Cloud Services: Solutions and Technologies For Business

The influence of cloud technologies on business is growing. Cloud services simplify management, help launch applications at a lower cost, and speed up work processes. If earlier it took months to create an IT infrastructure, now you can deploy and configure it in a day. Providers offer dozens of services for enterprises that help them work more efficiently. In this article, we will analyze how different companies use cloud computing, what its advantages are, and why they choose it instead of their physical servers. This will help you understand which services are more suitable for the tasks of your project. To better understand this issue, experts from the development company will tell you how to use cloud solutions for business and which cloud technologies are successfully used in practice by companies and enterprises.

What are Cloud Solutions?

With the traditional approach, a company buys servers to deploy an IT infrastructure, pays engineers to create the architecture, configure the system, and maintain it, and independently ensures security. As tasks and data volumes grow, more computing power is needed, so more equipment needs to be purchased. Usually, the workload is uneven, and all this is idle part of the time; as a result, the costs do not pay off. Such a business does not have flexibility, and more investment is required to scale.

Cloud solutions are an alternative to physical infrastructure that compensates for all its shortcomings and reduces costs. Instead of purchasing equipment, an enterprise rents capacity from a provider. Most of the complex tasks of setting up, managing and maintaining are delegated. You can use clouds occasionally, during periods of heavy loads, to complete projects that require additional resources or permanently. Virtualization allows you to launch applications, organize remote desktops for employees, work with large amounts of data, perform complex calculations, etc. To do this, you agree with a service provider, paying only for the capacity used. You can manage the service through your account.

How to Use Cloud Computing for Business?

Each company has its own set of tasks that can be performed using clouds. The infrastructure model depends on security requirements, required capacities, and project specifics. Let’s look at common practices.

Cloud server

This approach assumes that you get access to a virtual machine that is completely ready for use. It has an operating system installed and a certain set of characteristics. Here you can place a website, an online store, a web application or use it for other processes. VPS is not tied to physical equipment, so it is flexible and allows you to scale instantly.

Data storage

Clouds can store and process data. For example, cloud object S3 storage allows for the placement and transfer of various types of files. Due to their extensibility, they have virtually unlimited volumes that can be expanded instantly. Speed and load resistance allows for simultaneous access by thousands of users. An example of an application is online cinemas.

Clouds often host databases, which are called DaaS (Database as a Service). Such services allow you to launch projects quickly, deploy with a few clicks, and reduce the workload of IT specialists.

Disaster recovery

Cloud solutions are often used for backup and disaster recovery system preparation. It is not only about backups to prevent the loss of important data in the event of failures but also about creating a parallel infrastructure that supports the continuity of work. Instead of duplicating equipment and incurring costs for storing a copy, it is more profitable to use cloud services. DRaaS—Disaster Recovery as a Service—helps to find a balance between sustainability and backup costs.

Machine learning

Clouds’ unlimited power and flexibility allow them to handle highly loaded calculations, so companies often use them to run machine learning. To do this, you can create your application, run ready-made scripts,, or connect third-party services via API.

IOT Tasks

Like machine learning, working with IoT objects requires high capacities. Cloud computing allows for the organization, collection, processing and analysis of data. In addition to mass products, this makes it possible to deploy monitoring and security systems at industrial enterprises. For example, the program collects information from sensors installed on equipment, analyzes their condition in the cloud and warns of possible breakdowns in advance.

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Examples of using cloud solutions

The advantages of clouds make these solutions popular in various areas – even in those where IT technologies have only recently begun to be used. Examples will help you understand how you can implement them in your work.

Gaming Sphere

French company Gameloft, known for its mobile game Asphalt, faced the problem of uneven loads. It was solved by moving the application from physical servers to Amazon cloud services. Now it can work without interruptions even with a sharp increase in users by more than 50 times.

Health

In the last few years, artificial intelligence has become one of the main assistants of the IT business in the healthcare sector. The creators of the Fitbit smartwatch began collecting and processing data using clouds to monitor users’ condition using metrics and warn them about the need to visit a doctor.

