Cloud Computing

Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology (Pty) Ltd is registered with the Department of Higher Education & Training as a Private Higher Education Institution under the

Higher Education Act, 1997, Registration Certificate No. 2000/HE07/008.

BrightLite Electronics is a growing retail business with five branches across South Africa. Each branch stores sales data, customer records, and inventory information on local computers. The systems often crash, data is sometimes lost, and employees cannot access information from other branches. The business owner wants a solution that allows staff to access data from anywhere, reduces hardware costs, and improves reliability.

Using the scenario above, explain how cloud computing can solve BrightLite Electronics’ problems. In your answer, explain how cloud computing works in this context, apply at least four cloud computing characteristics to the scenario, analyse two benefits and two risks of moving the business to the cloud, and suggest practical ways to reduce the identified risks