What is cloud computing?

In a world of constant data being generated and shared on an increasing scale, consumers demand more access to online services. This makes it significantly difficult for organisations to operate on in-house servers. This brings the need for cloud.

Cloud is the delivery of on-demand resources (hardware, software, storage, databases, and networking) to businesses and individuals via a network that can be accessed anywhere. Cloud computing allows organisations to access and store information without managing their own physical devices or IT infrastructure. Similar to the way you check your email inbox online through a web browser, cloud computing enables companies to access and manage resources and applications anywhere there’s an internet connection.

Cloud services would be managed by a third party, a managed service provider (like Houston), which allows you to have less costs to set up infrastructure or manage these systems.

You can choose different cloud deployments and service models based on the level of flexibility, control, and management you need. The three main types of cloud service models include:

infrastructure as a service (IaaS): on-demand access to computer storage, networking, and virtualization
platform as a service (PaaS): hardware and software resources needed for cloud application development
software as a service (SaaS): full-application stack as a cloud service, including the maintenance and management from underlying infrastructure to application software

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Faster time to market: This makes it easier to test ideas and deploy them
Scalability & Flexibility: You can quickly scale resources and storage up to meet business demands without having to invest in physical infrastructure.
Cost savings: Whatever cloud service model you choose, you only pay for the resources you actually use. This helps you avoid overbuilding and overprovisioning your data centre and gives your IT support teams back valuable time to focus on more strategic work.
Better collaboration: Everyone in your organisation can access the same documents they need and can update them in real-time. Removing the need for constant back-and-forth changes.
Advanced security: Despite popular perceptions, cloud computing can actually strengthen your security posture because of the depth and breadth of security features, automatic maintenance, and centralized management.
Data loss protection: Storing data in the cloud rather than locally can help prevent data loss in the event of an emergency.