How to Get Ahead In Cloud Computing

The concept of cloud computing is nothing new, but its adoption by businesses as their sole method of operations is an idea that’s still greeted with trepidation. With cloud computing closely tied with social networking, there’s still ways for businesses to get into the cloud whilst keeping their feet on the ground.

Simply put, cloud computing is a web-based service that hosts the programs used by a company, and all of its data, on remote machines owned and held by another company. Programs and information are accessed simply by logging on through a web browser, from any computer, anywhere in the world. Computing is simplified, hardware costs are reduced, employees are mobilised and office space is gained too.

It sounds like a cutting-edge technology, but forms of it have been used by consumers for years – whether by operating a web-based email account such as Hotmail, or uploading images to social networking sites like Facebook. A survey conducted last year by Ipsos OTX MediaCT of 1000 American adults revealed that nine out of ten regularly used a cloud service.

An Issue of Trust

However, what deters many companies from switching to cloud computing boils down to two things – privacy, and security. Understandably, the thought of handing over all of their confidential data to another company for safekeeping doesn’t sit well with many corporate executives.

Then, there’s the issue of what happens when the cloud company’s servers go down. When Amazon’s EC2 data centre suffered a blackout, it took down the websites and small companies that depended on it, which included sites such as Reddit, Quora and Hootsuite. Its effects were so disastrous that it made the front page of the New York Times.

Despite these incidents being isolated, they’re enough to make businesses wary. Nevertheless, businesses still have options for cloud computing to prevent being left behind.

True to its roots, the future of cloud computing majorly involves social networking. Sites like Facebook and Twitter present huge opportunities for the development of applications that allow employees and businesses to connect, collaborate and share data.

Businesses can even use the social networks for the leverage of data in the first place to use in those all-important business decisions. If global research firm Gartner Inc.’s predictions that by 2015, cloud-based services will generate 25% of customer-driven banking products and services hold water, all businesses should be getting their heads in the clouds, if only for an idea of which one is right for them.