Benefits of incorporating Cloud Computing Technology.

There are many benefits of incorporating Cloud computing technology in the company, such as reducing overall capital expenditure of the company, having a secure database, and preventing data from being lost due to physical disasters.

Money saving & Flexible

Cloud computing is able to help the company to save cost being that it provides the company an alternative of not buying expensive physical hardware and software licenses. When comparing cloud technology to physical hardware, the company is able to benefit more when using cloud technology as it is able to provide s ame or more storage capacity at a much lower cost than physical hardware such as mainframe servers. It also eliminates wastage of storage space as the company only pays for the storage space it uses, unlike physical hardware which is often left with large unused storage space. Overall reducing expenditure for the company when compared to using physical hardware. In terms of flexibility, cloud computing is able to scale quickly according to the development of the company, it also promotes flexibility of work practices, enabling employees to access data from the cloud at any location, enabling him to ability to work off-site and promoting productivity.

Reliable & Maintaining a competitive edge

It is also beneficial in terms of reliability as the cloud service provider helps to protect the company’s data and systems by using multiple redundant sites. Making copies of data as a backup is called redundancy. After experiencing problems like power failure, cloud technology allows the business to access the backed up data stored in the cloud, allowing the company to minimize both downtime and loss of productivity and overall allowing the company’s business to run as usual in the shortest time possible. Cloud computing also benefit the company by allowing it to have and maintain a competitive edge over other companies as all the data is stored in the cloud and is easily accessible to the company, As compared to other company that does not incorporate cloud computing which had to rely on tape backup and complicated procedures to recover from unexpected problems which is a slow and laborious process. Thus allowing the company to have an advantage over other companies.

Work Efficiency & Little to no maintenance

Another benefit of cloud technology is that it is able to improve work efficiency of the company. Unlike passing the work to the next employee slowly through emails, Cloud technology is able to provide an environment where a collaboration is possible and also the ability to multi-tenant, allowing multiple employees to work and communicate on the same data simultaneously and improving work efficiency. The company also benefit access to the cloud does not require application installations onto the devices, in addition, cloud service providers is responsible for the system maintenance, Allowing the company to free up IT Staffs and re-assigning them to work on other important projects that are more critical to the business.

Services Company can use in Cloud Computing Technology

Cloud Backup

One service that the company can use in cloud computing technology is the cloud backup service. Cloud backup allows the company to backup data and information to a cloud-based server, the stored data in the cloud can be accessed by employees of the company. Cloud backup is able to provide benefits to the company such as scalability, being that it is cloud based, cloud backup is capable of adjusting storage space to the company needs allowing the company to be worry-free about limited storage space. Another important benefit is that it is able to provide is disaster recovery, if unforeseen problems such as earthquakes occurs, as the data is backed up by the cloud service provider, the company will suffer no loss of data, allowing the company to be up and running at quickly as possible reducing the period of inactivity. The backups are automatic and does not require the company to constantly perform backup updates periodically. The downside of using cloud backup service is that the company will not have full control over the data as it will be stored with the cloud service vendor which may incur risk of unauthorised users looking at it. Therefore it is important to include encryption of the data before sending it to the cloud, it is also important to check with the vendor if he is able to include any encryption services such as local, transit and also server side encryption.

Service Models

When venturing to use cloud computing technology, there are many services that the company can use such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Overall, to fully leverage on cloud computing technology, I recommend using the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a service that allow hosting of company applications and data on the cloud provider’s server and storage systems, consumers are able to access data in the SaaS cloud using web browsers without any installation on the company’s computer. It uses pay-as-you-use basis allowing the business to pay according to its usage of the service. There are many advantages of using SaaS such as not having to purchase, install, update or maintain any softwares as those will be handled by the service providers. As all data are stored in the cloud, any device or computer with internet access are able to access it, Also, no data will be lost if the device or computer breaks therefore preventing loss of data when physical disasters happens. Another benefit of SaaS is that it is able to provide immediate solution for a specific problem with no upfront investment. There are also many downside of using SaaS such as the consumers have very little control over the application other than knowing who has access to it. Although the consumer are able to change various configuration but often has no control over the agreement with the service provider, maintenance and the infrastructure of the service.

