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Another definition for cloud computing Is a term used to describe a network of computers that deliver Information technology services over the Internet to many users In an on-demand environment (P. Y. Thomas 2011). As you can see by the definitions above the term Cloud Computing has been defined, yet many of us are barely getting to understand how this type of computing affects the work we do both in our personal life and in the workplace.
In the following pages you will see how cloud computing is the way of the future without it being limited to business applications; furthermore creating a niche in the social media/personal computing we do on a daily basis. Cloud Computing Software has evolved over the years and there are several companies that offer their version of cloud computing.
Not only do these companies offer the opportunity and availability of a product that will allow them to communicate with their peers in business projects with complete security regardless of where they are n the world. No longer will you have to show up tat brick and mortar building to collaborate on a project as there are cloud computing programs that allow them to work together remotely. Think of all the resources you can save by not commuting to work, not having to pay for rent at an office building, and not having to worry about paying any utility bills at that building.
You could hire employees, and pay them a competitive salary as a contractor where they are responsible for all their taxes and insurances with the caveat that they do not need to show up to work. As long as their “come” to work. There is a model for cloud computing in which there is an illustration that represents how the company Cloudscape works their idea of cloud computing for its clients. At the end of their illustration or at the top of it depending on how you choose to look at it, you can see that the users are the ones at the receiving end of the software.
The company takes the information, computes it, puts it through its network and storage so multiple users can access it via not only a desktop, but, laptops, smartness, tablets, and obviously anywhere around the world by anyone who has access to the cloud for that particular project. Keeping in mind the security concerns and assuming they are covered under this cloud, the benefit of the software is easily seen through the savings offered by having people work together remotely. The above diagram shows what a Cloudscape software program can do for you or a company with their computer clouding capabilities.
Cloud Computing Applications are varied and can be separated by the user, for example a real estate broker could have a network set up in which all of his associates can access the cloud for immediate results on offers and or questions reference a property that the broker needs to answer. A student working on a project with several classmates can set up a cloud that will enable several users to go on line and work on the same project without having to re-do someone else’s work because they will be able to view the progress and who has been collaborating.
In the educational group project setting it will also make it easier for people to get the correct amount of credit regarding a research paper. When there is a group of five or seven students, unless the group is mature they will tend to not work equally on the project yet receive the same amount of credit when the research project has been completed. If you take into account the work done on the cloud and how the cloud logs in each user and quantifies the amount of work done by each student then you can accurately divide the credit up in a more even fashion.
There are several consideration when thinking about whether utilizing a clod computing system in which you will work together with peers to collaborate on a project or not. One of the biggest considerations to have is the electronic security of the cloud you are working on. Without being naive about the “hackers” capabilities, we need to make sure that whatever project we may be working on is protected from there for simple reasons such as data integrity or for more severe reasons such as national security if it a project we are working on for work that involves classified material.
A hacker is a person or group of people that choose to illegally enter secure websites for illicit purposes. These hacker individuals are very advanced and usually have a very simple mission statement they follow as a Justification for why it is they do what they do. Security is always at the top of peoples mind when doing anything on the internet, mainly due to the fact that if original work is being produced there loud be the threat of theft to this original body of work.
If the project is sensitive in nature due to a level of classification by the federal government then we seek a completely new level of security we need to make sure we are covered under. There is also corporate security which seems to be an amazingly huge industry where exploiting them for profitability and or hindrance of their competition. Some of the biggest problems we tend to see with cloud computing is the fact that it heavily relies on resources that need other resources in order to make them work.
For example in our textbook we see some of the disadvantages of cloud computing pointed out such as: * The need for internet/connectivity to be able to access the cloud; * The level of security provided by the company offering the cloud software; * The ability to work from virtually anywhere is misleading due to the fact that none all locations have accessibility to the internet therefore causing delays in getting projects completed. The above bullets have been paraphrased from (Bowels, 2010), on why the cloud computing process is flawed and does not provide us with a viable resource we can depend on.
As I have stated throughout this paper in a critical manner the concerns that have been brought up in our textbook are most definitely things we need to pay close attention to. Although there are concerns when utilizing cloud computing, we need to look at the benefits associated with using a cloud computing software program opposed to having employees report for work at a commonly understood location such as an office building. This excel spreadsheet excerpt was taken from the week three assignment where we looked at the cost for employees depending on their hourly rate, hours worked and taxes.
As you can see there are several inputs that need to be filled in order to ascertain how much each individual gets paid. One of the things we do not see on this table is the operating costs for a small to medium size office building where these employees would actually report to work. If we make some minimal assumptions based on what the cost would be for renting a building paying for the utilities and insurance we can safely assume the owner of this business would be paying anywhere around $2,070. 00. , when you add that to the $1 ,300. 0, they pay in gross salary you almost triple the overhead of your business. If you utilize cloud computing software to get the Job done from wherever these people choose to work from and eliminate the taxes by hiring these individuals on a contractor type of Job, then you can cut the taxes, and facility expenses therefore reducing your monthly operating costs by almost two thirds. The contrary or negative aspects of utilizing a cloud computing based software program to accomplish the work you need to get done are some of the same issues you would have when dealing with any other business.
When taking into consideration whether we should use a cloud computing system to more effectively complete work projects and ascertain whether we have a viable system for our business we should sky ourselves a few questions. 1. Is the cost associated with having a brick and mortar office outweigh the savings of not having one? 2. Do we need to have employees physically present at the office or can we get all of our work done on a cloud? 3. As an owner can I rely on my employees to get their work done in a timely manner or will I need for them to come in to an office so I can supervise them?
Answering these questions should be a great starting point on figuring out whether off hybrid model. If we stop and look at how social media works, in reality what we are collaborating on is one big cloud program. Backbone, Google, and Anapest took the cloud concept to a whole new level within their respective genre. When I see my wife looking at one of her friends Backbone page, there is really no collaboration going on, yet the moment she decides to comment on a picture or a post along with other friends then not only have they taken full advantage of Web 2. (Bowels, 2010), they have all of a sudden collaborated on a Joint project. I am sure my wife and her friends do not think about commenting on each other’s pages as a work collaboration because it’s a social media page, yet in reality as innocent and fun as it may be the Ruth is they are working together on a cloud, a social media cloud. By utilizing the web for both business and social applications we can safely assume the cloud is only getting bigger.
I would like to re-assure you that cloud computing is not only the way of the future in both business and social interaction, it is here to stay and evolve. As we have seen with practically all internet related software and programs such as the availability of free e-mail, social media and Google translation programs, we can rest assured the future of cloud computing is definitely an exciting one.