3 Service Models of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become incredibly popular in recent years, transforming the way businesses operate. You see, cloud computing is all about using configurable resources and advanced services that can be quickly accessed over the internet. It offers so many benefits, like lower power costs, no upfront investments, reduced redundancy, lower employee expenses, and improved collaboration. On the other hand, traditional computing is quite different. It relies on physical data centers and expensive networking systems, making data storage and software accessibility limited. Users can only access data stored in specific locations. It's a whole different ballgame compared to what the cloud offers.

But here's the exciting part: now, almost every aspect of an organization's IT systems and workflows can be done through the cloud. It's no longer just fluffy clouds floating overhead. You can choose between dedicated storage, where you have your own storage for as long as you need it, or shareable storage, which allows you to temporarily purchase storage for a defined period. It gives you the flexibility to adapt to your specific needs.

The cloud has truly revolutionized the way businesses operate. It's no longer just an abstract concept—it has become an essential tool that organizations of all sizes rely on. With cloud computing, you have the power to transform your operations and take advantage of the incredible benefits it offers.

The 3 models of cloud computing are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. They all combine to make cloud computing models or cloud computing services.

IaaS, short for infrastructure-as-a-service, operates on a pay-as-you-go principle. This cloud computing service offers on-demand computing, storage, networking, and virtualization. The noteworthy aspect is that the cloud service provider manages and maintains the equipment and resources on its own server. IaaS clients utilize these hardware tools through internet connectivity and pay for their usage on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. By eliminating the need to purchase and maintain their own data centers, IaaS provides cost savings to customers. All major cloud service providers initially started by offering services similar to IaaS. The key characteristics of IaaS include cost-effectiveness, accessibility for multiple users, higher flexibility, and scalability. IaaS cloud servers are made available to businesses via dashboards or APIs over the internet. These servers grant full control over the computing infrastructure to IaaS users.

Advatanges of IaaS

Now, let's talk about the advantages of IaaS. There are numerous benefits, but we will highlight a few here. Maintaining on-premise IT infrastructure can be complex and expensive, involving deployment costs and significant initial investment. The flexibility and scalability of IaaS allow you to make changes whenever you want without losing money on your initial investment. Additionally, you have complete control over your IaaS product and can access it whenever you wish, eliminating the need to rely on external IT resources. IaaS also enables improved responsiveness, making it easier to test and introduce new ideas to users.

So, when should you use IaaS?

E-commerce websites can leverage IaaS to enhance security and provide high-quality services, especially in the 24/7 retail industry of the modern world. An example of an IaaS e-commerce platform is Adobe Commerce (Magento), which can be used as either IaaS or on-premise, depending on the merchant's preference. IaaS is also beneficial for IoT, AI, and event processing applications that require setting up and scaling up data storage and computing resources due to their large data requirements. Start-ups can take advantage of IaaS platforms as they provide access to enterprise-class data center capabilities. Lastly, IaaS fits within most industry budgets due to its pay-as-you-use model, making it a cost-effective choice.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), also known as cloud platform services, provides developers with access to a wide range of tools, software, and frameworks through internet connectivity. It empowers developers to create applications and software tailored to their specific needs. When utilizing PaaS, clients can leverage a user-friendly graphical UI (GUI) that enables seamless collaboration among developers and DevOps teams throughout the entire application lifecycle. This includes coding, integration, testing, deployment, and feedback. PaaS is designed to be accessible to multiple users, highly scalable, and built on virtualization technology. It eliminates the need for extensive system administration knowledge, allowing developers to focus on their core tasks.

Advantages of PaaS

PaaS offers several advantages, especially for developers working on app and software development projects. By utilizing PaaS, developers can save both time and money by avoiding the need to start development from scratch. They can bypass the complexities of writing intricate code, making PaaS an ideal choice for creating dynamic and customizable software.

When to Use PaaS

PaaS proves beneficial in various scenarios. Its built-in frameworks facilitate seamless data sharing and functionality between applications, simplifying the development, running, management, and securing of APIs for teams. Furthermore, PaaS supports a diverse range of programming languages such as Java, Python, Swift, and more. This versatility makes it well-suited for IoT application development and real-time data processing from IoT devices. Moreover, PaaS covers a significant portion of the DevOps toolchain, making it a valuable solution for teams following DevOps methodologies. It's important to note that while the platform remains consistent, the applications or software developed using PaaS can be distinctive and tailored to specific requirements.

SaaS, which stands for software-as-a-service, is a popular type of cloud solution that offers ready-to-use software to users through a monthly subscription fee. With SaaS, there is no need to install or download the software, as it is readily accessible via web browsers. The responsibility of managing the software, including upgrades, lies with the SaaS providers, ensuring availability, security, and performance standards are maintained. The key feature of SaaS is its availability over the internet. As long as there is an internet connection, users can access their files and the SaaS platform from anywhere. This eliminates the need for on-site storage and allows for seamless accessibility.

