Cloud Computing: Importance and Benefits in Business Report

This comprehensive report examines the multifaceted concept of cloud computing and its profound impact on modern businesses. The report begins with an introduction to cloud computing, highlighting its increasing adoption by organizations of all sizes. It then delves into the core objectives of the project, focusing on understanding cloud computing's functionalities and its benefits for business efficiency and productivity. The project scope encompasses a detailed investigation into the involvement of cloud computing in business operations. The literature review explores the definition of cloud computing, its architecture, and various service models such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). The report further discusses cloud computing infrastructure, including private, public, and hybrid cloud models. It also examines cloud computing as an emerging utility in business, emphasizing on-demand services, pay-as-you-go models, guaranteed quality, accessibility, and resource pooling. The report then analyzes the convergence of IT efficiency and business agility through cloud computing, highlighting its role in enhancing business functions, customer interactions, and overall productivity. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the benefits and significance of cloud computing in the contemporary business landscape.

Running head: CLOUD COMPUTING 0
BUSINESS RESEARCH
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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................1
Project Objective:.......................................................................................................................1
Project Scope:.............................................................................................................................1
Literature Review:......................................................................................................................2
What is cloud computing?......................................................................................................2
Cloud architecture..................................................................................................................2
Types of cloud computing infrastructure:..............................................................................3
Cloud computing infrastructure:............................................................................................3
Cloud as an emerging utility in business:..............................................................................4
Cloud computing in business:................................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8
Appendix:.................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
With the advancement in the technology, many organisations are implementing the new
technologies in their processes. One of those technologies is cloud computing. It is the
technology that is being used by most of the organisations these days. Those technologies
provide many benefits to the businesses. Not only the big companies but the small companies
are making more use of cloud computing services. This is because big companies have their
own IT infrastructure but small companies find it very costly to develop their own IT
infrastructure (Mell and Grance, 2011). Development of cloud computing has also created a
new era of competition amongst the businesses to build their network and enhance the
businesses. Cloud computing has become a very popular idea and service. This is the project
that discusses about the concept called cloud computing. The major focus of the project is to
analyse the importance and benefits of cloud computing is business efficiency and
productivity. This essay describes the overall functioning of cloud computing and it
infrastructure.
Project Objective:
This project focus on the concept cloud computing. As far as the specificity of the objectives
is considered, following are some of the objectives of cloud computing:
1. What is cloud computing and how it works
2. What are the benefits of cloud computing on the business efficiency and productivity?
Project Scope:
The scope of the project is to know about the level of involvement, cloud computing has in
businesses. This report focuses on cloud computing and its impact on businesses. This helps
the researchers to better understand the intensity of cloud computing involvement in the
businesses these days. The scope of the research is so wide. Understanding the benefits of
cloud computing in businesses help them to take better decisions in order to implement the
cloud computing services in the organisations (Armbrust,et al. 2010).

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Literature Review:
What is cloud computing?
Information technology is the field that is experiencing great development. The use of
information technology tools has allowed the users to make many changes and development
in every organisational process. In context of business, most of the organisations have also
started using IT tools and services to conduct some of the activities at the workplace. Now,
the time has come that each and every organisation is dependent on software and hardware
for their functioning. Cloud computing is the term that is given to an online data base that
acts as the storage device (Qian, et al. 2009). It provides one of the facilities to the companies
or the user to use internet as the medium to store and save data and use the applications
online. Traditionally, suing the business applications was very expensive and complicated in
nature. Whole team of experts were required to install, configure and run those applications
in the company. With the invention of cloud computing, these complicated activities have
eliminated. Now the applications are not managed by the company itself but are on shared
server which is managed by experienced vendors of clouds. Cloud based application are easy
to use and thus user just enhance to make their account on the particular cloud to use the
applications (Buyya, Yeo and Venugopal, 2008). Even the data can be stored at the cloud and
it can be shared to anyone along with having secured connections.
Cloud architecture: Figure 1
The architecture of cloud computing is very complicated and involves 4 layers. The first layer
is the hardware that is also called ad datacentre layer, the infrastructure layer, platform layer
and the last one is application layer.
The hardware layer: It is the layer of physical resources such as clouds, servers, routers,
switches, power etc. A data centre is the centre that includes many servers that are organised
and interconnected with switches and other associated linking devices.
The infrastructure layer: It is the layer that includes virtualisation technologies that is very
important for the cloud applications to run (Zhang and Zhou, 2009).

