What is cloud computing? Beginner’s Guide

Companies can set up, maintain and operate their own servers. Another option is to purchase the IT resources those servers will generate from an external provider. Those resources are known as “cloud computing”, delivered to your business by “cloud computing providers”. Businesses purchase cloud computing services on the pay-as-you-go model, helping them cut costs and find flexibility any rising-star company needs so much. Being the specialist companies, cloud computing providers win from economies of scale and deeper insights into their domain. It’s only the biggest enterprises that can compete with outsourced cloud computing offerings, and it’s a sure bet for a startup to go cloud.

Cloud computing is differentiated by type of cloud and actual service/product you build in the cloud. Let’s get educated on these two now.

Types of cloud

Different cloud computing providers would usually market their offerings as unique and incomparable. However, at the core, all of those can be divided into the three main categories:

1. Public Cloud

Think Microsoft Azure. A web browser is all you need. Everything else is done by the provider. The most cost-effective option, the public cloud is shared between multiple tenants. It’s the best option for an early start-up. There may be some concerns about security and data control. But, hey, your on-situ server can be much more hackable than the Microsoft, right?

2. Private Cloud

Your own cloud. Jump up onto it from the public one. The actual hardware servers can be located either at your own site, your cloud computing provider or a third provider. There’s more control and security here. No sharing with others.

3. Hybrid Cloud

Brings the best of the two worlds. Virtualization enables to combine both public and private clouds to bring flexibility and cost efficiency while assuring compliance with the company’s security policies.

Companies would generally pick the type of cloud depending on their needs with regard to security and data ownership. Starting with the public cloud and “upgrading” to the private one is a standard route to take.

Cloud services

It’s the actual services/products companies would build in the cloud. The choice depends on how deep the internal development team is willing to go into technical settings and background processes.

1. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

The provider delivers only access to their servers with most basic settings and processes in place. The internal team is free to tweak all the underlying settings to their hearts’ content. The best option for a team who wants to “own” the underlying tech.

2. PaaS (Platform as a Service)

PaaS sets up the environment for a development team to use in order to build their app. There’s no need to set up, operate or maintain the servers below. They’d magically appear whenever you need them. All of the ops are on the provider’s side. With serverless computing, teams can elastically purchase up the resources they need to fuel their growth.

3. SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS is a cloud-based app, marketed to end-users. The development team would use either IaaS and PaaS in order to create the app thereon. Subsequently, end-users will access the app for a monthly/yearly subscription. As a rule, SaaS enable basic adjustments and integrations with other apps via APIs. When you do that a lot, you get a “mashup” — a conglomeration of functionalities from various SaaS apps in the back-end and the unified UI in the front-end.

Each and every business can find just the right type of cloud and service they need in order to drive their digital transformation we all talk so much about.

Benefits

Cloud computing helps companies shed their non-core functionalities and double down on the actual business they are in. It’s similar to purchasing your electricity from the grid and not operating the windmill in the backyard.

1. Cost efficiency

Businesses can adjust the scope of IT resources they need at any time. No need for preliminary CapEx, maintenance costs and troublesome upgrades. No need download or install anything at all. The pay-as-you-go model helps divest from the underlying tech, migrate between providers and stack them on top of each other in order to squeeze the best services from individual providers.

2. Performance

All of the major cloud computing providers wield almost endless server capabilities. They can assure continuity and 99,999% uptime. Having your own servers doesn’t sound like a great idea anymore.

3. Security

Sharing control and exposure to your data with others might sound like a potential vector of attack. There’s certain rationale behind such premonitions, but, at this day and age, cloud computing providers hire hundreds of professional developers, keep in loop with all latest threats and continuously upgrade their capacities. That’s formidable. No SME would ever be able to bring forward anything on par. A multinational behemoth might.

I’ve been writing about cloud computing, SaaS, fintech, cryptocurrencies and blockchain for some time now. I love this field and have high hopes that it’ll help democratize access to IT resources, engaging those boisterous and agile startups we all love so much.

I personally dabble into a number of martech SaaS apps in my marketing efforts (which I plan to cover in later posts, so you might want to subscribe…), and of course I use Google Docs. Sometimes, I would call back those old days when I used to send my copy via Words and Excels with a mixture of melancholy and glee. Glee that those days are over… Google Docs make lives so much easier, and fun, and empowered. I expect that almost all functionalities will go cloud within the next 5–10 years.

And what about you? What SaaS apps do you use and love? I want to know :)