Cloud Computing What You Should Know Before You Use It

Cloud Computing, What You Should Know Before You Use It

Knowing what cloud computing is and how it is best used should be your first consideration before you sign up for any plan.  This article will help explain what cloud computing is in order for you to be able to choose the best company and service plan for your needs.

First of all, what is cloud computing?  Cloud computing is a combination of hardware, software, and networks.  This combination allows for companies and individuals to run all of their software applications such as email, word processing, accounting software, etc. on the internet.  This lightens the load on the individual computers.

Let’s take a look at company A for example.  Company A still operates the traditional way by purchasing all employees computers and all the computing software and application tools they need to properly complete their work.

For each employee the company needs to purchase all of these things separately and with most software that includes a license for each user.  This can be very expensive for the company, especially if your employees require many different applications to do their job.  One application such as Photoshop can run into the hundreds of dollars each depending on the tools included in that version.

Now let’s take a look at company B.  Company B uses cloud computing.  All of the software applications are kept on one network and each employee can log into that with a user name and password and use the same application at the same time without the requirement of purchasing a license for each individual employee. So company B has saved themselves a lot of money by using the cloud.

Another benefit of cloud computing is storage.  Company A that has a traditional network set up has to have a place to store all of their employee information, accounting records, Digital products and product information, applications, etc.  Company A has spent the money to purchase a large office space with one large room to store their servers.

Servers can be very expensive, not only to simply purchase, but you have to pay technicians to set them up, service them, integrate them with the individual employee computers,  and to make sure the servers and the computers are secure.  Sounds expensive, doesn’t it?  Well, it is.

Company B however uses the cloud.  They use a complete system that is on the internet.  This is essentially a rented system where they pay a monthly fee to have all of this done for them off site, secured, and online.  This saves company B a lot of money and time.  The traditional way could take months just to set it all up depending on the size of the company.  This system is in no way instantly set up, it does take time to install the applications the company needs, but it will be a fraction of the time and expense of the traditional methods.

The above information explains how a company can benefit from cloud computing.  Now let’s take a look at how an individual or household can benefit from cloud computing.  Most people use their phones many times per day, as well as their personal computers.  They have many applications they run on these devices as well.  We have all run into the problem of a slow computer due to having too many open applications or not enough storage space (memory) on our computers to run those applications.

A personal cloud account can help solve this problem.  With a personal cloud account you can upload and run your applications from the cloud.  This keeps your computer from being a storage device.  It also allows your personal computer to run more efficiently and faster due to the fact that the memory is not being used by these applications.

Using a personal cloud allows the computer to only run one process at a time instead of multiple processes.  This is the problem that mainly affects the speed of your computer.  Think about your daily usage of your computer.  For instance, my own daily usage of my computer consists of an open window for each of the following: checking my email, Facebook, to do lists, looking up recipes for dinner, helping children with homework (Educational research), and since I work at home as a marketer/business researcher I have my own windows open for researching various topics.

That is just the tip of the ice-burg for my computer. Just the internet browsing alone can mean up to 20 or more processes trying to work all at once on a home computer processor.  Most home computers are not equipped to handle all of this at once not to mention the software applications I use for my business.  This equals out to frustration due to slow processing and it takes more time to complete business and personal tasks on my computer.

Now, the above mentioned traditional home computing issues can be solved by storing all of my applications, research, and doing web browsing from logging into my cloud account and running those same processes from that platform instead of running them from my home computer.

Even though the technology is a relatively new technology, it is believed to be the future of all internet and computing needs.  There are many companies out there now and many more popping up all the time that offer these services.  Do your research on each company and what they offer before you decide which company or usage plan you should purchase.

Most of these companies offer expandable and reduce able plans.  This means as your needs change so can your plan and prices.  Don’t just pick a brand name company simply because you have heard of them on television or on an internet advertisement.  Even though they may be a reputable company, a different company may offer services that better fit your needs.

In closing, cloud computing and storage can and most likely will change the way we all use our computers and store information.  From businesses to personal computing there is a platform of cloud useful to all.  The most important things to consider are your usage needs and price points.  Make sure you find a company that can be flexible with your needs as your needs change.