Cloud computing for everyone

Cloud computing is the process of providing a technological basis for organizations and individuals to access and use computing resources over the internet instead of owning and maintaining hardware. It is on a pay-as-you-go model. Users are only charged according to the amount of resource consumed, and that way, it makes for flexible and cost-effective use, especially for all business levels. There are three primary service models for cloud computing, which includes: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where basic infrastructure is provided in the form of virtual machines and storage; Platform as a Service (PaaS), whereby a platform is provided to the developers so that they could build and deploy applications, without having to manage the hardware underneath; and Software as a Service (SaaS), whereby complete applications are provided to end-users over the internet- email, office software, and CRM systems.

With these services, the deployment models available for cloud services are pretty extensive. Public cloud service vendors are third-party providers with various shared resources and can prove very cost-effective but a little less customizable. They can be dedicated to single organisations with much more control over the environment and security when they use it for critical or sensitive applications. Hybrid cloud is the combination of public and private clouds where data and applications can be moved between them, so it is much more flexible and will optimize the existing infrastructure. With these options, cloud computing provides scalable and on-demand access to technology, enabling organizations to innovate quickly, manage resources efficiently, and respond to changing demands with minimal upfront investment.