Cloud technology involves making use of the Internet to offer a real time supply of hardware, software, or services from a third party over the network. By combining concepts such as virtualization and one-to-many architecture with subscription based business models, cloud computing offers a new business model that will drastically change the way IT infrastructure, platform, application and business processes capabilities are procured, delivered and supported. 

When a company opts for cloud computing services, it benefits from the virtual and scalable resources that are provided to it in real-time. By making use of a host of alternate servers, the cloud computing model can effectively and efficiently manage a wide variety of data and applications in a robust manner.

Cloud computing can be offered across 4 layers of the enterprise stack: Infrastructure, Platform, Application and Process.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

At the infrastructure level, companies have already begun to source raw processing power, network bandwidth and storage, from the outside on an on-demand basis. In most cases, these resources are used to augment rather than replace existing in-house infrastructure, which itself is increasingly virtualized. Traditional hosting services have been around for some time, offering dedicated hardware to customers as a managed service. Infrastructure cloud providers offer a different approach, drawing from a pool of shared resources that can be ramped up or down in real time, depending on the fluctuating demand from different users. This approach gives far greater elasticity, economies of scale, and cost advantage compared to standalone data centers. Some examples of leading companies offering Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and VMware’s vCloud.  We  use these Infrastructure providers to manage our clients hardware, storage and network needs.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

At the platform level, cloud-based platform providers offer application developers similar functionalities as in traditional desktop settings. These include tools and other support for development, testing, deployment, runtime libraries, and hosting. The emergence of such platforms allows independent software vendors (ISVs) and IT staff to develop and deploy online applications quickly using the third-party infrastructure. Clients thinking about migrating their platforms to the cloud face a myriad of choices. Not sure which direction to take? Contact us.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

At the application level, early adopters of cloud-based services were applications in the CRM, human capital and financial management field. More recently, desktop productivity tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and Web conferencing (Google Apps for Business) have become commonly accessed through the cloud. Today, application clouds span across all major enterprise solution areas, from procurement to enterprise resource planning and content management. These applications, also known as Software as a Service (SaaS) run on the third-party infrastructure. Typically, customers subscribe to these services on a monthly basis and pay per user license, and access them anywhere from any device that has internet access. The low cost, fast sign up and flexible licensing arrangements make trial and piloting of cloud based applications extremely easy, and many enterprises adopting cloud based applications can try out 3-4 different vendors in a matter of days or even hours, before making a decision on which one to commit to.

Process as a Service (PaaS)

At the business process level, Computing in the Cloud offers an Internet-enabled, externally provisioned service for managing an entire business process, such as claims processing, expense management or procurement. Unlike traditional Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), which often requires the takeover of an existing software installation, the process cloud uses a common, scalable platform to automate highly standardized processes. It differs from application clouds in that it provides end-to-end process support, covering not just software but also processes supported by people, such as contact centers. These processes are typically priced on a per-transaction rather than per-seat basis. We help clients integrate (link to cloud integration) into third party process providers such as Paypal, AliveChat and AnswerCo.

Why cloud computing has really caught on becomes more apparent if you consider the following list of advantages that cloud computing offers to your business.

•  Less Technical Problems: You will require a lesser number of upgrades when you are using the cloud computing model. And any upgrades needed will be performed by the service provider as a part of the contract.
• Time Saver: When you are making use of the cloud computing services, you will be using the software applications that are hosted in the cloud to help you with business management. All you need is an Internet connection for instantly accessing the applications you need.
• Improved Mobility: The working pattern has undergone a lot of change these days. More and more staff are on the move and need to access data and applications anytime, anywhere. By availing the services of cloud computing, anybody, located in any part of the world, can easily access the business data and applications hosted in the cloud via the Internet.
• Reduced Costs: Companies need not invest in any hardware or infrastructure as the cloud computing technology is offered on a ready to be deployed model. Companies also need not invest in Information Technology support team as everything is outsourced and the cloud hosting service provider offers effective management with regard to the technical aspects and maintenance of the hosted server.
• Custom Applications: The user-friendly cloud computing interface will generally allow companies to customize their applications in a straightforward manner.