Cloud computing has a great impact on business thinking. It facilitates a change in the way companies operate, by offering shared and virtualized infrastructure that is easily scalable. It is also changing how we manage these resources. The challenge is no longer about how many physical servers a company has, but more about being able to manage these virtual resources.
Cloud computing offers businesses flexibility and scalability when it comes to computing needs:
Flexibility. Cloud computing allows your employees to be more flexible – both in and out of the workplace. Employees can access files using web-enabled devices such as smartphones, laptops and notebooks. The ability to simultaneously share documents and other files over the Internet can also help support both internal and external collaboration. Many employers are now implementing “bring your own device (BYOD)” policies. In this way, cloud computing enables the use of mobile technology.
Scalability. One of the key benefits of using cloud computing is its scalability. Cloud computing allows your business to easily upscale or downscale your IT requirements as and when required. For example, most cloud service providers will allow you to increase your existing resources to accommodate increased business needs or changes. This will allow you to support your business growth without expensive changes to your existing IT systems.
Assume you have an application or product on the cloud with 10 users and when you add 10 more users into it, the system needs to perform the same way even when the resource is re-scaled and also utilize the resource effectively to its full advantage. Cloud computing gives that scalability along with increased agility and flexibility which allows you to scale up/down as per the resource requirement.
Impact of scalability on managed data centers. Because of the highly scalable nature of cloud computing, many organizations are now relying on managed data centers where there are cloud experts trained in maintaining and scaling shared, private and hybrid clouds. Cloud computing allows for quick and easy allocation of resources in a monitored environment where overloading is never a concern as long as the system is managed properly. From small companies to large enterprise companies, managed data centers can be an option for your business.
Special thanks to David Garrett who prepared this post.
