What is cloud computing?
Thanks to its many advantages over traditional computing infrastructure, cloud computing has emerged as a popular technology. Cloud computing is the delivery of on demand computer services over the internet. Rather than keeping and managing files and services on a hard drive or local storage device, cloud computing services allow you to do the same, but over the internet. It’s now possible to save data to remote servers often many miles away from the user’s physical location. All that’s needed is a device which can access the internet. The three biggest cloud service providers currently are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. As a
Microsoft Gold Partner in cloud solutions, this is the cloud service provider we would recommend.
What cloud services are available?
There are three major cloud services. These are IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
IaaS, otherwise known as infrastructure as a service, provides users on demand, pay as you go access to servers, storage, networking hardware and other computing resources within the cloud.
PaaS, or platform as a service, not only allows users access to storage and computing resources, but it also provides them with tools to develop, customise and test their own applications. It incorporates cloud infrastructure components like servers, operating systems, and storage services into the businesses existing IT infrastructure. They are all owned, operated, and maintained by the cloud service provider, not the business. Businesses instead can focus on development, rather than having to worry about the underlying infrastructure that would be required.
SaaS, which is
software as a service, is a cloud based method of providing software to users. Rather than having to purchase and then install software on a device, SaaS users subscribe to an application, which runs on the cloud’s server. This means users can access the software on any device provided it can access the internet. This is beneficial considering many users alternate between different devices. No longer do they need to individually install, update, and maintain software onto all their different devices. In fact, there’s no need for the user to update or manage the application at all; the SaaS provider will do all of this on an ongoing basis. One well known example of SaaS software is
Microsoft Office 365, which we have successfully deployed across thousands of end users, so if this is the kind of SaaS you’re interested in,
get in touch with our team today.
What are the advantages and challenges of cloud computing?
As mentioned previously, to access data stored in the cloud, a device which can access the internet is all that’s needed. This allows users to work remotely; they don’t need to be in a certain location to access any of their data. The cloud also offers smaller businesses the opportunity to scale up. Traditionally, businesses looking to scale up would need to invest in hardware to back up their data. Not only is this expensive, but it also requires physical space on site and maintenance. And once a business has invested in this set up, it’s difficult to then scale back down again. This can result in heavy losses for businesses. Cloud computing on the other hand allows businesses to store an unlimited amount of information online. Many cloud services are based on a subscription pricing model, allowing business to pay a monthly fee for cloud services, whilst also creating a much easier and faster provision for scaling a business up or down. It can be challenging to predict a businesses’ future data needs, so being able to pay for storage on a pay as you go basis is a good solution to this problem and offers much greater flexibility than a traditional hard drive. Finally, cloud computing systems are maintained by the cloud service providers, which saves businesses a lot of time and money.
Cloud computing is not without challenges, but fortunately many of these challenges can be mitigated
with the right support, which we are able to provide here at MTech. For example, if data is stored online in the cloud, what happens when the internet goes down or there’s a bad connection? The answer is simple; that data can’t be accessed. However, having a disaster recovery plan or a systematic data backup strategy to a non-cloud-based option is a solution to this problem
and ensure your business continuity. One other potential
disadvantage of cloud computing is that countries, like the UK, have strict policies when it comes to data protection. Fortunately, we offer
consultancy services to help you understand what you need to do to be compliant with cloud computing, meaning you don’t need to worry and you can rely on our IT experts and focus on your business instead.
How secure is data stored in the cloud?
It’s understandable that many businesses looking to migrate their businesses’ data over to the cloud worry about the security of their data being placed into the hands of another business, especially when it comes to sensitive data. The cloud’s infrastructure is maximised for accessibility and data sharing. However, from a security perspective, this can be problematic as it can become more difficult to ensure that only those who are authorised to access the data are able to access it.
Link based data sharing, which is where anybody with the link can access the data, illustrates this point. However, it’s worth noting that cloud service providers do have strategies in place to keep your data safe.
- They will often offer links with expiration dates and passwords, and it’s a good idea to take advantage of these rather than sharing unrestricted access to files.
- Data stored in the cloud is typically encrypted. Anybody wanting to access the data, needs the encryption key, which is typically their password. This is common practice in the cloud service industry.
- Once transferred to cloud storage space, files remain encrypted.
- All data stored in the cloud lives on a physical server somewhere, managed and maintained by the cloud service provider.
- When files are uploaded to the cloud storage space, it’s instantly copied to multiple different servers, all in different locations which helps to prevent data loss through hardware malfunction, or simple user error. If a server in one of the cloud service provider’s data centres were to be damaged, or the whole data centre was destroyed, multiple copies of the data would still exist.
Whilst cloud service providers do a lot to secure data, users can also
add an additional layer of security to their data by enabling features such as two factor authentication. This requires users to have their password, and a one-time passcode in order to access their data.
How do you migrate to the cloud?
Cloud migration is when a business moves away from on premise infrastructure, and looks to move their business data, email, and applications over to a cloud service provider. Cloud migration can also refer to a business moving from one cloud service provider to another. Many businesses choose to enlist the help of an IT partner to help plan and execute the move from traditional IT infrastructure to the cloud. Here at MTech, we work with businesses to develop, plan, and execute migration projects promptly with minimal impact and sensible budgets. We will ensure that any solution fits your business requirements and is right for you. Having somebody like us with the technical skills and the know-how can reduce the stress and uncertainty that can often come with the complex process of migrating to the cloud.
Sound good?
Let’s talk about getting your business successfully set up and migrated to cloud computing.