Cloud 101: Understanding The Essentials

An array of interconnected computers which form a network and provide system resources on-demand such as data storage and computing power is known as cloud hosted infrastructure. The term “cloud” was coined around the late twentieth century with the emergence of the internet. It is essentially a metaphor for storing data redundantly, in the sense that the data isn’t linked to any location in particular but instead resides in the overarching connections between computers, or in other words the “cloud”.

On the same note, no one can identify the location or boundaries of the internet, it simply exists in the external realm created via networks of computers. The number of geographically redundant computers which comprise the cloud is often very large. As such, tasks can be distributed between them to efficiently maximize computing power. Although the concept is fairly simple, the cloud’s enormous scale and broad range of applications entails a complex nature. This crash course introduction to the cloud will help you understand the essentials.

What is evident is that cloud computing has essential business, government, and personal applications. There are a variety of reasons which we will cover why cloud hosted infrastructure is superior.

Accessibility

The remote accessibility cloud offers for digital storage of files, information, and much more has become paramount. Ever since cloud’s popularization in the early twenty-first century it has been identified as far more enabling than its on-premise predecessor. On-premise infrastructure entails physical servers being set up and only accessible from the office. Nowadays, the majority of businesses in Canada and the United States rely on cloud hosted infrastructure for things like their enterprise resource planning (ERP), which is a digital software used to manage accounting, marketing, procurement, projects, and everyday business operations.

Using any mobile device, one can navigate through secure digital portals to access their data remotely. Furthermore, they can manage and configure their business’ infrastructure from this single pane of glass. The reason we use this phrase is because leveraging the cloud enables businesses to consolidate their infrastructure to a single point of access—via any mobile device.

Of course, this allows for work to be completed remotely. According to a study by Statistics Canada, 80% of employees who worked remotely during the pandemic would like to work at least half of their hours from home permanently. As such, the option to work remotely is widely considered desirable, as it introduces a new degree of flexibility to one’s career.

Scalability

One major downside to on-premise infrastructure is that physical servers have to be purchased and set up any time company growth is expected to combat more intensive business operations. This is very costly, requiring a fully-fledged IT team. Furthermore, purchasing this server equipment is an irreversible action. The upside of cloud hosted infrastructure is that you pay exclusively for the computing power you use. As such, infrastructure can be upsized or downsized according to the fluctuations of your business operations. Therefore, the cloud is extremely cost effective.

Support

Considering cloud providers oversee the digital infrastructure of many different customers, they often dedicate far more resources towards their IT team than any small or medium business could afford. The technicians which are available for any updates, configuration, errors, or any other need are often well equipped to respond to any inquiries or deal with any issues you may have. Of course, the quality of support varies between cloud providers. Once again, consider the alternative. When dealing with on-premise infrastructure it is very costly to assemble your own personal IT team. In fact, for many small to medium size businesses this is not financially feasible. As such, cloud hosted infrastructure offers an ideal solution for technical support.

Security

Just like support, cybersecurity varies with each cloud provider. However, cloud hosting offers protection against data loss due to foul play or natural disasters given that the data is stored in the cloud and not in a physical server which can be damaged. Redundancy is a feature of the cloud which entails automatic backups and prevents data loss.

Cloud Metric’s Solution

We offer managed cloud services with an emphasis on high quality security and support. Whether you need assistance with desktop and mobile endpoint support and maintenance, cloud migration, cyber security training, business phone systems, and much more, we are at your service.

We highlight transparency as a key characteristic of our technical operations and are 100% Canadian owned and operated. This means that all of your data stays within Canada’s borders to ensure privacy law compliance. With nine data centers evenly distributed throughout Canada our redundant infrastructure offers automatic backup and failover.

We pride ourselves in our proactive cloud defense driven by security professionals. Furthermore, we offer multi-tiered, 24/7, support and are always willing to communicate one-on-one in order to resolve any inquiries in an effective, and efficient, manner.

If you are interested in what we can do for your business then please reach out to us to speak with a cloud professional today!