Report on Professional Skills in the Digital Age: Cloud Computing

This report examines essential professional skills in the digital age, focusing on cloud computing, cloud storage, and their sustainability in contemporary business environments. It delves into the critical differences between security and privacy, outlining methods for securing and privatizing company cloud environments. The report further analyzes and compares features of two distinct web conferencing providers, evaluating their applications and suitability for business use. Additionally, it explores the necessary skills for conducting online research and addresses the challenges associated with this process. The report's comprehensive approach provides valuable insights into navigating the digital landscape and enhancing professional capabilities.

Professional skills in the
digital age

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ASSESSMENT 1.............................................................................................................................1
Cloud computing, cloud storage and various types of cloud with their sustainability to current
business.......................................................................................................................................1
The difference between security & privacy and the way of achieving company's cloud to be
secured and private......................................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT 2.............................................................................................................................5
Comparison of features of two different web conferencing providers and their applications &
suitability for business.................................................................................................................5
Skills required to conduct research online and challenges that are being faced.........................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Digital age and skills in the digital age includes various skills like technological skills,
problem solving skills that make an individual able to being successful in their particular field.
This present study will show about the importance of cloud storage and commuting n order to
protect companies and people from external and internal factors. Security and privacy both play
an important role in order to secure personal data and security against authorized access. It also
shows about different types of cloud which are being used by companies and individuals as it all
depends on their purpose and objectives. Security and privacy have some differences as they
protects individuals' and organisations data as it may be personal or official. Many organisations
use cloud computing model in order to secure and privacy of their informations and data and for
that they use various software and follow some steps (Huda and Teh, 2018). Further this report
will cover the features and application of 2 different web conferencing providers with having
different aim and objectives. There are some skills are being required by individuals and
organisations for conducting research online and for solving the problems and challenges that
they face.
ASSESSMENT 1
Cloud computing, cloud storage and various types of cloud with their sustainability to current
business
Cloud computing can be defined as a storing data and programs over the internet instead
of computer hardware. It is the use of software as well as hardware in order to deliver a service
over a network. With this cloud computing, people and users can easily access their files and can
also uses applications from any device that can access the internet. It does not require to have
direct active management by users (Almorsy, Grundy and Müller, 2016). Cloud storage is a
device and model of computer data storage in which the digital data is being stored by cloud
storage providers. The provider of cloud storage are wholly responsible for maintaining and
keeping all the data and informations available and accessible. Many companies and people seek
and buy storage capacity from the cloud storage providers in order to store user, application data
etc. There are some importance of having and buy storage y capacity by companies and people
such as:

Cloud storage are expensive but companies do not have to pay for that tool as they only have to
pay for the storage that they actually use. Those businesses who are using cloud storage model
they can save energy up to 70% by which they can satisfy environmental needs and can also
make their business more green. Companies have both on premises and off premises loud storage
facility or may be have both facilities. It all depends on their relevant decision criteria. If they
want security, disaster recovery, records retention policies and regulations then they can gain on
premises and off premises cloud storage. This model can also be used as natural disaster proof
backup as it has mainly 2 and 3 backup servers located at different places around the world.
Cloud storage and cloud computing model provides global scale, agility and durability to
organisations who buy or lease cloud computing for storing data.
There are mainly 4 types of cloud based on deployment model which are described as follows:
Public: Public cloud storage means cloud storage service provider do not have the
responsibility to access their data as this model is established in the enterprises. Whole cloud
computing model and infrastructure is located within the premises of a cloud computing
company that offers cloud services. In this type location remains separate from the customers
and they do not have responsibility to have physical control. In leading data centres, Global Dots
provides public cloud services. This type of clouds uses shared resources and they mostly do
excel (Rittinghouse and Ransome, 2016.).
Private: This private cloud also offers the same services as public cloud but they use
private hardware. Private cloud defines to use cloud network and services wholly by an
individual company and customer. This type of cloud is not shared with anyone because it is
remotely located. It is also known as mobile cloud storage. The company can have an option to
choose on premises private cloud but it is more expensive. It is beneficial because in this type
customer and a company have responsibility and a physical control over the infrastructure. In
this type of cloud control as well as security level is highest than other. Global Dots also provide
worldwide private cloud services (Huda and et.al., 2017).
Hybrid: Hybrid cloud is a mixture of having both public as well as private clouds
computing and storage depending on the objective and the purpose of an individual and a
company. The main aim of using and purchasing hybrid data is, a company can easily interact
with their customer and also keep their data and informations secured through a private cloud.

