What is cloud computing?
Understanding the types of cloud computing resources can be time-consuming and costly. Enterprises need to buy physical servers and other infrastructure through procurement processes that can take months, and support the architecture of cloud computing. The acquired systems require a physical space, typically a specialized room with sufficient power and cooling. After configuring and deploying the systems, enterprises need expert personnel to manage them.
This long process is difficult to scale when demand spikes or business expands. Enterprises can acquire more computing resources than needed, ending up with low utilization numbers.
Cloud computing addresses these issues by offering computing resources as scalable, on-demand services. Learn more about Google Cloud, a suite of cloud computing service models offered by Google.
Cloud computing defined
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing resources as services over the internet. It eliminates the need for enterprises to procure, configure, or manage resources themselves, and they only pay for what they use.
There are three types of cloud computing service models: infrastructure as a service offers compute and storage services, platform as a service offers a develop-and-deploy environment to build cloud apps, and software as a service delivers apps as services.
What are the benefits of cloud computing?
It’s flexible
Due to the architecture of cloud computing, enterprises
and their users can access cloud services from anywhere
with an internet connection, scaling services up or down
as needed.
It’s efficient
Enterprises can develop new applications and rapidly get
them into production—without worrying about the underlying
infrastructure.
It offers strategic value
Because cloud providers stay on top of the latest
innovations and offer them as services to customers,
enterprises can get more competitive advantages—and a
higher return on investment—than if they’d invested in
soon-to-be obsolete technologies.
It’s secure
Enterprises often ask, What are the security risks of
cloud computing? They are considered relatively low. Cloud
computing security is generally recognized as stronger
than that in enterprise data centers, because of the depth
and breadth of the security mechanisms cloud providers put
into place. Plus, cloud providers’ security teams are
known as top experts in the field.
It’s cost-effective
Whatever cloud computing service model is used,
enterprises only pay for the computing resources they use.
They don’t need to overbuild data center capacity to
handle unexpected spikes in demand or business growth, and
they can deploy IT staff to work on more strategic
initiatives.
Do you need cloud computing?
The pace of innovation—and the need for advanced computing to accelerate this growth—makes cloud computing a viable option to advance research and speed up new product development. Cloud computing can give enterprises access to scalable resources and the latest technologies without needing to worry about capital expenditures or limited fixed infrastructure. What is the future of cloud computing? It’s expected to become the dominant enterprise IT environment.
If your organization experiences any of the following, you’re probably a good candidate for cloud computing:
- High business growth that outpaces infrastructure capabilities
- Low utilization of existing infrastructure resources
- Large volumes of data that are overwhelming your on-premises data storage resources
- Slow response times with on-premises infrastructure
- Delayed product development cycles due to infrastructure constraints
- Cash flow challenges due to high computing infrastructure expenses
- Highly mobile or distributed user population
These scenarios require more than traditional data centers can provide.
What is cloud computing used for?
Cloud computing offers a broad range of possible applications that can benefit organizations. Here are some common use cases:
Infrastructure scaling
Many organizations, including those in retail, have
wildly varying needs for compute capacity. Cloud computing
easily accommodates these fluctuations.
Disaster recovery
Rather than building more data centers to ensure
continuity during disasters, businesses use cloud
computing to safely back up their digital assets.
Data storage
Cloud computing helps overloaded data centers by storing
large volumes of data, making it more accessible, easing
analysis, and making backup easier.
Application development
Cloud computing offers enterprise developers quick access
to tools and platforms for building and testing
applications, speeding up time to market.
Big data analytics
Cloud computing offers almost unlimited resources to
process large volumes of data to speed research and reduce
time to insights.
Related products and services
Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services
that runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses
internally for their own consumer products, such as
Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube. The
list of available Google Cloud services
is long—and it keeps growing. When developing
applications or running workloads on Google Cloud,
enterprises can mix and match these services into
combinations that provide the infrastructure they need.
