Cloud Computing: What is it?

Cloud environment or more precisely cloud computing has almost become synonymous to our present day computing experience over multiple platforms and devices. It is ease of access and less dependability on computer hardware is something that best explains the popularity of cloud computing. The business outcome of cloud computing, especially in large corporations is simply hilarious and almost revolutionary.

Cloud Computing: What is it?


Cloud environment or more precisely cloud computing has almost become synonymous to our present day computing experience over multiple platforms and devices. Today our computing experience is no longer limited by the typical device specific availability of data thanks to cloud environment of sharing data between multiple devices using internet connection. Thanks to cloud computing just on your mobile screen on the way to office you can access now your boss's mail or some customer report pending on your desk or say, on your month long tour where you would be having a fewer chance to access public internet service from WIFI in hotel or cyber café, now thanks to numerous applications based on cloud computing you can access data that are otherwise not stored anywhere except the server of some online applications.

From a photo to a spreadsheet to a PowerPoint presentation to emails or your unfinished calculations or a virtual diary or notes, you have the option of storing all these diverse kind of data in various internet based applications and access them whenever and wherever you require them. This ease of access and less dependability on computer hardware is something that best explains the popularity of cloud computing. But even said that, we must admit this is just the popular aspect of the widespread outcome of cloud computing among general people. The business outcome of cloud computing, especially in large corporations is simply hilarious and almost revolutionary. And not only big dads of business and enterprise, even small ventures are increasingly being profited from this new environment of data sharing and accessing. But before we continue to elaborate the benefits let us see what exactly cloud computing is in its core technical definition.

Technical definition

In nutshell cloud computing is the type of computing in which you can access the data and processing of data for various computing needs without being hardware or device specific. When you can save or store your data over the internet and can access them from anywhere and any devices rather than storing them on the hard disk of a particular device, it is cloud computing. Means just as you can access your personal mails from anywhere in the world through all sorts of computing devices using internet, you can access all kind of data and required computing process from anywhere on the earth through any type of device sometimes using internet and sometimes using only some on-screen or desktop applications.

Like the devices for accessing your data in a cloud computing environment that may be as diverse as to include all kinds of computing devices like your personal laptop, your tab, Smartphone or multimedia phone, a desktop in a cyber café or your good old office desktop, the kind of data shared can also be diverse and multifarious as to include almost everything that you can store in a computer hard disk, from a photo to a mere note or calculation to a spreadsheet to a presentation to audiovisual files to more complex data concerning software applications.

Freedom of Accessibility versus Constraints

This freedom of accessibility of information and different computing needs over multiple devices across different time space is the fundamental outcome of cloud computing. This wide open accessibility is not necessarily always relaxed as it sounds to be, especially when it comes to confidential information of enterprise or other organizations or interest groups who from time to time may need to give access to their responsible individuals to the information and application from devices other than the desktops at the office premises, but even that kind of access is highly monitored and regulated with various time and place constraints and limitations. For business organizations or for other interest groups who permit their employees or associates to access their virtual data from personal devices from a different time and space monitoring and regulation is obvious to secure confidentiality and integrity and in such scenario assigning codes of permissions and limitations of accessibility to the otherwise non-devise specific information is truly crucial to organizations or business process.

Cloud computing in the business process

Apart from the question of integrity and data security that is addressed by monitoring and process of limitation, cloud computing in general is truly a revolutionary means for a hassle free, less infrastructure and more process driven business environment. For complex computing and diverse range of business outcomes most large corporations regularly introduces big network and hardware infrastructure to meet the business demands and with the cloud computing and its luring business outcome in the horizon, it is expected that within a few years this large investments in setting up network and IT infrastructure would be relieved to a great extent.

If one aspect is investment on infrastructure, then another invaluable benefit of cloud computing across large, medium and small enterprises is the business process itself which with the easy and multifarious applications and accessibility of data from different time-space and devices would make the business process incredibly faster and for consumers or for people involved in the business process their expected response would tend to be truly based on real time. Most importantly with the large investments on computer and IT infrastructure becoming slowly irrelevant with the onset of cloud computing across various industries and services, it would boast of a level playing field for large and small enterprises with fare, open and competence driven business process.