where the provider delivers the infrastructure. So the provider solves hardware problems for the customer, provides access to manage the network, servers and virtualizes storage, while the customer takes care of the operating system, data, applications, etc. So in IaaS, you have the most control over your data. However, you don't have to maintain or update the data center itself - the provider does that for you.
The main problem with IaaS can be the security of the provider, so as with SaaS, it's important to choose a trusted company with a good reputation. IaaS include Microsoft Azure.
Each of these approaches is suitable for different types of users. So if you're confused about which one would be the best solution for your business, contact us.
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