Introduction
Cloud computing is one of the main accelerator tools for the digital transformation of companies. It allows you to store, access and manage data and applications over the Internet, in a cost-effective, efficient and flexible way. Every lawyer specialized in data protection must understand the reasons that lead a company to migrate its servers to the cloud, and know the general aspects of its characteristics, its adoption, its use and its cost model. In this article we introduce the concept and the main advantages of cloud computing.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing orcloud computing” is a concept that refers to a generic service used by both organizations and individuals to flexibly size the server that supports their technological needs, making it larger or smaller.
Talk about cloud is talking about versatility
Traditionally, companies have provided computer solutions by installing the software on local machines, installed in their own facilities. This form of work, known as on-premise, requires having a complex and expensive IT infrastructure, which must be equipped with security measures such as fire safeguards, insulation, cooling, anti-theft, physical access control, backup copy dumps, etc.
The two main problems of the model on-premise are:
- The maintenance and updating of all hardware and software infrastructure.
- Server sizing: A tight sizing has the risk of quickly becoming obsolete when new needs arise and oversizing, despite being more advisable, will make the company pay for hardware that will not be used during the first years.
computing in cloud comes to solve these problems. Cloud service providers offer businesses the ability to rent scalable servers, typically on a pay-as-you-go model, allowing them to quickly scale up or down their computing power as needed.
The main advantages of working in the cloud are:
- Greater control of spending on information technologies:
- There is a move from an expense and investment model for the purchase of local servers (Capital Expenditure – CAPEX) to an expense for operation and service (Operational Expense – OPEX).
- Costs and worries of patching and maintaining systems are avoided.
- Payment for resources that are not used is avoided.
- Greater flexibility in the business, being able to access appropriate technological responses to new processes and gain scalability in the system, obtaining global coverage if necessary.
- Possibility of using updated hardware and software, avoiding premature obsolescence thanks to the agility of changes.
- Improved innovation and competitiveness, by being able to assemble and dismantle systems and infrastructure and combine them with less investment.
If you found it interesting, we invite you to read more articles from the blog of Data Protection & Regulatory Compliance Specialists where we will talk in the coming weeks about the different modalities of cloud computing and the legal aspects that must be taken into account when contracting with the main service providers cloud.