Community cloud: This type of cloud refers an infrastructure that are being shared by
organisations as they share their data & data management concerns. For instance, This type of
cloud can exist to a Government of a single country. Community cloud have both options and
can be located off premises and on premises (Tømte and et.al., 2015).
Based on the services , the cloud model offers infrastructure, platform, storage and
software. Example of infrastructure as a service cloud are Flexiscale, Amazon & Rack space.
Examples of Platform as a services are Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine etc. Google Docs
and Gmail are the examples of software as a service.
The difference between security & privacy and the way of achieving company's cloud to be
secured and private
As we can see that technology is increasing rapidly so it creating various problems
related safety, security and privacy. In this technology world not only technical teams and IT
professionals need to worry but also it is important to understand the issues related security &
privacy by everyone in terms of cybersecurity. There are much differences between security and
privacy and they both play an important for everyone and organisations to have the proper
knowledge about. There are some arguments about security and privacy as some people believe
that both security and privacy are closely related terms and an individual can not have one
without the other (Boroojeni, Amini and Iyengar, 2017). On the other hand some people believe
that both terms are different with each other as one can have security without privacy. So here
are some differences between privacy and security:
Security: Security is all about the protection against the unauthorized access of data. It is
defined as a personal freedom from external factors. In digital terms, it refers a protective
measures that are being used to protect digital data and informations from unauthorized users
including ID hackers, cyber criminals etc. It does not guarantee that informations can not be
compromised & protocols help preventing unauthorized access. It has some objectives as
integrity, availability & confidentially and also restrict unauthorized access from internal as well
as external factors. It is beneficial and important to ensure that users feel safe. Security is all
about protection against unauthorized access. It provides protection to companies for their all
types of informations and data that are being stored electronically. An individual and an

organisation can achieve security without privacy. It helps tom protect an individual and an
organisation from other people from accessing their personal informations and data.
Privacy: It is all about an individual's and an organisation's freedom from intrusion.
Privacy in the most important principle of human dignity. Privacy programs focuses on
protecting personal informations which a company collects & maintain. It is the right to an
individual to keep their all types of informations like health information from being disclosed. It
can be achieved by policies and procedures. Privacy refers the capacity & ability to protect
personal identified informations. It protects sensitive informations that are related to companies
and people. Companies and people can not achieve privacy without security. It helps to block
internet browsers, internet service providers and Websites from tracking companies' informations
& also their browser history (Lemmey and Vonog, 2018).
There are some ways and methods that the company can use for protecting their privacy
that helps them to tackle the issues of cloud privacy.
Avoiding storing sensitive informations: It is the main important step for preventing
company's data and informations secured and private. Companies who do not store heir sensitive
informations on cloud they feel secured and fearless. It is the best way of keeping sensitive
informations away from virtual world.
Read agreement: Cloud service providers make agreements which all the rules and
processes and way of working has been written so it is important for companies to read
agreement if they have any doubt. By reading agreement carefully they can save themselves and
their data secured and private.
Passwords: It has been given warning hundreds of the time that do not share your
password and remind your password etc. passwords can be cracked within seconds. It is
important for individuals and companies to choose an appropriate and random words for setting
and creating passwords. They can also add some numerics before the name of the service.
Encrypt: Encryption is also the best way of protecting data and informations. It has some
steps as, a company has a file which it wants to move to a cloud and for that they use various and
specific software with which they create password for that selected file, then they put that

password protected file to the cloud. It saves their files' content as no one can be able to see the
file's content if they do not have the password (Cimprich and et.al., 2018 ).
Encrypted cloud service: There are some services of cloud which provides decryption
of companies' files to storage and backup. It means that this type of services take care of storing
files safely on the clod and also on personal computer. By using this they can protect their data
as no one have chance to access their files not even a service administrator or service renders.
ASSESSMENT 2
Comparison of features of two different web conferencing providers and their applications &
suitability for business
Web conferencing can be defined as an online services by which companies can held live
meetings, presentation and training via the internet. Conferencing can be done either by using
computer's speaker or by telephones through a VoIP connection (Narayanan, Liang and
Srinivasan, 2016). There are various Web conferencing providers such as G suite (Hangout
meet), Skype for business, team viewer, Samepage, Zoom, HighFive etc. The main aim of using
web conferencing is to reduce their overall cost by reducing cost related hotel accommodation
and travel. For meeting they have to go in hotels which can consume their cost and time and web
conferencing, video conferencing make them able to save cost and time as they can help meeting
and activities via internet based technology (Van Cleef, 2015). There are some differences of
features between G suite (Hangout meet) and Skype for business web conferencing providers:
Skype for business:
• It has various features and provides various benefits to their customers as it have the
option of display status including away, do not disturb, offline, available etc.
• It shows availability and online status to users. It is presented throughout the office 365
Suite. Via this customers and users can receives and send messages in real time over an
internet protocol.
• There is an availability of instant messaging for multiparty communication and Skype to
Skype.
• It can also provide the facility of one to one computer based video as well as audio calls
for Skype for business online users.