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The platform layer: This is the layer that includes applications and operating system that act
as the platform to run the applications on it. This layer is also very important as platform
helps in supporting the applications by reducing their burden.
The application layers: IT is the layer that is the most important one in the whole architecture
as it includes all the application that needs to be run. All the layers of the cloud architecture
are loosely coupled with each other and thus every layer has its equal importance (Foster, et
al. 2008).
Types of cloud computing infrastructure:
Infrastructure as a Service: This is the type of cloud in which the third party allow the user to
use some of the infrastructure such as hardware, software, servers, storage etc.
Software as a Service: IT is the capability where the provider’s software is being used by
other user that is running on the cloud interface. The interface can be web browser or any of
the program interfaces.
Platform as a Service: It is the facility where the user can deploy onto cloud infrastructure. In
this, user can develop and run their application on the cloud and cloud acts as the platform.
Cloud computing infrastructure:
Cloud computing infrastructure can be built with different level of virtual technologies. There
are different models of clouds such as private, public and hybrid cloud.
Private clouds:
It is the cloud that is used on private basis. This means that this type of cloud is being
generated by the providers for the single client that can be installed at the client data centre or
at the collocation where it can be used with the permission of the client (Zhang, Cheng and
Boutaba, 2010). It is developed by the provider on the order basis or by the IT infrastructure
of the company itself so that it can be installed for company’s own use. The major benefit of
using this cloud is that it can be controlled by the company and changes can be made easily.
Public clouds:

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Public clouds are the clouds that are made for shared use. The providers develop such clouds
and install the same on different location from the client site as there are many clients of the
same cloud or server (Dong, et al. 2009). This helps in reducing cost for every customer. One
more benefit of using this cloud is that it is easy to handle as third party is operating all the
things. Sacking can also been done easily.
Hybrid clouds:
It is the type of cloud that is combination of both the above discussed clouds. It is the cloud
that has the capacity to distribute the application to private as well as public basis. This cloud
is beneficial as it serves the clients who want their personal cloud and also the clients who
want to share the cloud with other users as well (Krutz and Vines, 2010).
Cloud as an emerging utility in business:
Cloud computing is the most popular facility that is being used by the business these days.
This is because it provides easy access to various applications. The benefits of suing cloud
computing as utility are:
On demand services: On demand services are provided to the user on cloud. Customization is
also the option available for them. The computing environment can be customized by the user
according to their demands and cloud provides this to them. The clients or the customers
provide their requirements to the cloud providers or developers and the n the providers work
on the applications as per the clients need and requirements (Armbrust,et al. 2009). Ther are
various requirements that are important to be installed at the time of making contracts
between the user of the cloud and the seller of the cloud. Some of them are procurement,
account management, service installation, payment and billing etc. all these things are
mechanised in a way so that the process of running and installing the clouds at the client’s
space can be properly managed.
Pay as you go: It is the service that can be paid according to its usage per minute. The user
can pay according to the time the application of the server is used by the user rather than
paying on monthly basis. This provides an ease for the customers as they do not have to pay
on a monthly basis.

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Guaranteed quality: the environment or the services that are provided by clouds are
guaranteed with the quality and serve the same quality that has been claimed at the time of
agreement (Marston, et al. 2011). Quality provided to the customers is very high because the
companies or the third party providers that are serving the clients with cloud services are
specialised in this and have great IT infrastructure as compared to individual IT
infrastructures of the companies.
Accessibility: It is very easy access the cloud computing services as they are light in nature
and can be installed very easily and has user friendly interface.
Resource pooling: It is one of the major benefits of the services by clouds. The providers of
the services allow the user to use the services on pooled or shared basis. Single service can be
provided to multiple users at the same time (Truong, D., 2010). This concept of resource
pooling is not dependent on the location of the server or the client. Pooling does not mean
sharing the data but it is just about sharing the infrastructure or the software. The major
benefit for using this resource pooling is cost. It decreases the cost for the user as more than
one user is using the cloud at a time.
The organisations selling the cloud services have to retain the buyers and thus have to
provide the effective services to them. Forecasting is the very important factor that is required
in cloud computing business. This is because over capacity if the cloud results in increasing
of cist and under capacity of the cloud may results in losing the customers.
Cloud computing in business:
Cloud computing is the convergence of two types of information technology trends. The first
trend is IT efficiency. The use of cloud computing services increases the power and the
efficiency of computer system. The hardware and software of the computer system can be
used in more efficient manner with the association of cloud computing services. The next
trend is business agility. In this the IT tools can be used by the business or the companies for
the purpose of business analytics, rapid deployment, batch processing etc. that increases the
productivity of the company (Gupta, Seetharaman and Raj, 2013). As competition is
increasing day by day thus it is very important to inculcate IT tools in the business functions
so that the companies can withstand the market competition. The major goals of businesses

