Cloud computing is a computing paradigm in which tasks are assigned to a combination of connections, software and services accessed over a network. This network of servers and connections is collectively known as ‘the cloud.’ Computing at the scale of the cloud allows users to access supercomputer-level power. Users can access resources as they need them. For this reason, cloud computing has also been described as on-demand computing.

Cloud Computing, therefore is a highly scalable and flexible services can be delivered and consumed over the internet through an as-needed, pay-per-use business model.
 

Cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your apps yourself, they run on a shared data centre. When you use any app that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customise it, and start using it. That’s the power of cloud computing.

Cloud-based applications can be up and running in a few days, which is unheard of with traditional business software. They cost less, because you don’t need to need to pay for all the people, products, and facilities to run them. Additionally they are more scalable, more secure, and more reliable than most applications. Plus, upgrades are taken care of for you, so your applications get security and performance enhancements and new features—automatically.

According to analyst firm Gartner Cloud Computing comes with numerous risks. Cloud computing has "unique attributes that require risk assessment in areas such as data integrity, recovery, and privacy, and an evaluation of legal issues in areas such as e-discovery, regulatory compliance, and auditing," Gartner says. These risks do not mean that an organisation shouldn’t use cloud computing. Rather, companies must go into the process with their eyes wide open, fully aware of the risks and work with their service provider to ensure they take essential precautions to stay safe.

According to a report published by research firm Gartner in the second half of 2008 companies need to look out for nine key security risks when considering adopting cloud computing. The first of these being privileged user access, Cloud computing essentially means that sensitive data is being processed outside the enterprise, therefore bringing with it an inherent level of risk because outsourced services bypass the "physical, logical and personnel controls" IT shops exert over in-house programs. Secondly, customers need to be aware of regulatory compliance as they are ultimately responsible for the security and integrity of their own data, even when it is held by a service provider.

Other security issues include data segregation as data in the cloud is typically in a shared environment alongside other data from other customers. Encryption is effective but isnt a cure all. Customers should also take into account recovery measures that have the ability to do a complete restoration in the event of data failure. Investigating inappropriate or illegal activity may be impossible in cloud computing, Gartner warns. "Cloud services are especially difficult to investigate, because logging and data for multiple customers may be co-located and may also be spread across an ever-changing set of hosts and data centres.

Cloud Computing is becoming increasingly attractive to cost conscious IT budgets namely due to its zero up-front capital costs for hardware and software and multi-tenant, pooled-resources for flexible scaling up or down. Cloud computing can create significant cost savings relative to in-house computing from two primary sources; flexibility in handling unusual IT demand and operational efficiencies. In addition to this, Cloud computing as an outsourced service can enable cost savings and efficiencies within an organisations IT department by meeting variable IT demand and its ability to respond effectively to unexpected events.

If all of your resources are hosted in the cloud and you suddenly lose connectivity to that cloud, oh ohh – where’s your customer invoices, how do you send that critical email, and so on.

Remember you’ll still need some IT equipment just to connect to the Cloud – that means you’ll still need to pay for some level of service and maintenance.

Another thought might be how secure is all of my data in that cloud? Are my competitor’s storing their resources in the cloud too? If the hosting company decides to double their rates is it easy to move out of the cloud to another cloud?

But hey you say, using the cloud we can access and utilise our resources from anywhere in the world. True! Have you also then left your user credentials and passwords all over the globe cached on insecure PCs?

I’m not trying to blow away the clouds completely – but just highlight the fluffy areas so you can determine for yourself whether there’s a place for the Cloud in your IT future and if there is, how suitable is it for you, how much investment should there be? Maybe a hybrid solution such as mail filtering services for example – great at removing all the crap and spam from your mail systems but hey if it went down, we could still send out our mail and quickly arrange for direct delivery to our own servers.