Last updated on November 9, 2022
Cloud Computing Benefits and Uses | Parallels Explains
Not everyone can buy their extensive computer system resources like servers, storage, databases, networking solutions, and software solutions. To deal with this problem, cloud computing was introduced. There are several cloud computing benefits for business to make use of, read on to find out more.
Cloud Computing Definition
In simple terms, cloud computing delivers these system resources over the internet. You don’t have to buy, administer, and maintain these computer resources, as someone else does it for you. You can just use the desired amount of these resources, pay for them, and increase the number of resources as needed.
How Cloud Computing Benefits Work
Cloud computing is the transmission of computer resources through the internet, including it infrastructures or data centers. Instead of building and implementing its own IT infrastructure or data center, organizations can rent space for storage or access software packages from a cloud service provider. One of the best advantage from all the cloud computing benefits is that businesses just pay for the services they make use of.
Cloud computing operations may be separated into frontend and backend to better comprehend their technological elements. The frontend application enables users to utilize an internet browser or a cloud computing app to access data and applications stored in the cloud. The data is stored in the backend, which comprises of servers, computers, and databases.
The Importance of Cloud Computing Benefits
Before cloud computing benefits, businesses had to download software or programs to their physical computers or on-premises servers in order to utilize them. Building and operating one’s own IT system or data centers is a major undertaking for any company. Allocating a great amount of IT personnel and resources is difficult even for those who operate their own data centers.
Cloud computing and virtualization marked a breakthrough moment in the history of the technology sector. Cloud computing benefits allows organizations to rent computer capabilities from cloud service providers rather than building and operating its own IT system and paying for servers, power, and real estate, among other things. This saves organizations money in the long run by avoiding the high upfront expenses and complexity of operating their own data centers. Companies pay solely for what they use, such as compute resources and disk space, when they rent cloud services. This enables businesses to forecast expenses more precisely.
Cloud Computing Benefits
The cloud computing benefits are unparalleled.
- Cost savings
Adopting cloud computing means reducing the upfront costs associated with buying software and hardware, setting it up, managing the setup, and employing IT experts to manage the infrastructure. Moreover, the pay-as-you-go model means you only pay for the services you have procured. As such, there is no wastage of resources.
- Scalability
Cloud computing services are scalable on-demand, which means you can provision vast amounts of computing resources in minutes. For startups, cloud computing can accelerate IT deployments that suit their needs to allow them to focus on expanding their businesses. Cloud computing can also enhance website speed while minimizing downtime. This gives businesses flexibility and efficiency that accommodates increased requirements at optimum performance.
- Productivity
With cloud computing, IT admins do not need to bother about software patches or hardware setup. They can instead focus on other essential business tasks. Besides, cloud computing accelerates collaboration in an organization. Employees can securely view and share data across many end-devices on the cloud platform—this goes further to improve productivity.
- Automatic software updates and upgrades
Virtually all cloud providers regularly update hypervisors and other applications—including security updates—in their data centers. This frees up money and time that an organization would otherwise spend on-premises. This ensures improved performance because of reduced network latency.
- Reliability
Cloud computing ensures data backup and business continuity. By ensuring the continuous availability of data, cloud computing enhances reliability when compared to on-premises solutions.
- Performance
A single on-premises data center, in most cases, cannot compete with cloud-based services in terms of throughput, security, and efficiency. This is because you get most services on-demand. This means you can easily have vast amounts of computing resources within a short time, with great flexibility. Similarly, when you host different platforms, software, and storage resources remotely, you free up computational power and memory on your organization’s computers. This greatly enhances the performance of your workstations.
- Flexible workplace practices
Cloud-based services provide the flexibility employees need in their work practices. By providing always-on services, employees can access data from home, via commutation to and from work, and on holiday provided they have an internet connection. Besides, off-premise employees who need to access their apps and files can always connect to the cloud office, quickly and easily.
- Insights
Most cloud storage solutions have integrated analytics that can help organizations get an overall big picture view of their data. An organization can use these analytics to unearth hidden insights from their cloud data. By leveraging inbuilt cloud-based analytics, organizations can increase efficiency and achieve a competitive advantage.
The Potential Drawbacks that may come with Shifting to the Cloud
Cloud computing benefits sure are plentiful, but a complete lift–and–shift to the cloud is difficult because of the following reasons:
- Companies might have problems with cloud migration, particularly with legacy systems.
- If companies want to leverage the benefits of different cloud deployment models, shifting to the cloud becomes a complex affair in the absence of a solution that can handle multi-cloud deployments.
- Virtualization deployment and migration are complex in cloud computing.
- Security is still a concern, as companies need a solution well–equipped with security features to mitigate data security risks in the cloud.
Different Types of Cloud Computing Services
The three types of cloud computing services are Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). These all cover different parts of cloud computing benefits.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Users have access to virtual computers, storage, and other resources through the cloud service paradigm known as “Infrastructure as a Service,” or IaaS. Users of IaaS may design and control their own virtual infrastructure. IaaS is one of the most widely used cloud service types, and companies frequently utilize it when they need to quickly deploy storage or virtual machines.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
PaaS, or platform as a service, is a cloud computing paradigm where the supplier gives its customers full development and execution environments. Tools and services that make it simple to create, test, and deploy applications are frequently included in PaaS.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Users can subscribe to access licensed and centrally hosted software using the software as a service, or SaaS, delivery model. The main advantage of SaaS is that it enables businesses to use software as a service rather than a product. This implies that businesses may deploy software more quickly and easily without having to handle installation and management themselves.
How Parallels RAS Helps Your Business Effectively and Safely Shift to Cloud Computing
Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) helps companies with on-premises, public cloud, hybrid or hyper-converged deployments, making migrating to the cloud easy.
Parallels RAS effectively delivers virtual applications and desktops to different cloud computing services like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This multi-cloud support provides more mobility to organizations. Parallels RAS has a single console for load balancing and scaling between multiple clouds so you don’t have to configure each one separately.
Additionally, Parallels RAS offers flexible cloud deployment models, allowing organizations to build a flexible infrastructure by mixing and matching Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH), hypervisors, hyper-converged systems, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with any cloud solution. It integrates with automation platforms such as REST API and PowerShell, making cloud management easier.
Parallels RAS also offers brilliant security measures including multifactor authentication (MFA), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), granular filtering, and client policies that remediate data security risks. It also integrates with single sign-on (SSO) solutions such as Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD).
Make the most out of cloud computing benefits with a 30-day free trial of Parallels RAS.
