Cloud Computing (Intranet, Extranet, and Internet)
.1 Introduction
Background/Introduction
The need for internet access in organizations has increased tremendously over the past few decades. Technological advance has created an opportunity for innovation and invention of new ways of doing things. Particularly, the business world has benefited from this transformation through the introduction of cloud computing.
The adoption of cloud computing technology has offered versatility to business owners by improving the efficiency of the IT department. Put in simpler terms; cloud computing is the delivery of various computing services including networking, database, servers, intelligence and analytics over the internet (Marston et al. 2011)
Problem Statement
Amid the economic changes throughout the world, business entities have been compelled to adopt new strategies of carrying out their tasks while minimizing operating costs. To better serve consumers and increase business productivity, it is essential to invest in the latest technologies that aim at cost reduction and proper utilization of available resources.
Goal
To assess the benefits of cloud computing technology on business
To determine the impact of cloud computing on the flow of information
To assess whether cloud computing corresponds with the adopted business strategies[create_order]
Research Questions
How does cloud computing impact a business?
How does cloud computing impact the flow of information in an organization?
Does cloud computing correspond with business strategies?
Relevance and Significance
The significance of this study is to determine the impacts of cloud computing on business entities. The research seeks to justify the benefits of adopting cloud computing as a way of reducing the usage of company resources while increasing productivity. The relevance of the study is that it will enrich companies on how to maximize their productivity by focusing on the core areas of the business.
Barriers and Issues
The adoption of cloud computing in businesses has been countered by several barriers. Cloud computing technology poses notable business and technical risks. Since cloud computing introduces a new computing model, it creates uncertainties in the business. The uncertainties involved in these technologies have made information executives reluctant to accept its adoption as a result of security and privacy concerns.
Today, organizations have been faced with numerous issues involving the violation of privacy for their clients. As a result, this has become a barrier to adopt new technology in an attempt to protect customer data. According to International Data Corporation, corporate executives hesitate to integrate cloud computing technology since data storage and processing are carried outside the organization’s scope. While cloud customers require constant services, cloud providers have experienced challenges meeting such demands (Saeed et al. 2012).
- Literature Review
Cloud computing technologies can help business entities at all stages to diminish their IT costs by reducing the cost of purchasing equipment and programming. The most important aspect of cloud computing is that it allows small business entities to grow while paying for the services rendered. In other words, cloud computing allows business entities to pay for the offered services. Given this, cloud computing has gained a wide acceptance among business organizations and users to carry out their computing needs.
Cloud service providers establish large data centers at lower costs by employing their expertise in provisioning and organizing storage and computing resources. As such, these providers apply the “pay as you use” model to sell their resources to clients. The pay as you use model is an on-demand service model that allows business entities at all levels to increase their productivity while incurring lower costs. A cloud computing environment involves the distribution of computing resources and services over several geographic locations (Marston et al. 2011).
Cloud computing services
In a cloud computing environment, the software is run on web servers instead of desktops. There are three primary services offered by cloud computing, including:
- Infrastructure a service (Iaas)
- Platform as a service (Paas)
- Software as a service (saas)
- Infrastructure as a service
Iaas offers infrastructure resources on-demand, the majority of which are situated in remote data centers. In simpler terms, Iaas involves the provision of storage, networking, and processing by a cloud provider through the internet. As such, printers, servers and work stations are paid by customers according to their usage. In this arrangement, the information, application, and operating system are owned by the user. Today, Amazon Web services and IBM are the primary providers of Infrastructure as a service.
Platform as a service
Paas offers users with environment and techniques essential for creating applications and remote access. This platform enables user flexibility by allowing access to data and applications from every connected gadget or device.
Software as a service
Today, Saas is the most adopted version of cloud computing. The user of saas is entirely excluded from the middleware and material problems. This involves the provision of software packages without the involvement of the company using them. In this domain, Google and Gmail are the primary providers of saas. The expansion of broadband has made saas adoptable by large corporations and home offices (Kavis, 2014).
Integrating the above services in an organization can enhance the performance by reducing the costs involved in purchasing infrastructure. The cloud computing model integrates various types of clouds that can be adapted according to the needs of the organization. Regardless of the service class, the cloud a be categorized in hybrid, private, public, and community clouds.
Public cloud
Public cloud can also be termed as an external cloud that represents the traditional way of availing services and resources to users. In this arrangement, the services are offered by a third party and are shared by numerous cloud users over the internet. The public cloud operates under the pay as you use model. The cloud has a huge number of nodes that enable the providers t to meet the millions of demands from public users. While the sharing of cloud raises security implications, it offers users the advantage of scalability and cost-effectiveness.
Private cloud
The private cloud is restricted within the organizational environment and only allows users with authorized access. As such, this type of cloud allows for the private use of services by the company paying for the resources. The advantage of a private cloud is that it offers users security, unlike the public cloud. In this model, resources like operating systems are easily regulated as the services can be customized for private use (Goyal, 2014)
Community
In the modern economy, many organizations collaborate to execute certain projects and research. Therefore, such organizations adopt a community cloud that allows the sharing of services for various interests. The community cloud allows for the collective effort of organizations to pay for infrastructure and services provided by a cloud provider. However, the cloud can be managed by a third party for the internal community.
Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud is a combination of both the private and public cloud. This model is designed for usage by a single organization. Consequently, it allows for the communication of public and private cloud through independent infrastructures over encrypted connections. The encrypted connection allows for the sharing of information without exposure to third parties. A hybrid cloud is conceived when a private cloud opts to supplement its computing capacity with a public cloud.