• It also enables them to connect with users in other companies that use Skype for business
for business servers on premises. It requires correct configuration by both the parties.
• Users can also help meeting with just a few clicks on this for business clients and or in
G Suite:
Hangout integrates with G suite apps that includes Google calendar, Sheets and G mails.
If companies use and began their businesses with the free version of G Suite then they can find
this extremely appealing. It also integrates with other Google products such as YouTube. The
pricing for both Skype for business and Hangouts Meet depends on that if the companies and
users are already using 1 of the productivity suites. It can vary by country to country (Qu, 2018).
It has mainly two billing plans for applying such as flexible and annual plan. In flexible
type of billing plans, users have to pay monthly for the accounts that they use during the month.
They can cancel their services at any time without penalty. On the other hand, in annual plan
type users have to sign up for a year for getting discount. If they cancel early then they have to
pay for the full year as a penalty.
Skype for business Hangouts Meet
It supports for up to 250 people. It supports for up to 25 basic plans or 30
enterprises plans people.
It manages employees account and their roles. It provides option in order to create a number
for dialling into meetings.
It helps in scheduling and broadcast meetings
or up to 10,000 attendees.
It also includes third party plug-ins & apps like
YouTube. and also provide enterprises grade
security.
1080p HD videos. High HD quality video.
Skills required to conduct research online and challenges that are being faced
For conducting research online and for solving problems and challenges that companies
and people face while researching, there is a requirement of some skills like communication
skills for asking questions and taking reviews, critical thinking skills, technical skills and ability
to maintain quality. The main aim of researcher to gain and collect informations and data for

achieving their determined goals. For successfully achieving goals it is important for them to
have the knowledge of technologies and other skills. Some main skills that are crucial and
important in research online are described as below:
Data collection skills: It is also important for them to display persistence by continuing
to have informations in order to achieve a broad perspective. Data collection skill make them
able to think beyond the surface and they can make their research succeed. Many researchers
often stop at the 1st search result and they trust on them and do not find much more. For getting
successful and making the best research they should have data collection skill.
Critical analysis: Researcher have the ability to critical evaluate and analyse
informations which they find in their sources in context of validity, accuracy and importance.
Many researcher think that they are not proficient internet users as it decreases their confidence
level. For boosting confidence and show trust on sources, it is essential to have critical analysis
and critical evaluating skill (Halcomb and Hickman, 2015).
Communication skills: It is an important skills that is required in research online as
researcher have to play various functions as they need to ask questions. For asking questions and
giving answers of users it is also important to have an effective communication including
written as well as oral skills. It also important for developing and refining search queries in order
to get better research results.
Ability of Maintaining quality: For getting the best results in research, is important to
maintain quality. Researcher gets many sources some of them may be useful and some are nit
useful. For getting the best results it is important to analyse the best quality sources in order to
maintain the best quality products and results. It is important as it adds strengths to the company
and in researcher. It is more economical in the long run. It also helps them in gaining loyalty
from others as it shows other that researcher have cast knowledge about particular topic.
Technical skills: It is also an important skill that is very important for researcher to have
in order to use social networks & information tools. It helps them in gathering and collecting the
best and required informations for their further and effective research Ghaderi and et.al., 201().
Sometimes It becomes difficult to understand the line between sharing informations which lead
and create barrier in researching, hence communication skills are important for successfully
research.

Patience: It is also important for researcher to have patience while searching online
something as they have to face various problems and challenges like network problem, to have
emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges. Sometimes,
researcher have to face problem in finding the appropriate answers and due to shortage of time
they do not prefer to wait. It leads stress and they get frustrated so it is important for them to
have the ability of being calm and patient.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that there are some models that played an
important role in protecting organisations and individuals for accessing their personal and
official informations from others. It showed different cloud like private, public, hybrid and
community cloud that has been used by companies and people for different purpose as it also
depended on the size of their company and objectives. Privacy and security also played a
significant role as they prevented company against unauthorized access and from leaked personal
informations. It also showed the methods of using cloud computing to be private and secured. It
has different web conferencing providers that tried to reduce the cost of travel and hotel
accommodation via internet based technology including tele-conferencing, Web conferencing
and video conferencing. Companies and people also required to have proper knowledge and
skills for conducting research online and protecting themselves from challenges that they faced.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Van Cleef, T.S., 2015. The three year journey: The process for developing a business entity with
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dissertation, Utica College).