Monday, September 5, 2016

Cloud Services: A Marketing Myth or an Essential

The basic difference between the cloud and conventional way to provide internet based services is the server. Cloud services are being provided through the server of cloud computing providers and the conventional way to provide the services are through premise servers of the provider company. An example of cloud services is the online backup and data storage, database management, technical support services, web based e-mail/apps/media services etc. 
Now the question is, “Why are cloud services getting such a hype?” And the answer lies in another question, does cloud services make our day to day internet work simpler or it literally has no significant impact? To get these answers, we have to delve deeper into some of the well-known applications of cloud services and have to understand the ease of working with or without the cloud services. 
Some of the well-known applications of cloud services are –
 Web-based e-mail/apps/media services:  Web-based e-mail services – Hotmail, AOL and Gmail etc.  Web-based apps – Skype, Google Maps, Google Voice etc.  Web-based media services – YouTube, Torrent and Flickr etc. 
 Social Networking: Examples of this category are – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Myspace etc. All the above services are being used to connect, share, spread network, make new contacts, etc. and all the services are based on cloud services so that anyone can access the services anywhere from the world not having bothered about the hardware. 
 Online backup and data storage, database management segment: Google Docs, Dropbox etc. come into online backup and data storage category. And since Big Data has come into the picture, database management has become complicated, so the traditional ways are now irrelevant. Hence adopting cloud services is the best option available. 
Apart from the fact that most of today’s popular services are based on cloud, it is a feasible option for companies too, because by opting for cloud they can save a huge amount which they have to incur on IT department and for its equipment purchase & maintenance. Since all the solutions are web-based, there is nothing to bother about the hardware up-gradation, which literally means a substantial saving for both, the company and consumers. The services which were made possible only due to the cloud technology tell us how significant cloud has become as a part of our lives. We can’t even imagine living without these services as they have become an integral part of our day to day activities. So, cloud services are not just a marketing myth but are an essential need in the present world.

Kislay Bhardwaj
Batch 2016-18
Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

No comments:

Post a Comment