One trusted and reliable SaaS vendor the company can engage is Salesforce. Salesforce is a reputable SaaS provider in the line of cloud computing and it is also able to provide a dedicated hosting server to allow the company to fully leverage on the benefits of using Software as a Service.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is one of the services the service provider provides, Unlike the SaaS where the applications are readily available, PaaS provides a platform and the environment to allow the company to deploy its own application and services over the internet. The service provider will be managing the operating softwares and also the virtual machine itself and also same as the SaaS, PaaS also runs on a pay-as-you-use basis. There are many advantages of using PaaS such as having development tools readily available to the business to allow its products to be released quickly to the market and the company also need not have to manage the virtual machine itself, instead the business only focus on building the business functionality. There are also disadvantages such as being that the company does not have control over the operating system and network access, the developers have to work within constraints of the platform, which overall might not be optimal for high performing applications. The consumer also highly relies on the agreement of the PaaS providers which make it difficult to establish an ideal agreement for the business. In addition, as the development tools are stored in the cloud, when the service goes down, the developers are not being able to do anything and remain unproductive until the provider restores service.

One trusted and reliable PaaS vendor the company can engage with is Windows Azure. Window Azure is one of the oldest PaaS provider and in addition it has a function that other PaaS vendors does not provide which is the ability to mix and match Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) components with the services found in PaaS offerings, allowing the company to fully leverage as it allows the company to obtain more control when using the hybrid service of IaaS and PaaS.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is also one of the services the service provider provides, unlike the previous services SaaS and PaaS, IaaS service providers is able to provide the company with virtual machines environments and also connectivity resources to run the company applications. The company is responsible for the virtual machine such as installing and maintaining the operating system and applications while the IaaS provider is responsible for managing the infrastructure hardware which the virtual machine run on. Similarly to the SaaS and PaaS, IaaS also uses the pay-as-you-use basis. There are many advantages of using IaaS such as it being able to provide dynamic scaling which is able to scale up and down of the infrastructure services based on the usage of applications, it is able to quickly accommodate to applications that either significantly spikes up or drop. IaaS services can also quickly scale up to the huge increase of demand and scales down when demand is low which is able to provide a huge flexibility and making full use of resources, it is also able to support multiple tenets which is important in business as it allow multiple users to access the same piece of infrastructure, which overall improves productivity greatly. Another advantage is that in IaaS, infrastructure is made available as a collection of Application Programming interface (API) enabling company to

select specific service. There are also disadvantages of using IaaS services such as placing heavy demands on the technical resources of the company, the company is also responsible for making and configuring the virtual machines to run the company applications as the service provider is not responsible for it. Another disadvantage is that if the company is looking for a specific infrastructure or service, the IaaS provider may not be able to p/rovide it.

One trusted and reliable IaaS vendor the company can engage with is Amazon Web Services. Amazon Web Services is a trusted and reliable IaaS service vendor being that it is at top of the IaaS market and it is able to offer five –times the utilized compute capacity compared to the rest of the IaaS providers. This allow the company to fully leverage on the infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS Table

Name of services Software as a Service (SaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Definition Service allowing consumers to access and use applications and data in the cloud. Consumer gain access using web browsers.

Service allowing consumer be able to deploy their own software and applications.

Service allowing consumer to control and manage the virtual systems, but not the physical infrastructure

Service provided 1.Finished application

1.Cloud Storage2. Runtime environment for application

1.Virtual Server2.Cloud Storage

Advantages 1. Consumer need not have to do maintenance on the virtual and physical system

2. Consumer need not have to do any installation on any computer to access it.

3. immediate availability of a working solution for specific problem

1. Consumer does not have to manage hardware, operating systems and database system.

2. readily available development tools that the consumer can use to develop their applications

3. Consumer can focus solely on building business functionality

1. Dynamic scaling that allow infrastructure to scale up and down based on usage of application

2. Infrastructure is made available as a collection of Application Programing interface (API) allowing selection of specific infrastructure.

3. Able to run almost any type of application as the consumer is in control of the

infrastructure.Disadvantages 1. Consumer has

very little control over the applications other than who has access.

2. The consumer often has no say in Service Level Agreement (SLA), maintenance window and underlying architecture.

3. Rate of data transfer solely depends on the internet speed the consumer is using.

1. Consumer has to work within constraint of the platform

2. Consumer is highly dependable on the Service level Agreement of the PaaS provider.

3. Unable to achieve very high scale unless platform provided has both failover capability and auto scaling

1. Heavy demands on technical resources on the consumer

2. Consumer is responsible for maintaining and configuring the virtual machine.

3. Cloud Provider may not be able to provide the specific infrastructure the company is seeking.

Overall, I recommend the company to use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) over Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS).

