Cloud-based software are the products of one of the most disruptive technologies of the modern-age – Cloud computing. Slowly and steadily it has changed the way the digital economies are utilizing the and how it is being deployed to deliver quality services to the users
A concrete trust in the network architecture lays the basic foundation of all cloud based implementations and software. Cloud computing or cloud based applications are the main business drivers right now and account for several advantages. The digital ecosystem always had a keen eye on delivering a better pool of services with limited budgets.
As a saviour, cloud based apps have taken the industry by storm, created trust in this continuously-evolving technology and have given several ways in which organizations can benefit. The technology (cloud computing) has successfully eliminated the ineffective silos and uplifted digital quality assurance. The impact of cloud computing can be analyzed across 3 fields: Cost reduction, Improved user experience and Focus on core benefits.
Studies clearly indicate that flexibility, security, cost, integration and agility are some of the most important benefits that the organizations have reaped out after adopting cloud solutions. Businesses have thus significantly utilized cloud resources for improved capability.
However, one must not that contrary to the popular belief, some experts point out that retail giant Amazon’s pay-per-use subscription is is far more expensive than the cost of original servers, therefore it’s recommended that a company must not only focus on cost-saving, instead should also consider the other benefits that the platform is offering. In this post, we will discuss some of the benefits that the industry has been enjoying due to cloud-based applications.
Data centers across the globe
The digital industry duly recognizes that this is the emergence of a new paradigm and data centers across the globe are the new helping hands behind every organizing principle. According to a report more than 70% of organizations are looking forward to modifying their data center facilities in the near future. These global data centers have impacted:
Labour costs – IT budgets over the years have been hampered heavily by the rising cost of the human resources who are needed to maintain the data centers. According to a IDC report administration costs of servers have touched an increment of approximately 400% and has consumed a major chunk of the overall limit.
High energy consumption – Due to distributed data centers power and cooling costs that once skyrocketed by approximately 800% are now well within control. Several industry experts have predicted that over the current decade enterprise data centers will spend nearly twice as much on the energy cost as they currently do on server management, hardware cost and administrative costs if they do not shift to cloud solutions right away.
Increasing demands – The continuously growing demands of today’s society are based on the need of real-time data and analytics from a secure environment. These demands are primarily driven by mobile devices, multiple communication channels, identification systems and various other technologies. These demands are creating an infinite pool of requirements which is giving rise to the cloud based environments.
Security
Organizations often raise security concerns when it comes to adopting cloud testing services, cloud-based apps or cloud computing. The reason behind the concern being that if the data is not safe on local servers how can the remote servers be trusted? How does one ensure that there is no data breach on a server set at thousands of km away? If the owner can remotely access the data, what is the measure that would stop an intruder from doing so?
To resolve, the cloud host is fulfilling a full-time job to monitor the system security 24/7 and is significantly more efficient than an in-house security design, where security is just a part of the overall IT structure. Also, it is imperative that large organizations often ignore the possibilities of internal data theft, cloud computing solutions are fully secured from any such instances. This means that there is zero penetration by the internal employees, which makes it a much safer place to store data.
Shifting to cloud computing also makes it easy to adhere to compliance requirements. The key to this high-level security lies in the encryption of data that is stored in the databases and transmitted over the networks. With strong encryption, the information automatically gets less accessible by intruders and marks them as unauthorized. In case of dire threat situations cloud-based systems merely take a few hours to recover as compared to a hacked local database setup.
Disaster Recovery
Complete control over data and information is one of the primary factors that contribute to the success of the business. Contrary to this, it is also said that irrespective of the level of control you have on the system, when it comes to its own processes, there are always certain loopholes that will impact productivity. In today’s fast-paced business scenario the smallest of the downtime could have a severe negative impact on the business, thereby impacting the revenue, productivity and reputation.
Nobody claims that there are sure shot ways to prevent 100% or even to anticipate a data disaster that is about to harm the business, but what can be done is to ensure a faster recovery. Cloud-based applications are prone to provide swift data recovery solutions from all kinds of breaches, including power shutdowns and natural calamities. Due to this effective data recovery advantage, a majority of IT giants are either planning to invest or have already invested in cloud computing for recovery solutions.
