Cloud Computing: Analysis of Opportunities and Potential Threats

This report provides an overview of cloud computing, examining both its opportunities and threats. The opportunities discussed include cost efficiency, flexibility, enhanced productivity, improved performance, and reliability. The threats explored involve environmental security of data, privacy and security concerns, the risk of disrupted business operations due to internet connectivity issues, data backup challenges, and unauthorized access to data. The report emphasizes the importance of considering these factors for organizations leveraging cloud services, and offers insights into how to mitigate the risks while maximizing the benefits of cloud computing. References from leading researchers in the field are also provided to support the analysis.

Cloud Computing

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Cloud Computing
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of various computing services such as databases,
servers, storages, software, networking and analytics on the internet. Globally organisations
are moving their business data and information to the cloud to become more efficient in their
operations and get a competitive edge (Zhang, Q., et.al. 2010). It consists of various
opportunities and threats which are discussed below.
Opportunities Threats
Organisation will become cost efficient. Environmental Security of information.
Provide flexibility to the organisation. Privacy and security of data.
Enhanced productivity. Continuous business operations
Improved performance. Backup of data.
Enhanced reliability. Unauthorised access to data and information.
Opportunities
Cost Efficiency – It will help the organisation to become cost efficient, as cloud computing
will minimise the overall expense related to the hardware, software, setting up and running of
data centres on the site and various other expenses.
Flexibility – Cloud computing will make the organisation flexible, in terms of accessibility.
This means utilisation of right resources will provide bandwidth, computing power, and
storage, form wherever necessary and form any geographic location on the globe.
Enhanced Productivity – Datacentres and other resources for keeping information in the
organisation requires stacking and racking of piles of important documents and management

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of such things. Cloud computing will reduce the need of paper work, and therefore people
can focus on more important tasks and goals.
Improved Performance – Cloud computing runs on global network of secured datacentres,
which are upgraded from time to time, with the latest hardware. This will provide the
organisation with various benefits consisting of decreased latency in network applications
and moreover economies of scale provider (T OGRAPH, B., & Morgens, Y. R. 2008).
Reliability – With the help of cloud computing, organisation will be able to backup data,
recover data and continue business operations at low expenses, as the data can be accessed at
different sites on the network of cloud service.
Threats
Environmental security of data – On the cloud all the data and information is concentrated
at one place, which is prone to target by various attacks but not malware. This is threat for
every organisation that utilises the services of the cloud computing. Cloud service providers
should have access controls and vulnerability practices for data protection.
Privacy and security of data – When an organisation utilises the services of cloud service
provider, there is significant risk of organisational control and security, over the data and
information of confidential nature. Service provider should understand the security and
privacy needs of the organisation.
Continuous Business Operations – There is risk of not being able to perform business
operations continuously, in case there is no internet connection, this will hamper the normal
business operations of the organisation. It is necessary to ensure internet connectivity all the
time.

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Backing up the data – Another threat is the recovery and backup of organisational data and
information, in case of loss of data. Cloud service provider should have efficient data
recovery abilities, which will help the organisation in recovering data (Ryan, M. D. 2011).
Unauthorised access to data – Another issue related to cloud that and organisation can face
is the problem of unauthorised access to confidential information and data. Organisation
should ask the service provider to manage organisational data and level of access to other
people.

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References
Ryan, M. D. (2011). Cloud computing privacy concerns on our doorstep. Communications of
the ACM, 54(1), 36-38.
T OGRAPH, B., & Morgens, Y. R. (2008). Cloud computing. Communications of the
ACM, 51(7), 9-11.
Zhang, Q., et.al. (2010). Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges. Journal
of internet services and applications, 1(1), 7-18.