The reason I did not decide on SaaS is that although it is able to allow business to be up more quickly and running compared to IaaS and PaaS, the company also need not have to constantly update as the service provider will be responsible to manage that and also it is able to scale dynamically to the usage of the need of the business but, overall, SaaS is only useful and efficient in the short run and not in the long run as SaaS has total dependency on the internet in which the data is transferring to and from the business at internet speed and also switching between SaaS vendors is difficult as it is a slow and difficult task of transferring huge data files over the internet. The company often has no say in the agreement with the service provider resulting of being not able to get an ideal operating system which is capable of running all types of application services, resulting in a very limited pool of applications to use. Unlike IaaS where it is able to use all available applications as it is able to run on other operating systems. Which overall deterred me on deciding on Software as a Service (SaaS).

The reason I did not decide on Platform as a Service (PaaS) is that though it is much better than SaaS being that it is able to customise and create applications that are able to work on the operating system it is using, enabling more variety and choice of applications compared to SaaS. It is also much better than IaaS being that the company does not have to manage the virtual system and also capable of deploying applications in minutes. However, PaaS has limitations on their ability to achieve very high scale as the platforms provided must be able to provide auto scaling and failover capability for all applications of the platform which currently very limited provider is able to offer. Overall PaaS strongly recommended when the company

only focus on building business functionality but not when the business require flexibilities. Therefore I did not recommend on PaaS services for the company.

The reason I decide to recommend on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is that firstly, as service provider is providing the infrastructure as a service, the company is able to look for specific services to suit their needs which enables flexibility for the business when it requires more storage or computing power. IaaS also has the most control over SaaS and PaaS, as the infrastructure is abstracted and is made available as a collection of application interfaces, IaaS providers is also provide cloud resources available almost immediately when it is on demand. In terms of dynamic scaling, IaaS is much better being that there are no limitations on IaaS unlike PaaS that has platform limitations. Therefore IaaS is preferable in terms of control, data transfer and dynamic scaling, which make me decide to recommend the company to use this service.

Precautions to ensure security of cloud computing technology.

There are many precautions to take in ensuring security of using cloud computing technology to protect data and prevent information from being tapped by unauthorised individuals. Therefore it is important to take measures to ensure security in using cloud computing technology.

Selecting a Trusted Vendor & Service Level Agreement (SLA)

First of all, one of the precautions to take is to decide on a trustable and reputable cloud service vendor. It is important as the company’s sensitive and important data will be stored in the cloud service the provider provides. It is important to research about the cloud service provider that the company is engaging with, such as inquiring the about the physical location of the data centres, downtime history, the kind of security standard the cloud provider use and the immediate steps taken when there is a security breach. It is also important to inquire about how data and information will be stored in a cloud, either no encryption of data and direct transmission or encryption of data and uploading through secure socket layer (SSL) internet connection. It is also important to establish a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the company and the cloud service vendor regarding issues such as service provisioning issues and legal issues.

High Policy Standards & Encryption of stored data

After deciding on a specific cloud service provider to work with, it is Important for the company to maintain a high standard of passwords policy as the employees will be accessing the cloud for the data they need. It is also important to add in 2 factors of authentication to enhance security and provide better identifications. By having a high password standard, unauthorised individuals will not have the opportunity to get any data from the company’s cloud which also helps to improve security of using cloud computing technology. The company also has to provide extra protection to the data in the cloud such as implementing a personal encryption system, where the information and data in the cloud will be encrypted when it is stored in the cloud.

Anti-Virus, Physical Backup & limiting access of data geographically

Another important precaution the company need to take is to install anti-virus and anti-spy software, reason is that all access to the cloud is from a system, therefore if the system is loaded with viruses and spywares and the system access the cloud for data, it is highly possible that passwords access to the cloud will be leaked, therefore installing anti-virus and anti-spyware is essential to promote security to the cloud. It is important to limit information access based on geographical location of the individual. An example is when the individual is at the workplace, he is able to fully access all the data compared to when the individual is outside the workplace and wants to access the cloud, the amount of data he is able to access is limited. It is also important to have a physical back up of the data as safety measure, as when the company is relying on cloud technology, when the service is down, the company is unlikely to access most of the data stored in the cloud. Therefore by having a physical backup readily available, users are able to retain sensitive information when the data in the cloud are either deleted or not found. This provide extra protection for sensitive data in the cloud, thus ensuring security precautions of cloud computing technology it.