- Approach/Methodology
This part offers a comprehensive guide of how the research was achieved and the methods used to obtain data. The research involved a close study of literature material with well-presented information about the impact of cloud computing on business entities. However, the examination was offered from their own perspective, following a closer look at the work conducted by previous scholars. According to the data obtained, there is a security and privacy concern over the adoption of cloud computing for many organizations.
The information-gathering was essential for bolstering the research paper since it offered a deeper understanding of the topic in question. The methodology also involved a comparison of various research from scholars to identify the similarities and contradictions in the topic. As such, it was possible to choose the most appropriate research studies for this paper. The types of research papers used in this study include books, reports, and journals. The empirical method of data collection was also included in the study. This involved a series of interviews conducted through mobile phones as well as one-on-one interviews.
- Findings, Analysis, and Summary of Results
This section is concerned with the findings and results that aim at providing answers to the presented question at the beginning of the paper.
How does cloud computing impact a business?
According to the research conducted, cost reduction is the most beneficial aspect of implementing cloud computing. The cost reduction is achieved through scalability that allows the business of various levels to increase their productivity while incurring considerably lower costs. According to the interviews conducted in the research, the benefits of cost reduction are gained from the reduction of staff. Put in simpler terms, the number of financial resources used to employ staff to manage infrastructure is reduced by adopting cloud computing.
The interviewees also disclosed that efficient systems require less staff to manage as opposed to the adoption of slow systems in the IT department. Additionally, running applications through cloud computing attracts lower costs as compared to installing their own systems in the organization. The most important aspect of cloud computing is that it benefits small organizations since small entities do not have to purchase expensive infrastructure and install IT systems. As a result, small business entities are able to attain scalability while increasing their productivity.
The significant reduction of staff and infrastructure remain the essential benefits for integrating cloud computing in business entities today. The need for adopting a private cloud arises for large companies that seek to maintain the security and privacy of information for their clients. Another benefit associated with cloud computing is the easy update of software hence reducing costs. The provision of saas offers companies with browsing services, especially small business entities (Aljabre, 2012).
How does cloud computing impact the flow of information in an organization?
The flow of data from one end to another plays a critical role in an organization. In the current economy, it is impossible to collaborate effectively when individuals in an organization are located in different geographical places.
Similarly, it is difficult for companies that operate across different time zones. However, communication between different time zones and geographical areas has been resolved through the implementation of cloud computing. By adopting this technology, employees can work from various geographical zones while maintaining efficiency and quality services.
Cloud computing allows employees to work remotely, thus enhancing their job satisfaction. As a result, it helps retain employees for longer periods while benefiting from quality and reliable services. Previously, companies could only employ applicants from a close geographical location to the organization. However, cloud computing has enabled organizations to recruit qualified applicants from wide geographical locations. In the past few decades, companies applied the bring your own device method.
This method required employees to carry their own devices and gadgets to the workplace to perform their tasks. However, with cloud computing, employees can operate using different devices. Since employees do not have to travel long distances to get to the workplace, working from home can bolster their productivity and therefore lead to high-quality work. As cloud computing encourages working from variou8s geographical locations, companies are able to hire many full-time employees. This approach makes it easier to reduce the number of tasks outsourced to third parties.
The ability to communicate via the internet from various locations has improved the business world as well as increasing the speed of performing tasks. Finally, through proper communication, it is possible for small entities to expand their businesses to a wider geographical range. The ability to share information over a wide range of distances allows small companies to establish new branches overseas. As a result, employees are able to work in other countries without any inconveniences.
Does cloud computing correspond with business strategies?
Cloud computing is a new technology that offers users numerous benefits, including flexibility and cost-efficiency. However, there is a wide gap between technical possibilities and business strategies developed by organizations. Many companies have relied on cloud computing for storage and communication purposes. However, security implications that accompany this adoption have been a major concern for corporate executives.
The most common form of cloud is backup clouds that allow for the storage of data, including emails and customer information. As such, sharing such information may raise concerns for customers who place their trust in the company’s management. However, by adopting a private cloud, business entities are able to encrypt their connections, thus preventing leakage of information to third parties. Therefore, cloud computing corresponds with business strategies that aim at cost reduction and increased productivity.
- Conclusions
The above paper has combined previous research from scholars and an empirical study attained through interviews. The study investigated different types of cloud computing and their potential benefits to both small and large companies. The most important aspect of cloud computing is its ability to reduce operational costs while enabling companies to scale their productivity. Additionally, small companies have the most benefits from cloud computing than large companies due to scalabili8ty that allows them to operate without incurring the initial costs associated with the implementation of new infrastructure and IT systems.
Consequently, organizations are able to recruit qualified applicants from different geographical locations, hence creating an opportunity to achieve high-quality services. On the other hand, employees are able to get job satisfaction since they are able to work from convenient locations. Small companies have a higher chance to expand their business
by implementing cloud computing that allows them to establish branches in other foreign countries. This has been achieved through proper communication enabled by cloud computing. This research will help companies and future researchers to gain an understanding of cloud computing technology and its benefits to business entities.
- Reference
Aljabre, A. (2012). Cloud computing for increased business value. International Journal of Business and social science, 3(1).
Goyal, S. (2014). Public vs. private vs hybrid vs community-cloud computing: a critical review. International Journal of Computer Network and Information Security, 6(3), 20.
Kavis, M. J. (2014). Architecting the cloud: design decisions for cloud computing service models (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS). John Wiley & Sons.
Marston, S., Li, Z., Bandyopadhyay, S., Zhang, J., & Ghalsasi, A. (2011). Cloud computing—The business perspective. Decision support systems, 51(1), 176-189.
Saeed, I., Juell-Skielse, G., & Uppström, E. (2012). Cloud enterprise resource planning adoption: Motives & barriers. Advances in Enterprise Information Systems II, 429