Introduction
Cloud computing, simply defined, is the replacement of all of the personal computers in the world with terminals that are deemed as being “dumb,” which do not have any kind of operating system of complicated software to handle. Alternatively, all such terminals connect to a World Wide Web wherein applications are located along with all the user data. However, this is the most extreme possibility as currently, cloud computing is incorporating itself as means for storing and accessing all sorts of data from a wide range of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, as well as desktops. Also, it is not the data alone that gets stores on the cloud, but also the applications can be stored alongside the data.
Defining Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing and its Impact
Cloud computing as an innovative concept in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) has spread very rapidly in the recent past. The ability of various organizations of the world to tap into the computer applications along with various other software through the help of cloud and eventually avoid the burden of building and managing independent technological infrastructures of their own, possibly seems highly enticing. Also, a few organizations worldwide are also offering cloud services and most of them have been experiencing and enjoying surprisingly high growth rates regardless of the recent global economic downturn.
Making use of cloud services leads to massive interdependence among both the public as well as the private sector companies along with also the individuals that these entities serve. It is important not to misconstrue cloud systems as being just a supplementary form of resource provisioning infrastructure and in fact, there are a plethora of opportunities that emerge from the doctrines for cloud infrastructures which are believed to enable additional application types, while also aiding in the reduced development and provisioning time required for various services.
A large majority or IT industry leaders and IT practitioners believe that cloud computing technologies might possibly have a more considerable impact on all kinds of mobile communication technologies, also involving an opportunity for emerging economies to increase their pace in the economic development, generating new businesses opportunities as well as employment opportunities, while also enhancing educational systems globally.
Despite cloud computing has had its presence in the technological horizons for several years now, global organizations like Amazon, IBM, Google, and Microsoft have recently started their expansion efforts in the field of cloud computing. It is being predicted by many researchers that the sweeping growth of the concept of cloud computing as well as virtualization very soon.
Review of Relevant Literature
In the following section, two different articles have been chosen to understand and present the future of cloud computing in the contemporary world and how business organizations can benefit from them. The paper also cites additional sources while presenting the future of cloud computing in the following parts of the paper, which are supplementary sources identified in the two chosen articles for review, as part of the current work. The articles chosen are as follows:
The first article that has been chosen is an article from a periodical and is authored by Om Malik and is titled – ‘The Cloud’s Bright Future.’ The author speaks of the evolution of cloud that happened about a decade ago and how it has developed all these years, while highlighting the future that this particular technological advancement has in the contemporary world that is highly connected through technological advancements and internet.
The second article that was chosen for review is a journal article written by CHOI Eunjeong, which was published in July 2013 in the SERI Quarterly. The title of the article is How Cloud Computing is Revolutionizing the Future.
The Future of Cloud Computing
The innovative disruption of cloud computing and its impact on business is so intense that it is extremely difficult to believe that this new technology concept emerged just about a decade ago, precisely when Amazon declared a basic on-demand storage service named S3, which the company offered. It took many people many more years to understand the extent and scope of cloud computing, and the reason behind huge technology giants as well as investors regularly misjudging its influence. The concept of cloud computing can essentially be divided into three different and distinct phases, namely:
experimentation,
essentialness, and
Experience.
At present, cloud computing has transformed into becoming an integral part of almost every business that exists in the world today, and this translates to the fact that that there is a bright future that is awaiting this technological advancement, as this concept slowly gets intermingled with the highly connected contemporary society of ours.
In its nascent form, cloud computing primary liberated software and technology developers from getting increasingly worried about numerous things of importance like hardware, storage, servers, as well as networking gear. Conversely, as technologists state, cloud computing abstracted the technology framework. This fundamental shift in the thought process and perception resulted in developers creating numerous apps that benefited from the power of computer technology and offered the same has an innovative service.
Moreover, constricted budgets in union with an extremely risky global economic backdrop are together motivating global organizations to opt for cloud computing as an alternate option to investments into hardware and software continuously. This interest is further inspired by the workforce who are already using cloud computing extensively for meeting both their personal as well as professional goals.
Roughly about 90% of all global organizations were contemplating the adoption of cloud computing during 2012, which would result in a massive boost from 75% the previous year. The extensive utilization of cloud computing today is highly apparent in the United States, where organizations, educational institutions, government establishments as well as medical associations strengthened their usage during the year 2012.
Cloud computing is bringing about fast paced and diverse alterations in the way information is being used today. These changes can be characterized typically in five different ways, namely,
1) “On-demand self-service;
2) Broadband network access;
3) Resource pooling;
4) Rapid elasticity or expansion; and
5) Measured service.”
In accordance to the above, there is a great advantage for users to both access as well as share the data stored on cloud almost instantaneously with the use of a device that is connected to the internet, in addition to also storing and processing huge amounts of data at a highly economical price while reaping optimal value for the money spent. This value addition is sure to result in considerable changes in aspects like service offerings, devices, way of life as well as management of businesses, while also creating new market places and business models.
The way the world has embraced mobile computing has only strengthened the advancement of cloud computing. This is because apps used on smartphones can result in increased wonders than what they currently are capable of, when their actual power is placed on cloud. In addition, the growing prominence of Big data and data analytics is only motivating global business more and more to opt for the processing services offered by cloud computing, which is even more lighter on their pockets.
Cloud computing has transformed the way startups are created and organizations are scaled-up, and currently, the world’s leading organizations have started acknowledging this value addition that is being offered by cloud computing. Today, large global enterprises are no longer investing into acquisition of new hardware as they have understood the ease and convenience of obtaining increased space at a much economic cost. For instance, today, Amazon offers CIA a virtual private version of cloud space, which the company actually sells to a few of its other clients like Comcast and Netflix.
Challenges associated with Cloud Computing
While it is very much true that there are myriad benefits associated with the adoption and deployment of cloud computing within organizations, the fact remains that there are also considerable amount of challenges that come along with this technology. The most important among such challenges is rogue cloud implementations, as reported by a survey conducted by Symantec Corporation. According to the survey results that Symantec released, rogue cloud implementations have a high rate of incidence than it is largely perceived by industry leaders and technology specialists. Roughly about 77% of global organizations have fallen prey to this particular challenge. Rogue cloud is essentially a security threat wherein the space of a particular company on cloud is accessed and used without proper authorization or appropriate approval from the company’s IT department. In addition, there are also other challenges like inefficient storage on cloud, difficulties associated with compliance and backup, that are part of cloud computing.
Regardless of all the above challenges being associated with cloud computing, it is a fact that cloud computing has a bright future in the days to come and it would certainly revolutionize the future.
References
Bowles, M. D. (2013). Emerging Computer Technologies. In M. D. Bowles, Introduction to Digital Literacy (pp. 258-262). Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Eunjeong, C. (2013). How Cloud Computing is Revolutionizing the Future. SERI Quarterly, 104-110.
Malik, O. (2014, December). The Cloud's Bright Future. Technovore, p. 72.
Schubert, L. (2010). The Future of Cloud Computing: Opportunities for European Cloud Computing Beyond 2010. EUROPA. Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/ssai/docs/cloud-report-final.pdf
Symantec. (2013). Symantec Global Survey Reveals Upsurge in Rogue Clouds and Other Hidden Costs. Mountain View, California: Symantec. Retrieved February 05, 2016, from https://www.symantec.com/about/newsroom/press-releases/2013/symantec_0115_01
World Economic Forum & Accenture. (2010). Exploring the Future of Cloud Computing: Riding the Next Wave of Technology-driven Transformation. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ITTC_FutureCloudComputing_Report_2010.pdf