Implementing Intrusion Detection & prevention System (IDPS) & Cloud security auditing

It is important for the company to include intrusion detection and prevention systems in the service level agreement with the vendor as by implementing intrusion detection systems in the cloud, which an example of a software is Event Calling, this allow monitoring on the network for policy violation and malicious activities and reporting to the vendor, this allow the vendor to take actions such as changing the targeted file to a dummy file and also notifying the cloud user about the attack. It is also important for the company to engage in third party cloud security auditing as if the attacker managed to steal or damage the company data, the cloud service vendor may not inform the company about the loss as it may affect his overall reputation, therefore by having a third party cloud security auditing it is possible to check the integrity of the cloud service vendor and also provide alerting and monitoring for the cloud company.

Relevant points

Deployment models

It is also important to choose the correct deployment models in cloud computing as it is able to fully utilise the service the company choose. There are four main type of cloud deployment models such as the public cloud, private cloud, community cloud and hybrid cloud.

Public Cloud

Public cloud is a very low cost deployment model as it allows the business to share infrastructure or information with others. There are many benefits of using public cloud such as having increased utilisation of applications, reducing time taken to reach the market, improving collaborations and also has a wide area of reached, that make public cloud attractive to most companies. However, there are also downsides of using public clouds is that it does not provide security to the data being shared therefore leaving sensitive data vulnerable and exposed to the users.

Private Cloud

Private cloud is a costly deployment model as it allow the business acquire complete control over data and information unlike the public cloud where it does not have security over data. The advantages of using a private cloud is that it is able to have reduced risk of leaking sensitive information to the public, it also has greater flexibility as if an application goes down in the private cloud, it will not cause all the other consumers to experience a service outage like in a public cloud instead, it does not affect the other consumers. The private cloud also allows each consumer to have its own unique security, which allow stricter access to sensitive data and applications. However, there are also downside of private clouds such that it is very expensive to be deployed due to the strict security standard it is able to provide.

Community Cloud

Community cloud is a cloud that is shared among a number of organization with similar interest or goals. The advantages of using the community cloud is that it is not as costly as a private cloud as the cost Is being shared among the different organization and also unlike the public cloud, the users of the community cloud has complete control of who has access to it. The downside of using the community cloud is that when private or proprietary data is stored in the community cloud, the other organizations are able to access it, therefore it is not as secure as a private cloud. The different users of the community cloud must also allocate the costs and responsibilities of the cloud, as the data is being shared by more than 1 organisation, a strict policy has to be maintained to use the community cloud.

Hybrid Cloud

The hybrid cloud can be the combination of public, private cloud and community cloud, allowing both security and also efficiency. The advantage using hybrid cloud is that it is able to be a combination of both public and private clouds which is able to cater to all of the business needs. However there are also downside of using the hybrid cloud is that, it is difficult to find a vendor that is able to develop a hybrid model that is able to maximise the benefits of both the public and private cloud. It is also important for the business to know what kind of information and documents should be shared and what kind of sensitive information to be kept in the virtual space of the company to keep it safe and out of reach of authorized users.

Multi Cloud

The multi cloud is the use of multiple cloud service providers, unlike the hybrid cloud which can be a combination of deployment models, the multi cloud focus on reducing reliance on a

single cloud service vendor through engaging multiple cloud service providers. The advantage is that in the case that a service of a specific cloud service vendor went down due to unforeseen problems, the company can access the data from another cloud service vendor that it is engaged with, therefore overall reducing reliance on a single cloud service vendor and increasing flexibility. The downside is that in a multi cloud environment, security becomes a vital issues as the company’s data will be placed in more than one third party host, as once the data is leaked, the company will have a hard time tracing where the leakage of data is from.

Conclusion

I recommend hybrid cloud as a deployment model for the company to use as it is able to cater to the needs of the company being that it is able to provide both security and also at the same time be efficient in sharing information to other users. The cloud service provider I recommend will be Rackspace. Rackspace is a trusted cloud service provider and it is also a reputable in the line of cloud computing technology service providers, it is able to provide dedicated hosting services which the company needs to fully utilise and benefit from cloud computing technology. In addition it is also able to support hybrid cloud deployment model for the company which is also essential for the business to fully leverage on cloud computing technology.

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