Cloud Computing for Increased Business Value

According to Haag and Cumming (2010), cloud computing is a technology model is which any and all resources-application software, processing power, data storage, backup facilities, development tools literally everything-are delivered as a set of services via the Internet. Users of this technology can access the provided services on the Internet without having any previous operational knowledge. Cloud computing can be seen as a beneficial tool for businesses for several reasons: businesses can have lower cost computers for users, it lowers the costs of IT infrastructures, drives to lower software costs, is able to improve compatibility between operating systems, and provides the ability for multiple users to collaborate on projects or documents in the cloud. Although, like all technology, cloud computing services have many drawbacks as well such as the use of this technology requires a constant Internet connection, moreover, the Internet connection needs to be a strong speed connection, it can be a little difficult for users to just simply store their documents in the cloud. Furthermore, data stored in the cloud can be unsafe. But it can be seen that the benefits of cloud computing outweigh its negative aspects. Making use of cloud computing correctly and efficiently in a business can not only increase profits for a company by allowing fewer employees to work remotely, but it can also increase the productivity of a company. Businesses will be able to free up operational budgets for new investments for direct business benefits as these services can reduce the costs of cooling and power, new servers, and server administration and management, it allows businesses to cut the cost of numerous employees for a task that can be completed by a few employees through the use of cloud computing, the hardware requirements can be increased or decreased within minutes, making the service elastic for its customers. It also helps in shortening the time it takes for buyers and sellers to get to the market, its architectures also shorten the amount of time that it takes to process compute-intensive or data intensive jobs. Cloud architectures offer parallelization, which can reduce processing time. Thus cloud computing offers its customers the services it needs to be successful, innovative, and in step with their competition.

Cloud computing applications in small and medium sized enterprises

The economic crisis has forced small and medium-sized enterprises to limit their budgets and the staff that supports the IT structure. However, since the emergence of cloud computing and supporting measures was going, the situation has cardinally changed, because of the below mentioned features of cloud computing are attractive for business solutions. No obligation to pay for software licences and administer hardware and software;

No need for technical equipment for installation or servicing of software; Possibility to reduce capital and operational costs of the IT structure; Possibility to increase the time of business reaction to changes; Possibility to refer to the necessary resources from anywhere in the world at any time; Possibility to integrate in new markets and to introduce new models of business management; Possibility to create new workplaces.

Generally, cloud computing in small and medium-sized enterprises can perform two main tasks. The first task is to support software development and testing environments. In the case of such a decision, an enterprise may obtain from the cloud environment virtual computer configurations with the relevant platforms and work at the time that is needed for implementation of projects, and return them upon the completion of the work. The second task is to get from the cloud the measures necessary for group work and e-mail. In this case, standardized measures are selected from the cloud for each user, are used and returned to the cloud. Cloud computing application solutions in respect of small and medium-sized enterprises are not the only ones existing and are not suitable for all enterprises, since every business is unique, with varying budgets and capacities. It is, therefore, necessary to choose a solution suitable for a specific enterprise. Small and medium-sized enterprises could apply the following solutions developed for software: Small and medium enterprises could use a cloud computing service SaaS, that is, a Softwareas-a-Service, because as the global experience shows, Western European small and medium-sized enterprises willing to apply software under this model. It is very convenient for medium-sized enterprises, because there are no software integration problems and its maintenance costs. Small and medium-sized enterprises could be advised to use a public cloud, because they would be able to use the clouds resources at any time and pay for as much use as they make of these resources. Small and medium-sized enterprises could use the following information system solutions for cloud computing, which are among the most popular ones in the world: Data storage and booking management; Document uploading and management; Human resources management; Accounting management. Small and medium-sized enterprises could apply yet another cloud computing Business Intelligence technologies, which allows performing a data analysis. Before creating cloud computing, enterprises had to prepare data for the analysis themselves and to use data analysis tools, which often incurred unreasonably high costs.

Thus, cloud computing is an exceptional measure providing a wide range of services. However, small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit from cloud computing if, firstly, they have the

knowledge of this technology and, secondly, if they correctly chose and apply solutions proposed by it.

Opportunities and Challenges of Cloud Computing to Improve Health Care Services

The main benefits of the cloud computing in health care services are that it provides users with 7-days-a-week, real-time data collecting, eliminates manual collection work and the possibility of typing errors, and eases the deployment process. A pervasive cloud initiative called Dhatri leverages the power of cloud computing and wireless technologies to enable physicians to access patient health information at anytime from anywhere. Another cloud-based prototype emergency medical system integrates the emergency system with personal health record systems to provide physicians with easy and immediate access to patient data from anywhere and via almost any computing device while containing costs.

Cloud computing is a new model of computing that promises to provide more flexibility, less expense, and more efficiency in IT services to end users. It offers potential opportunities for improving EHR adoption, health care services, and research. However, there are still many challenges to fostering the new model in health care. When a health organization considers moving its service into the cloud, it needs strategic planning to examine environmental factors such as staffing, budget, technologies, organizational culture, and government regulations that may affect it, assess its capabilities to achieve the goal, and identify strategies designed to move forward.