Improved business value with Resilient Validation
Cloud service providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure are continuously helping organizations to adapt to cloud and digital assurance solutions and move into the same. Let’s take the case of a renowned non-profit organization that utilized a software giant’s cloud solution to cater to its database of nearly 2 million. The cloud service provider took the backup of critical data and stored it on some distant off-site location.
It so happened that the organization faced a power outage due to a natural disaster and went off the grid. Fortunately, the organization didn’t suffer any data loss due to the high-quality protection of the cloud service provider. The provider’s agility and resiliency saved the organization from a humongous loss. The case helped the cloud service provider to gain enhanced trust and win new accounts from across the globe.
Similar to the security services which can be altered as and when required, cloud services are also built on the same principle in order to deliver maximum agility. Cloud platform-as-a-service providers offer resilient validation programs to organizations offering applications or services to their users via the cloud environment. With a robust resilient validation option users are more likely to get attracted and reap better business benefits by leveraging the cloud service. They will mitigate the occurrence of unpredictable performances and lower down the downtime with quick recovery options.
Seamless IT solutions
Seamless cloud computing has enabled IT professionals to contribute more towards channelizing their energies towards brand-building rather than focussing on daily minuscule challenges. Cloud-based solutions have effectively addressed several pain points of the IT operations and have liberated them to deliver services like never before.
Cloud technology has made IT solutions omnipresent, irrespective of their physical location. This results in rapid solutions for task creations, configurations, problem-solving and other business requirements. This change has resulted in improved customer retention, faster delivery, quick solution, and business expansion.
Cloud-based applications and services have fostered business innovation and high profitability with fewer resources. It has successfully enabled IT companies to enjoy growth at an unprecedented rate. Another significant change that has transformed the operations of the companies is to reduce the amount of time taken for requisition and supply for IT resources.
Flexibility
Any business, especially in the digital space has a plethora of distributed responsibilities and only a limited time to focus on all. If the organization is spending too much time on IT equipment and storage issues then automatically there would be a significant loss in achieving customer satisfaction and the desired business goals. This makes a way for leveraging third parties for hosting and infra based requirements.
Cloud computing gives more flexibility and agility to your business than your local server hosting. Your business gets extra bandwidth as and when required and fulfills all demands instantly and eradicates the long cumbersome process of traditional IT infrastructure update. This gives your organization a significant push and improves the overall efficiency. According to a study, 65% of respondents accepted that moving to cloud computing is a concrete way to quickly fulfill your business requirements.
Sustainability
Cloud-based applications contribute towards the betterment of the environment, utilize virtual services rather than physical products, reduces the usage of paper significantly and improves energy efficiency. Sustainability is currently the key to success as organizations can no more just ban minuscule things and claim that they have done their part for the planet. Analytics based on the adoption rate of cloud computing and virtual data predicts that energy consumption is expected to drop down by nearly 10%.
The cloud service providers are continuously trying to establish their services as green and helpful to the ecosystem and thus must invest in renewable energy sources. It is important to understand that even the most energy-efficient cloud data centers emit a significant carbon footprint as they themselves leverage the electricity from greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. However, switching to renewable energy sources like hydroelectricity, solar power or wind would definitely help them in scaling up sustainability.
Another way where cloud-based applications have contributed to sustainability is – Virtualization. It is simply the technology to deploy such cloud-based infrastructures that allow a single server to execute multiple OSs simultaneously. Server virtualization reduces the overall physical footprint (reducing e-waste, saving electricity, less space consumption) of the server thereby contributing towards a greener and cleaner environment.
Take away
Cloud computing is a catalyst and cloud-based apps must be encouraged by all for innovation, transformation, and business value improvement. Cloud-based systems such as AWS & Azure have already been contributing towards changing the digital ecosystem and processes for education, healthcare, technology, travel and alike. They have significantly delivered seamless business processes, agility, resource reduction, improved customer services, increased user engagement, and data safety & recovery.
Amidst the global lockdown, that the global economies are facing due to the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 also known as ‘Corona Virus’, enterprises must ensure staying strong with their communication channels. With ‘social-distancing’ being practiced across the globe, it thus becomes imperative for the leaders to ensure that the communication channel between your workforces does not face the cannibalization of this COVID-19 outbreak.
The current situations have introduced a flux in the digital ecosystem, and in order to maintain the proper functioning of the business processes, all you need is an efficient cloud computing system, whose importance right now is greater than ever.
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