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these days are to earn more and more profits by putting minimal inputs. For this, many of the
businesses turned their way to cloud computing. Cloud computing is a booming industry in
the world and many companies are providing clouds computing applications and database to
their customers. Some of the big names of this industry are Google, Amazon, IBM, Yahoo;
Microsoft etc. each of the companies named here have different fields and thus provide
different types of clouds to the customers (Avram, 2014).
When cloud computing enters the business world, it has been analysed that rapid
improvement is being observed in the way the business functions, interact with the
customers, perform business activities etc. it has been analysed that most of the companies
are using the facilities of clouds and perform all the activities on clouds (Armbrust, et
al.2010). There are many benefits of using cloud computing in the business. It does not only
increase the efficiency of the business but also increase the productivity of the same.
Following are some the justification that describes that how cloud computing has its impact
on efficiency and productivity of the business.
Cost saving: cloud computing is the technique that is one of the most cost effective methods
that can help in improving the IT infrastructure of the business. This is because it provides
pay-as-you-go option in which the users can pay as per the usage of the service and not only
monthly basis. This makes it very reasonable for the business to use cloud services. The
company can have many other spending by using cloud computing such as purchase of
hardware and software, spending on storage and networking, reduced operational cost. The
major concern here is that use of cloud computing reduces the operational cost of the
company and thus the per-unit cost of the company also reduced (Hofmann and Woods,
2010). This enhances the productivity of the company as well as allows the company to
produce or provide the services in more efficient way to the end customers. It requires a great
planning by the company. The company or the business becomes more efficient and
implementing new things quickly and without much spending.
Reliable: Using reliable services is very important to be efficient in operations and
functioning of the business. Cloud computing is the service that is realised to be very reliable
then the personal data centres. Traditionally most of the companies build their own data
centres and function on the basis of those data centres. The major risk associated with using

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the personal datacentre is server load. The issue in the sever leads to high loss to the company
thus using the servers that are available on clouds helps the company to eliminate such a risk
prone activities to happen.
Mobility: It is one of the benefits of using cloud computing and cloud application that there
are mobile in nature. It is the most important characteristics of cloud computing that make the
work at the business more efficient (Stanoevska-Slabeva, et al. 2009). This is because it is
very easy to access the clouds on any of the devices. Staff can easily collaborate with each
other and there are no boundations for workers to use the data at a particular point. The data
can be accessed by any of the employee from anywhere in the world. Thus, unless the
company spent a large amount of money on building a great IT infrastructure it cannot
compete with the cloud provider services.
Security: Security is another major reason why businesses are using cloud computing these
days. It has been analysed that data that is uploaded on the servers of clouds are very much
secured by the providers. When the data is stored on clouds, it can be accessed even when
there is any issue in the system. There are many policies and procedures that are associated
with the contract of having contracted of clouds with the providers thus cloud computing is
much secured way (Kaufman, 2009). As the data always remains on server thus it can be
deleted from every system which may be using the data for wrong means.
Immediacy: It is the most important benefit of cloud computing. It has been analysed that the
traditional applications of software used to take weeks or months to get installed and
configured but the new applications of cloud computing can be installed in a day and can be
used very easily (Hoberg, Wollersheim and Krcmar, 2012). It resolves the immediate issues
of the company and thus the productivity of the company perform their tasks increases.
Recovery and backup: when the data is stored o the cloud, it is comparatively very easy to
restore the data rather than taking data from the physical device. Any physical harm to these
devices can also rupture the data inside but clouds do not have such drawbacks. The case of
data loss is also very less in case of cloud computing and storage rather than the physical
storage devices.
All the above discussed benefits of cloud computing in businesses provide efficiency and
productivity of the company and its functions this is because all the data that has been

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traditionally stored in the hardware devices are now stored at the data centres which are safest
place to store the same (Weinhardt,et al. 2009). The use of cloud computing has enhanced the
efficiency of the businesses these days. Now, not only the big businesses but the small
companies can also have access to higher technologies and also can have wider reach because
of the tools of cloud computing. Earlier where only the big companies have the power to
make their own infrastructure, now the small scale businesses use these clouds instead and
can manage the things in their budget.
Conclusion:
It has been concluded from the report that advancement in technology is bringing change in
many things from daily lives to business processes. Most of the businesses are using IT tools
for the all the functions and the activities they perform as it is believed that IT tools helps in
enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the organisations. Cloud computing is one of
those services or facilities that is used by all. Cloud computing is the term that is given to an
online data base that acts as the storage device. It provides one of the facilities to the
companies or the user to use internet as the medium to store and save data and use the
applications online. It is very beneficial to use clouds computing technology at the
organisation. This is because implementing cloud computing at the workplace is very cheap
as compared to the personal IT infrastructure. It has been realised that it provides the facility
to aces the data easily and the data remained secured at the cloud data centres. Other benefits
of using cloud computing at the workplace are mobility, reliability, cost saving etc.
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Patterson, D., Rabkin, A., Stoica, I. and Zaharia, M., 2010. A view of cloud
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Patterson, D., Rabkin, A., Stoica, I. and Zaharia, M., 2010. A view of cloud
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Patterson, D.A., Rabkin, A., Stoica, I. and Zaharia, M., 2009. Above the clouds: A berkeley

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Appendix:
Figure 1:
Layers of cloud computing: