Cloud Computing

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has been around for a few decades now. During this time, many companies and individuals have adopted it. Others embrace it even as we speak. But why? What are the characteristics of cloud computing?

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Scalability

scalability-characteristics-of-cloud-computingCloud computing is inherently scalable. It can adapt to fluctuating workloads and major spikes in the demand for computing resources. As your business grows, you can buy more cloud resources or services incrementally, as you need them.

By buying resources only when you need them, you optimize costs. And you don’t have to worry about upgrading your hardware all the time. In other words, cloud computing can quickly meet your business demands.

Improved Mobility

Your business lives outside of the office. With cloud computing, your team can use smartphones and other devices to access authorized data, connect with clients, or communicate with team workers on the go.

Cloud computing is mobile friendly. And today, there are many powerful cloud services optimized for mobile devices, from Gmail and Google Docs to Salesforce.

Cost Savings

cost-savings-characteristics-of-cloud-computingThe pay-as-you-go model of most cloud services can save you money in the long term. While joining the cloud may require an initial investment, you’ll reduce costs associated with hardware.

With cloud computing, you can get as much storage space and computing resources as you need—neither more nor less. And you don’t have to invest money in creating your own data center or grow your IT team.

Automated Maintenance and Updates

Cloud services companies maintain the IT infrastructure and software they provide. They handle all the technical aspects of the job—they fix bugs and perform regular updates.

Cloud computing frees you from the need to update and maintain certain IT systems and software. By doing so, it saves you time and energy.

Sustainability

Cloud computing distributes resources effectively. In many cases, it has a lower carbon footprint and provides better energy efficiency than building your own IT systems.

Joining the cloud can make your business more sustainable without lowering in any way your efficiency. It can also help you reduce paper waster.

Quick Data Recovery

data-recovery-characteristics-of-cloud-computingPower outages, hardware malfunction, software errors, hacker attacks—all of these can lead to server downtime. Given how important IT infrastructures have become for businesses, downtime can lead to disasters that can cost businesses money and customers.

Cloud-based services provide data backup and disaster recovery for emergencies. When you use the cloud, you can recover from a downtime faster—or prevent it entirely.

Useful Insights

When you store information in the cloud, you can sift through it faster using cloud analytics. You can analyze big data. You can generate custom reports and draw insights from your findings.

Tracking data in the cloud is easier because many cloud services feature built-in analytics. These enable you to see data related to both customer transactions and how your team uses cloud resources. The insights can be valuable.

The Bottom Line – Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing can give you a competitive edge. At the same time, it can help you optimize hardware and software expenses and save money in the long run.

And since it backs up data in remote locations, it can also add another layer of security to your data and enable quick disaster recovery. If you’re not using cloud computing already, maybe it’s time to try it.

Quick Summary of Characteristics of Cloud Computing

  • Scalability
  • Improved Mobility
  • Cost Savings
  • Automated Maintenance and Updates
  • Sustainability
  • Quick Data Recovery
  • Useful Insights

Additional Cloud Resources

  • Google Guide – A CIO’s guide to the cloud: hybrid and human solutions to avoid trade-offs
  • Azure Business Benefits – The Azure cloud platform is more than 200 products and cloud services
  • AWS – Develop, deploy, run, and scale virtually any application on the world’s most reliable, secure, and capable cloud.

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