7 Most Popular Uses of Cloud Computing Explained

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services, such as storage, servers, databases, networking, software, analytics, and more, over the cloud or the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. Cloud computing enables faster innovation and economies of scale. There are many uses of cloud computing for businesses of all sizes, types, and industries. This article lists some of the most common uses of cloud computing, highlighting how this technology can help businesses achieve their goals.

Explore Popular Courses on Shiksha Online:

Top Uses of Cloud Computing

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, all cloud platforms are capable of helping businesses reduce costs, increase flexibility, and optimize resources. Here are the most important uses of cloud computing technology.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) delivers on-demand services such as compute, network, and storage resources to consumers over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. Companies can use existing infrastructure on a pay-per-use model to save the cost of investing to acquire, manage, and maintain an IT infrastructure.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offers a comprehensive platform of hardware, software, and infrastructure to consumers to enable them to develop, run, and manage applications. This saves consumers from the cost and complexity of building and maintaining that platform on-premises.

Must Read: Google Cloud Platform Courses And Careers Guide: Become A Cloud Expert

Cloud Storage

Computer hard drives can store a finite amount of data but cloud storage enables users to store huge volumes of data in an off-site location that you access through the public internet or a dedicated private network connection. Cloud storage providers host, manage, maintain, and secure the servers and related infrastructure to ensure that you have access to the data whenever required. Cloud storage is a cost-effective and scalable way to store, access, and retrieve your files from any web-enabled interface.

Software Testing and Development

On-premise testing requires building the infrastructure for testing in a local environment which can be expensive, time-consuming, and limited by budgets and deadlines. This can pose a competitive disadvantage for businesses. On the other hand, cloud-based software testing and development can enable users to scale up resources when needed without investing in the infrastructure.

Cloud-based software testing is faster, easier, and less expensive. It offers cloud environments and infrastructure to simulate realistic user traffic scenarios. It helps businesses measure software performance and functionality.

Also Read: AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Which One Should You Learn?

Big Data Analytics

Big Data analytics refers to the complex process of examining large and diverse data sets to find information, such as correlations, hidden patterns, market trends, and more. The main purpose of big data analytics is to extract value from data and improve decision-making. Big data analytics requires networks, storage, and servers. This is why many businesses are outsourcing it to the cloud.

Cloud-based big data analytics enable businesses to perform better analysis from large amounts of structured and unstructured data. Big data analysis using the cloud is cheaper, flexible, and makes data integration from numerous sources easier for businesses.

Learn more about Big Data, read our post – What is Big Data?

Disaster Recovery

Traditional disaster recovery (DR) requires companies to manage a secondary data center, which can be complex, time-consuming, expensive, and resource-intensive. On the other hand, cloud-based disaster recovery services help businesses to quickly recover the organization’s critical systems after a disaster. It provides them with remote access to their systems in a secure virtual environment.

Cloud disaster recovery does not require a traditional infrastructure. It enables faster recovery from a network of different physical locations at a much lower cost.

Check out the Top Cloud Computing Interview Questions and Answers

Data Backup

Data backup is crucial for businesses of all sizes that operate with large volumes of information. Manually backing up data is a complex and time-consuming task that requires companies to maintain a set of drives, manually collect them, and dispatch them to a backup facility.

Cloud-based backup, on the other hand, allows businesses to automatically dispatch data to any location across the wire. Cloud backup is a highly efficient and more secure alternative to traditional backup strategies.

To learn more about Cloud Computing, read our blog – What is Cloud Computing?

Conclusion

Cloud computing has become very popular for businesses of all sizes. From small start-ups to large corporations, many businesses are migrating to the cloud and utilizing its power to transform and expand.

Due to the rise in the number of businesses moving to the cloud, there is a huge demand for professionals and talent across this industry. With all the uses for cloud computing listed above, there’s no excuse you shouldn’t start learning it. Enroll in a cloud computing course today to a competitive edge in the cloud job market.