Cloud computing continues to be all the rage with more and more Cloud computing services slashing the prices of their Cloud services. Google is the latest to announce a price drop, lowering their prices by 30 to 85 percent depending on the service. Today, Cloud storage with Google only costs a mere 2.6 cents per gigabyte and, in many cases, the cost can be even lower based on other services and the amount of storage your company needs. This attempt by Google is an effort to compete with other services such as Amazon as the market continues to grow almost exponentially.
Before jumping on the Cloud computing bandwagon, there are many things about Cloud computing you need to consider.
What Is Cloud Computing?
Everyone has heard of Cloud storage methods for users, with such services as Dropbox and Google Drive leading the pack. However, Cloud computing refers to so much more, especially for businesses. Essentially, Cloud computing is the practice of moving all your company’s IT needs to the Internet. This can include storage, email, applications and much more.
Benefits of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing has become a very attractive alternative to the traditional IT infrastructure setup recently and is especially favored by new startups and very large businesses. The main attraction is, as expected, cost. Instead of investing large sums of money in server farms and staff to maintain the equipment, businesses can simply rent space from Cloud service companies such as Amazon and Google. They provide the hardware infrastructure for your business saving you money in the process.
In addition to the cost savings, Cloud computing systems are highly scalable making it easy to grow and shrink depending on the needs of your business. With a simple phone call to your Cloud service company, you can add the space and processing power you need without having to invest valuable time and money into researching, purchasing and implementing new infrastructure on your own.
Drawbacks of Cloud Computing
While the costs and scalability are second to none, there are a few things you need to be aware of before converting your company to a Cloud computing model. While there are many security features built into Cloud computing, having all of your company’s data stored on the Internet does open your company mre up to attacks, and as we have all seen in the news recently, data breaches are becoming more and more common.
There are limits to what can and can’t be stored in the Cloud and what apps you actually can run. If your company uses proprietary software you might find it difficult to convert that software and its data into the Cloud model, and if you do convert it to the Cloud, your business will increase its reliance on the Internet and the service of the company who hosts your Cloud services for you. Downtime will occur when using the Cloud and you must prepare your business and employees on how to handle the needs of your business when and if you do experience an outage.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
With Cloud computing costs falling as the competition for your business heats up, there has never been a better time to move your business to the Cloud. Hardware costs have dropped considerably over the last few years making it quite easy for large companies like Google and Amazon to lower prices to lure you to their service. As technology advances and competition increases, you can expect the prices for Cloud services to fall even more over the next few years and switching to this model could represent a huge savings for your company.
Before you decide to convert from the traditional computing model to a Cloud service model, remember to focus not only on the cost savings and convenience, but also some of the risks associated with the new model of IT operations. While it may not be a fit for some companies, the truth is many businesses can truly benefit from what the Cloud has to offer and with a simple phone call can easily streamline and scale their business needs to help them compete in an increasingly fast paced and more competitive market.
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