Payments

One of the main requirements for fintech companies is transaction security. PayPal, after moving its infrastructure to the cloud, improved payment protection, reduced financial risks, and avoided some fraudulent schemes.

Production

In industry, cloud solutions provide additional competitive advantages to businesses. Through automation, Coca-Cola was able to reduce operating costs by 40% or improve other efficiency indicators. The makers of Harley-Davidson motorcycles created an IoT network at their factories by installing sensors on equipment. Due to this, they increased control at every stage of production—from parts to assembly—increasing productivity and reducing costs.

Cloud Solutions Technologies

Providers offer cloud services in different formats. The most common models are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. The main difference is the level of service: in one case, you configure all the system elements yourself, and in the other, a ready-made solution is provided.

IaaS — Infrastructure as a Service

This model gives more freedom to business and is the most flexible. Logically, it is closest to independently creating infrastructure for a project, but instead of physical servers, your employees deploy it on virtual ones. In your personal account, you can adjust the capacity to meet the project’s needs.

PaaS — Platform as a Service

Unlike the previous model, here the provider performs the initial setup of the equipment. As a user, you do not need to deal with servers or storage or install an operating system with applications. The task is to select ready-made solutions for the project from the list. This requires less effort at the launch stage, increases productivity, and simplifies management.

SaaS — Software as a Service

This is the easiest to work with but the least flexible model. You get a ready-made, provider-managed product that you can use right away. Such services include CRM systems, email services, DDoS protection, Kubernetes, configured databases, etc.

Types of Clouds

Each business has its own tasks. There are no universal solutions for different projects, so different types of clouds are created:

Public: These are provided by a third-party data center. You do not have physical access to the equipment, and the provider manages it. The main advantage is scalability. The data center has hundreds of servers: thanks to virtualization, you can easily expand or, conversely, reduce computing power. At the same time, a high level of security is ensured.
Private: deployed on physical equipment owned by the business. Despite the high level of protection of public clouds, some organizations are legally prohibited from storing data in external data centers. Therefore, many state-owned companies and other highly sensitive enterprises use cloud technologies on their servers. To do this, engineers virtualize and connect them into a single network, distributing access. The main disadvantage of this approach is the high costs of purchasing equipment and ensuring its smooth operation.
Hybrid: This type combines the advantages of private and public data centers. It allows you to store data that requires increased confidentiality in the company and perform high-load tasks or complex calculations on the capacities of a third-party data center. At the same time, both parts are connected. In addition to the temporary expansion of resources, this model is convenient for storing backups or backup copies of the IT infrastructure.

Advantages of cloud services

Clouds are beneficial for businesses not only from a commercial point of view—they simplify work and project management. Let’s look at all the advantages in more detail.

Division of responsibilities between specialists

Setting up servers, virtualizing, and creating infrastructure is difficult for a programmer who specializes in writing code. Such tasks are better performed by highly specialized data center employees. They prepare the configuration, and the data center security systems support its smooth operation.

Flexibility

At any time, even with a sharp increase in load, you can expand resources. For example, if on Black Friday, the traffic to your online store increases several times, you can connect additional capacities in two clicks. As soon as the flow decreases, they can be cut back so as not to overpay.

Saving

The “pay as you go” model described in the example allows you to optimize costs. You do not need to pay for purchasing equipment or renting a dedicated server, the unit of price is the resources used. This is much cheaper than your physical infrastructure.

Self-management

To change the configuration, you don’t need to perform complex manipulations, call the provider, or explain the tasks to the engineers – go to your personal account and change the settings or order additional capacity.

Stability and security

Under the SLA agreement, the provider guarantees that the servers will operate without interruption, which means the client will always have access to the cloud. Providing such a level of uptime on your own is difficult and expensive. The data center uses industrial equipment and the best security systems, and it provides fire protection and optimal temperature and humidity.