Advantages of SaaS

One of the advantages of SaaS is that every employee can have access to the software. There is no need to involve IT experts or individually download software onto each computer. With personalized credentials, employees can access the software according to their access level. This eliminates the hassle of keeping software up-to-date on multiple computers. SaaS is particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups, as they can leverage the hosted remote servers provided by third-party SaaS providers instead of developing their own expensive software solutions. This scalable model is suitable for businesses of all sizes, and maintenance is included in the monthly subscription package without any hidden charges.

When to Use SaaS

Knowing when to use SaaS is important. If you require a smoothly functioning application with minimal setup and maintenance, SaaS is the ideal choice. SaaS covers a broad range of use cases and is widely used for productivity-related applications. In many cases, organizations can benefit greatly by choosing SaaS software that aligns with their specific needs, offering more advantages compared to on-site software.

Cost-effective

Do you want to move to a cloud server but are concerned about the expenses? The initial investment that comes to switching on cloud computing technology is what other 20% of organizations also had to face.

The goal of any business is to get profit and get a return on investment (ROI).

Some of the business owners of SMBs are worried about paying for the features that they don’t have to use for their business. The good news is most of the cloud services are pay-as-you-use i.e. you only have to pay for what you’re using and you don’t need to waste money on the features you’re not using.

The pay-as-you-use system also implies data storage space and you only have to pay for the space you require. There is no need to pay for the space that is not required. Eventually, the pay-as-you-use model helps businesses in cost-saving and as a result higher return on investment (ROI) is achieved.

According to one more study, small and medium-sized businesses, on average, find it 40% more cost-effective to use cloud services rather than on-premise system maintenance.

Security

When it comes to adopting cloud computing, organizations have security concerns. Many businesses are worried that if they can remotely access their data on a cloud server then that will be also accessible to hackers, so their concern is valid. But cloud service providers are responsible for providing highly secure services and if any threat arises, they can act accordingly. In terms of security, the cloud server gives more efficient services than the on-premise traditional system, where an association should split its endeavors between a heap of IT worries, with security being only one of them.

Here the fact is, most organizations are at the risk of data theft internally than breaching a cloud server from the outside hacking threat. At the point when this is the situation, it can really be a lot more secure to keep sensitive information of your organization offsite. Obviously, this is all extremely unique, so we should think about a few strong measurements. The key to ensuring security is to use data encryption so the data can be secured from transferring over the network and storage on other databases. Encryption makes it suitable for the less accessibility of the data and also prevents hacking of internal information.

Some solid statistics revealed that cloud computing is secure enough for your organization’s internal data. According to a RapidScale, 94% of businesses say that after moving to cloud solutions, their data security is improved.

While 20% of cloud users claim disaster recovery in four hours or less, only 9% of non-cloud users could claim the same. In a recent survey, 43% of IT executives said they plan to invest in or improve cloud-based disaster recovery solutions.

Mobility & Increased Collaboration

Data access through mobile is easier as the number of mobile users is increasing worldwide. According to a survey, over 2.6 billion people use smartphones globally. These statistics ensure that all people are in the loop. The employees who have to live away from the office or who have busy schedules can access their clients and co-workers effortlessly.

The accessibility to the information is convenient for your traveling staff, freelance employees, and remote employees, and hence cloud usage makes a better work-life balance for your employees.

Therefore, organizations that make employee satisfaction a top priority are 24% more likely to increase their cloud usage.

Cloud computing makes it easier for you to increase collaboration among your employees as it is feasible to share and view information through a cloud-based platform.

According to research, companies that invest in collaboration technologies can increase their productivity by as much as 400%.

Automatic Software Updates

If you have a lot of tasks in the queue then it is difficult to wait for system updates to be installed for prolonged hours. By using cloud-based apps, you can eliminate the waiting hours as these applications automatically get updated and save the time of manual updates.

This saves time for IT staff or also if you have to hire external IT resources for the update, then the automatic updates save you money and time both.

According to PCWorld, 50% of organizations that migrated to cloud servers say that they required fewer IT internal resources after moving to the cloud.

Competitive Edge

In the modern era of technology, there are still some people who want to keep their data in the local space. We can say that it’s their own choice but if they do so, they cannot take competitive advantage of the cloud solution.

The companies who use cloud solutions can take competitive benefits from the solution. If you integrate cloud solutions in your company processes before your competitors get into the game, then you will be further at the learning edge before they switch to the cloud-based solution.

A study showed that 77% of cloud-based solutions give a competitive edge to businesses.