We say this a lot on this site, but there are a lot of uses for the cloud. Enterprises can utilize the cloud to perform several tasks that traditionally required on-premise equipment and software. Over the past decade, cloud computing has been expanding at a remarkable rate, and it’s shown no signs of stopping. The number of use cases for the cloud is seemingly endless. Many cloud use cases are commonly known – data storage, backups, and development tools, for example.
Those use cases, however, only scratch the surface of what the cloud can do. There are several cloud computing applications that enterprises can take advantage of. While they might not be relevant for every single business, any enterprise that uses the cloud should be aware of them. Read on to discover 5 cloud use cases you’ll definitely want to learn about.
Big data
Businesses today need to analyze and extract information from large amounts of data. Traditional data processing hardware and software typically isn’t able to handle all that data – at least, not in a quick or productive manner. Thankfully, cloud environments are more than capable of processing bulk amounts of information without the need for you to purchase any additional hardware. Thanks to the pay-as-you-use pricing model that most public cloud providers offer, you’ll only pay for the data you process. Therefore, you won’t be stuck paying a potentially large flat rate.
Global business operations
Cloud providers build servers all across the globe. That means that even if you business is focused on one geographic area, any data, software, or processes you host in the cloud might be located on the other end of the world. This can open up potential markets for your business. If you host a website in multiple locations, that makes it easy for visitors in those locations to access you site. It’s always important to know where your cloud information is stored so you know how far your global reach is.
Traffic spikes
If you depend on user or customer traffic to run your business, you need to ensure that your service can handle traffic overload. When your service experiences spikes in traffic – such as during holiday seasons for online shops and commerce services – the cloud can take the workload off your equipment. Rather than rely on your on-premise servers which may not be enough, cloud environments allow your service to stay operational even during busy periods.
IoT management
The Internet of Things (IoT) allows enterprise to utilize smart devices, but depending on how many IoT devices you have in your infrastructure, there could be a lot of data to compute. Thankfully, cloud computing environments are more than capable of handling the data that IoT devices generate. That allows your enterprise to keep IoT data processing off your on-premise systems, which might be put to better use handling other information.
App development and app testing
Developers used to need to build a development environment every time they needed to start a project. Thanks to the cloud’s abundance of storage and development tools, that’s no longer an issue. Developers can utilize as many computing resources as necessary right from the get-go, and some cloud providers also provide specific developer tools for building and testing applications. Instances you build in the cloud can be terminated as soon as you don’t need them anymore, so app builds you don’t need anymore won’t take up any space.
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Daniel Hein
Dan is a tech writer who writes about Cybersecurity for Solutions Review. He graduated from Fitchburg State University with a Bachelor's in Professional Writing. You can reach him at dhein@solutionsreview.com
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