THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING.
Introduction
Cloud computing is the use of software and hardware that are delivered as a service over a network which entrusts remote services with a users data, software and computation.
Advantages
Cloud based services offer benefits to businesses by providing highly scalable data solutions, with these data solutions the infrastructure cost is reduced while the revenues are increased also by globalizing the network infrastructure it makes business processes locations independent this delivers accessibility and flexibility hence recourses are leveraged to optimal levels. Virtual desktops and applications recourses are scaled up in a dynamic way and companies can create an IT infrastructure that enables its employees to increase the services that they offer this meets the growing needs of a company.
For example, The Rehab care group has grown to be the third largest supplier of acute care rehabilitation service in the U.S. C loud computing has provided a system of capturing the treatment details such as the type of therapies used and the time taken, this has helped the company to track their records and plan for their future. Another example is Intercontinental Hotels which has been able to build a private cloud onto industry-standard equipment by using public cloud infrastructure for web development and testing its moving key proprietarily systems such as room reservations this has boosted its marketing strategies to a great levels.
Cloud computing has created mobility solutions which has enabled many entrepreneurs to present their businesses into the audience more effectively through video conferencing. one can create a cloud based portal using a mobile phone where employers of a company can access data from anywhere other than that, it increases ecommerce business performance because web stores with customized shopping carts, product uploads and secure processing system can be built. Through virtualization of IT solutions, Servers provide a highly scalable data solution this enables one to build a robust networking solution through hypervisors like VM ware, Citrix Zen and Microsoft. Virtualization allows companies to move employers to different location without infrastructure hassles. Application servers like Microsoft FX multimedia protocol which offers a higher user experience through an innovative interface. Cloud computing saves office space and optimizes it through the flexibility of leveraging resources to optimal levels by creating a security firewall to companies using the cloud this means that, it takes fewer people to do more work..The Aberdeen group discovered that cloud computing is able to resolve issues of a company within 21 hours which is nearly four times effective than complex recovery plans. This eases problem solving in companies which are in need of recovery plans. In the year 2010 Microsoft declared that cloud computing brings about collaboration in work places by allowing the employees to circulate information and share applications online. .
Cloud hosting offers VPS hosting for companies looking to control costs. A company can rely on cloud for their high traffic e-commerce sites, content management and multisite hosting. Cloud computing offers dedicated hosting where servers can be privately managed hence a company can focus on its business or website. Clouds reduce the expenditure on technology by maintaining easy access to information with minimal spending. This eliminates the need to spend on a regular basis especially on similar software or License fees. Clouding saves time. IT personnel’s do not have to keep software up to date they simply access the internet and whew the information they need. Sixthly, with the innovation in technology the user has no need to manage his resources clouding does that and offers benefits to the user.
Cloud vendors provides a customized infrastructure tailored to the needs and recovers information at their own expense. For example SLA companies like Verizon ensures consistent and quality service, if service is not provided the SLA’s pay a penalty cost of recovering information. Cloud computing enables people to monitor their businesses and stay within the budget and ahead of completion cycle times as it is fast and cost effective enabling technology to help companies achieve a competitive environment. It is also not limited to small business; this allows small businesses to compete larger businesses freely.
DISADVANTAGES
Cloud computing is not without potential disadvantages. Unlike local hard drive that can hold up to 500GB, a remote server might allow storage of up to 5GB only. This means that there are storage limits and if one wants more storage space he has to pay for more this makes cloud computing expensive for middle sized businesses. Cloud computing may experience slow speeds when the network prompt is unavailable and one wants to upload or download a large document when it is critically needed hence it is not reliable at emergencies. Cloud cloning is expensive due to the fact that it’s new in IT and has to be researched and Improved. Data centers have to buy or develop software that will run the cloud, engineer the configurations and resolve issues for the company. Current technologies are still in the testing stages, they don’t really provide the flexibility that they promise. Some cloud servers could be difficult or impossible to upgrade without loss of data it may involve sensitive information which the company may not run without.
There is no Security and Data confidentiality hence information is not kept confidential and data can be accessed by a third party. The information may be accessed by people who are not trusted by the businesses. Data security has become such a great issue that most of the corporate giants have chosen to keep their data on their local servers. Their is Identity theft, no data is secure because clouds offer prompts with very low security protocol this leads to a string of events where bank accounts, I.D card details and credit history become insecure and hacked down by techno-geniuses. Prices of software licensing could be too high for a small business and Sometimes a network prompt may not be available and one may not access information when needed in emergencies or when one wants to do a presentation because the license might have expired. Severs might also be required to renew licenses for the applications that they use to run the cloud. Seventhly, there may be possible down times and because clouds make businesses dependable on the internet, the businesses becomes irrelevant to companies when there is no internet network. These outages accompany losses to companies due to the fact that even the most reliable service providers experience outages now and again for instance there was a severe outage in 2011 which caused companies to undergo huge losses. For example, Mc KINLEYS & CO, Unilever and Fox entertainment experienced losses when Amazons cloud computing services collapsed. Data storage and computation could not be accessed and these companies were in for losses. Also cloud computing may distort information of the companies as the information uploaded might be configured by a person who is bound to mistakes. The information which can be accessed by anyone may not be able to convince buyers or investors in certain businesses hence the business might lose its flexibility due to small mistakes that are made during video conferencing or presentations. It also causes unemployment as labor is replaced with high tech gadgets with high configurations which can be issues with instruction and perform tasks more effectively than human labor or computer applications. Cloud computing may also be limited over a given period of time which means one has to pay for a subscription according to the period they are going to use this is also a dies advantage because one pays for something he is not sure about the quality of service it will provide, instead one pays at his or her own risk because of the outages and some servers do not take the responsibility of outages, a customer will have experienced a loss because business cannot be conducted effectively These means that Cloud computing disadvantages are effective to users. There may be a few instances where one is required to pay more than what he used because the company does not pay a penalty for providing services with no quality. This is because the service providers are far from the solid businesses.
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