In addition to Big Data, Cloud computing is the latest trend in technology that is going to have a remarkable impact on the operation of businesses nowadays. According to Cisco’s definition, Cloud computing is IT delivered as a service over a network. Cloud is a model in which IT resources and services are abstracted from the underlying infrastructure and provided “on demand” and “at scale” in a “multi-tenant environment”.
“On demand” means that resources can be provisioned immediately when needed, released when no longer required, and billed only when used. “At scale” means the service provides the experience of infinite resource availability to meet whatever demands are made on it. “Multi-tenant environment” means that the resources are provided to many consumers – for example, business units – from a single implementation.
Cloud computing represents a significant shift in the way that IT resources are managed, operated, and consumed. This change exposes enterprises to several benefits, promoting greater IT efficiency and agility.
First, Cloud computing promotes greater optimisation and utilisation of IT assets, allowing users to do more with less and achieve significant cost reductions. On the other hand, through automation, Cloud reduces the amount of time and effort needed to provision and scale IT resources. Public Cloud offerings are billed to the enterprise on a pay-per-use basis and private Clouds can be treated as operating expenses by consuming business units, although IT would continue to make capital investments. Cloud therefore can decrease operating costs by up to 35 per cent after a few years of usage.
In addition to saving on expenses, Cloud computing promotes the simplification of underlying IT infrastructure resources to fewer standardised products, technologies, and platforms. This standardisation reduces operational complexity and promotes operational consistency. Cloud also provides flexibility in the way users source, deliver, and consume the IT services they need to build business capabilities.
Furthermore, Cloud frees up high-quality human resources to do the jobs that create value instead of maintaining hardware and data. It can also compress the time needed to provision and deploy new applications and services from months to minutes. This increased efficiency will allow users to experience the benefits of new applications and services and bring new capabilities to market sooner, creating a potential competitive advantage.
What the stars mean:
★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional