What are some of the major strategies and risks behind implementing cloud computing programs in today’s technology filled world?

Running Head: CLOUD COMPUTING

CLOUD COMPUTING

Abstract

Today’s technology world has lot of changes and many advanced features are into the market which makes every process very simple. In the past decades, all the organizations use to store their data on their personal computers or local servers. Time has changed everything which moved everything onto cloud. Cloud computing is one such technology or practice which helped many organizations to complete their works very easy. Cloud computing is hosting all the services on the remote and they can be accessed using Internet. This paper discusses about cloud computing and all the major strategies and risks behind the implementation of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is defined as the delivery of various services like application development to storage, computer resources over the internet on pay-for-use basis. Soon it became a crucial technology as it provides lot of features to the organizations as they can store in secured servers rather than storing in personal computers. Before, all the organizations use to spend lot of money on servers, development environment, servers and all the equipment. But Cloud Computing helps in eliminating all these problems and made all the organization work very easier (IBM, 2015).

Cloud Computing is divided into three service models and they are:

1. Software as a Service: It is a type where the vendor provides the service of the software over the internet and licenses the services by a payment option. This is very easy for all the organizations who develop applications and also for the people who need applications. The user is not required to update the software and there are various kinds of API’s defined to integrate the application (Rackspace, 2013).

2. Infrastructure as a Service: With this model many organizations are providing various kinds of computer resources over the internet. All the hardware, software, storage and other network components comes under the infrastructure and these all can be managed over the Internet (Rackspace, 2013).

3. Platform as a Service: It is mainly used for many application and software development process. It provides all kinds of development platforms, where all the organizations can develop, test and deploy their applications and this is very useful as the organizations can save lot of money on the development software’s and storage (Rackspace, 2013).

With various models introduced in the cloud computing there are also different types of clouds for various kinds of vendors and these are mostly based on the level of accessibility. They are:

1. Public Cloud: These kinds of clouds are accessible for all the users and there are some major vendors in the market like Microsoft and Google who provide public clouds. With this all the organizations can save money as the cost of infrastructure can be split into many users. The level of security in the public cloud is less as they have more scope of shared resources (Appcore, 2014).

2. Private Cloud: This is completely dedicated to an entire organization. This is very useful for organizations to host their data on the servers and it can be accessed only by them. This has more level of security when compared to public cloud. There are two types on-variant private cloud and externally hosted private cloud (Appcore, 2014).

3. Hybrid cloud: It is the combination of two or more clouds with the advantages of both types of clouds. This is one more efficient way of performing business where the organization has host data on public cloud for users and can host internal IT on private cloud (Appcore, 2014).

4. Community Cloud: It is a type of cloud that are managed and shared among several similar kinds of organizations. These are form of hybrid cloud which are built for only specific group. It is similar to public cloud but with an added security features that are available in private clouds (Appcore, 2014).

Strategies behind Implementing Cloud Computing

Modifying all the general services onto cloud is a tough situation to an organization and there are many strategies that an organization designs before implementing cloud computing.

1. Verification for Cloud Computing: Before moving all the applications onto cloud, the organization should analyze whether all their applications are suitable for cloud or not. Because some companies has old systems which may not be suitable for cloud. They should look at all the advantages and disadvantages of moving onto cloud (Meship, 2015).

2. Build a business model: After analyzing the system the organization has to develop a business model that is suitable to operate on the cloud. They should estimate the risks, cost and all the constraints in deploying their applications onto client (Meship, 2015).

3.  Cost analysis: It is one more major strategy followed by organizations in implementing cloud computing. They have to estimate all the costs incurred in converting their traditional applications into cloud. They have to analyze the cost savings, ROI on moving into cloud (Meship, 2015).

4. Downtime: The user should be very careful with the support from the vendor and the user should sign an SLA with the vendor which mentions the possible downtime and level of support. There should not be less than 99.9% of downtime and there should be 24/7 support from the vendor. This is an important strategy followed while we move from traditional application to cloud (Meship, 2015).

5. Data Migration: Every business deals with data and migrating the data from old application to client should be very careful. The vendor should explain the different kinds of cloud technologies and how security applies to each technology.  The user also should know about the possible outcomes from the cloud data (Meship, 2015).

6. Updates: The company has to think strong when they invest in cloud computing. They have to think whether it gives proper profits or not. One more main strategy of moving onto client is, the information and applications that where on client is up to date and there will be less chance of security problems (Meship, 2015).

Risks in Implementing Cloud Computing

1.  Shared access: it is the important factor in cloud computing where many systems share common peripherals like memory, hardware etc. There are many vulnerabilities and security issues associated with the cloud computing. The data that is in shared folder is used by all the users and it is at major security risk (Roger, 2013).

2. Data ownership: As all the data will be on cloud and the user should know whether there is no other access to his data. Most of the public clouds mention different kinds of clause in data ownership. So a user should be very careful in selecting the vendor as most of them are selling private data to others (Joe, 2011).

3. Environmental security: As most of the applications are being affected by serious malware attacks and this in turn causing loss of data. When a user is choosing a cloud vendor he should be very careful in asking all the security measures and authentication rules they follow. The vendor should explain user about various kinds of measures to be taken and he should have proper configuration management. The vendor should regularly release security patches to the customers (Roger, 2013).

4. Data availability and business continuity: All the cloud computing technology works on the internet connection. The user should ask all his doubts regarding the internet connection and he should know what his vendor does if there is no Internet connection. If there is a virus in the system they should stop all the services until they rectify the problem. All these issues should be clearly explained to the user (Joe, 2011).

Conclusion

Technology keeps on changing and all the organizations should be keep on updating their skills and should be forward in this competitive world. Cloud computing is one such process or technology which became very important in the technology world. It solved many problems that companies are facing from long back. It provides all kinds of services, software development platforms, large data storages, many applications on payment basis. This technology will be easily utilized if all the organization follows the set of security procedures. All the organizations should overcome the drawbacks with the cloud computing and should focus on moving their applications and data onto cloud.

References

Rackspace. (2013). Understanding the Cloud Computing Stack: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS. Retrived from

http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/whitepaper/understanding-the-cloud-computing-stack-saas-paas-iaas

Appcore. (2014). Types of Cloud Computing: Private, Public and Hybrid Clouds. Retrieved from

http://www.appcore.com/types-cloud-computing-private-public-hybrid-clouds/

Meship. (2015). 10 vital steps for successful cloud computing implementation. Retrieved from

http://meship.com/Blog/2011/11/18/10-vital-steps-for-successful-cloud-computing-implementation/

IBM. (2015). What is Cloud Computing? Retrieved from

http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/what-is-cloud-computing.html

Joe, M. (2011). Eight Cloud computing risks, and how to quash them. Retrieved from

http://www.zdnet.com/article/eight-cloud-computing-risks-and-how-to-quash-them/

Roger, A. (2013). The 5 cloud risks you have to stop ignoring. Retrieved from

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2614369/security/the-5-cloud-risks-you-have-to-stop-ignoring.html?page=2