MANAGEMENT Tips
By Susanne Tedrick
10 things to know if you’re new to cloud computing loud computing has changed how people and organizations consume information technology products and services. Given the cloud’s flexibility and agility, organizations were able to use cloud services to continue mission critical operations and allow employees to work from home. According to Flexera’s 2021 State of The Cloud report, 36% of enterprise respondents said that they expect to spend $12 million or more in cloud services, and 90% of enterprise respondents expected that their cloud usage would exceed their prior plans because of the pandemic. This sped up cloud use and spending has caused some additional challenges, particularly around having skilled resources. According to a recent study by the information technology research firm Gartner, many IT leaders said that they lack in-house skills to handle 60% of their current operational tasks (particularly in the areas of security, DevOps, networking and compliance), and over 50% felt that in 2022, they won’t meet their company’s cloud adoption goals because of a lack of in-house skills and experience. Now more than ever, having cloud computing knowledge and skills is important. If you’ve never heard of cloud computing or are not entirely familiar with the concept, here are 10 things you should know:
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1. Cloud computing is not a new concept. At a top level, cloud computing is the delivery of information technology resources over the internet. Rather than purchasing and maintaining computer hardware and software, you “rent” services from someone else. While the term cloud computing is relatively recent, the underlying concept of cloud computing dates back all the way to the 1960s. It was then that computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider came up with an idea for an interconnected system of computers called ARPANET (Advanced Research 14
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Projects Agency Network) that laid the groundwork for what would eventually become what we know the Internet to be today. In his article “The Computer as a Communication Device,” Licklider described what the internet is—a place where everyone can be connected and access specific programs or data from any location; a precursor to what we know as “cloud computing.”
2. We’re already using cloud computing. Most modern applications and websites are using cloud services to run. If you’ve ever used online productivity software, like Office 365 or Google Suite, then you have 100% used cloud services 3. Self-service. With cloud service, no outside help is needed! Whenever a person needs a virtual machine, or needs to create a document or spreadsheet, they can create them on them on their own; resources are available automatically or near-instantly. No outside salesperson or other party is generally needed to get started with most cloud services. 4. Accessible anywhere, anytime*. If you have a connection to the Internet and device that can access the Internet (e.g., tablet, smartphone, computer), then you can access cloud services any time. * The only caveat is that if the cloud service is down for maintenance, upgrades or an outage, then you won’t be able to access the service. 5. Scales to user’s needs. People can decide how much (or little) of a service they want to use, and without making a long-term commitment. For example, if a user finds that they need additional virtual machines to complete a shortterm data science project, they can purchase those VMs and use them, and then at the end of the project, shut the extra Building-Products.com
