Cloud Computing - benefits vs risk

You've probably heard of "THE CLOUD" - it's the biggest buzz word in the IT industry since Web 2.0.

Cloud computing incorporates several different types of computing, including:

software as a service (Saas);
platform as a service (PaaS); and
infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

It is a range of technologies that have come together to deliver scalable, tailorable and virtualized IT resources/applications over the Internet.

I'll now list some of the key benefits that Cloud Computing will bring, as well as potential risks and questions you may want to ask before jumping in feet first.

What benefits will Cloud Computing bring?

Users can avoid capital expenditure on hardware, software, and other peripheral services, when they only pay a provider for those utilities they use;
Consumption is billed as a utility or subscription with little or no upfront cost;
Immediate access to a broad range of applications, that may otherwise be out of reach, due to:
- The lowering barriers to entry;
- Shared infrastructure, and therefore lower costs;
- Lower management overhead.
Users will have the option to terminate a contract at any time, avoiding return on investment risk and uncertainty.
Greater flexibilty and availability of 'shared' information, enabling collaboration from anywhere in the world - with an internet connection.

What are the associated risks to Cloud computing?

Cloud computing does not allow users to physically possess the storage of their data which leaves responsibility of data storage and control in the hands of their provider;
Cloud Computing could limit the freedom of users and make them dependent on the cloud computing provider;
Privileged user access - how do you control who has access to what information?
Security of sensitive and personal information lay with the vendor. How do you explain this to your customers when their data is compromised without sounding like you're 'passing the buck'?
From a business continuity stand point, can you rely on each vendor to have adequate resilience arrangements in place?
Long-term viability — ask what will happen to data if the company goes out of business; how will data be returned and in what format?

We have a selection of books available through our Cloud Computing Book Store.

Here you will find books that cover cloud computing as well as some of the leading cloud computing applications, such as Google Apps, Zoho and more....

Find out more today!