This is the second in a series of short articles to help SMEs to understand the advantages of moving their in-house computing to cloud computing. I’ll be sharing how I helped a charity not only transform their computing usage but also lower their carbon footprint significantly by the move to cloud computing. Today we are looking at five ways we can think about cloud computing.
When I started a couple of days a week of consultancy work for a large charity back in 2018, they were part way in moving their in-house web and database servers to one of the main cloud providers, AWS. Their initial goal was to essentially create the same resources using EC2 instances (which can be considered as virtual machines) on which they ran the various web and database services they needed. Together, over time we started to adopt a cloud methodology and we changed the way we deployed our applications moving to services such as AWS RDS and ECS allowing us to dynamically grow our resources at busy times and shrink them back during quieter ones. In future posts I’ll flesh some of these out!
Here are some helpful ways we found which we hope you too will find helpful to change the way you think about cloud computing:
- Think of the cloud as a utility. Just like you pay for electricity and water, you can pay for cloud computing services as you need them. This can be a more cost-effective way to manage your IT resources, especially if your needs are variable.
- Think of the cloud as a platform. Cloud computing platforms offer a wide range of services, from storage and computing to networking and databases. This can give you the flexibility to build and deploy applications quickly and easily.
- Think of the cloud as a way to collaborate. Cloud computing makes it easy to share files and data with others, regardless of their location. This can be a great way to work on projects with team members who are scattered around the world.
- Think of the cloud as a way to innovate. Cloud computing can help you experiment with new ideas and technologies without having to make a large upfront investment. This can be a great way to stay ahead of the competition.
- Think of the cloud as a way to secure your data. Cloud providers offer a high level of security for your data. This can be a great way to protect your data from theft or loss.
Overall, cloud computing is a powerful tool that can help you save money, be more efficient, and innovate. By thinking of the cloud in new ways, you can unlock its full potential.
My next post in this series will be looking at the AWS EC2 service and how it can accelerate deployment. Our next post in this series will be looking at the ways we can think about cloud computing.
In the meantime, please do contact us and I’ll put together a sustainability computing profile for your business.