You may have heard about cloud hosting or cloud computing, but it’s still an alien language to some. Due to the importance of managed hosting, here is a pithy and terse introduction for you to maximize your organization’s potential in the 21st century.
- Cloud variations
Cloud computing services come in many varieties. However, you might opt for a cloud service rather than new IT hardware for your company’s IT requirements. Two popular versions of cloud services are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Services that are provided by these versions are as stated below.
- SaaS – The servers and storage systems of the service provider will act as a host for your applications and data. For a monthly fee for every user, you will be able to access your applications via a web browser.
- IaaS – Connectivity, virtual machines, switching, physical servers as well as storage resources are all offered by the service provider. On a pay-as-you-go basis, you will be able to run all the applications of your enterprise. Installation and maintenance of the virtual machine and the operating system is your responsibility. However, management of the infrastructure hardware used by the virtual machines or applications is the responsibility of the service provider.
- Flexibility in the deliverance of IT services
Managed cloud hosting services enable companies to adapt to the dynamic nature of business today. Unlike legacy hosting that constricts company with contracts over long periods, cloud services are based on resource consumption or a monthly basis. Industries affected by fluctuating business cycles, such as financial and retail services, find this a perfect match. If you are uncertain of your business growth rate, cloud services allow you to have some degree of change with different business cycles. This change can be increasing or decreasing your business capacity to save cost or reduce wastage to match your match your business needs.
- Aging infrastructure can be refreshed without APEX cost
Companies trying to incorporate modern technologies find this very necessary. Virtualization of mission-critical applications are currently done many companies. For this to be done, these applications will require virtual machines associated with them so as to operate on servers that are resilient and powerful. All this is circumvented by the use of cloud computing services that do away with the need to buy new servers by companies. This effectively reduces the cost incurred by these companies by a considerable measure.
- Support for multiple users and modern IT services in the most cost-effective way
The reduction of existing space by many data centers has necessitated the need to construct more data centers for some companies or expansion of the existing centers for huge sums of money. In order to minimize the extravagant cost of a data center expansion or construction, cloud computing will offer you the alternative of shifting your applications to the infrastructure of a provider.
- Reduced staff congestion on single projects
IT staff spend most of their time troubleshooting, managing or maintaining the equipment. All these activities, management and infrastructure services, are offered by cloud computing service providers. This gives companies room to assign the provider these duties so as to direct attention to other more critical projects that can be done by the IT staff for the overall success of the company.
It is evident that cloud computing has proven to be a formidable tool to use in the modern business environment. As pointed out to you, it is evident that the services it provides can help you and your company to be more responsive to the dynamics of the prevailing market conditions while minimizing your IT costs.