Benefits of incorporating Cloud Computing Technology.

There are many benefits of incorporating Cloud computing technology in the company, such as
reducing overall capital expenditure of the company, having a secure database, and preventing
data from being lost due to physical disasters.
Money saving & Flexible
Cloud computing is able to help the company to save cost being that it provides the company
an alternative of not buying expensive physical hardware and software licenses. When
comparing cloud technology to physical hardware, the company is able to benefit more when
using cloud technology as it is able to provide s ame or more storage capacity at a much lower
cost than physical hardware such as mainframe servers. It also eliminates wastage of storage
space as the company only pays for the storage space it uses, unlike physical hardware which
is often left with large unused storage space. Overall reducing expenditure for the company
when compared to using physical hardware. In terms of flexibility, cloud computing is able to
scale quickly according to the development of the company, it also promotes flexibility of work
practices, enabling employees to access data from the cloud at any location, enabling him to
ability to work off-site and promoting productivity.
Reliable & Maintaining a competitive edge
It is also beneficial in terms of reliability as the cloud service provider helps to protect the
companys data and systems by using multiple redundant sites. Making copies of data as a
backup is called redundancy. After experiencing problems like power failure, cloud technology
allows the business to access the backed up data stored in the cloud, allowing the company to
minimize both downtime and loss of productivity and overall allowing the companys business
to run as usual in the shortest time possible. Cloud computing also benefit the company by
allowing it to have and maintain a competitive edge over other companies as all the data is
stored in the cloud and is easily accessible to the company, As compared to other company
that does not incorporate cloud computing which had to rely on tape backup and complicated
procedures to recover from unexpected problems which is a slow and laborious process. Thus
allowing the company to have an advantage over other companies.

Work Efficiency & Little to no maintenance
Another benefit of cloud technology is that it is able to improve work efficiency of the
company. Unlike passing the work to the next employee slowly through emails, Cloud
technology is able to provide an environment where a collaboration is possible and also the
ability to multi-tenant, allowing multiple employees to work and communicate on the same
data simultaneously and improving work efficiency. The company also benefit access to the
cloud does not require application installations onto the devices, in addition, cloud service
providers is responsible for the system maintenance, Allowing the company to free up IT Staffs
and re-assigning them to work on other important projects that are more critical to the
business.

Services Company can use in Cloud Computing Technology
Cloud Backup
One service that the company can use in cloud computing technology is the cloud backup
service. Cloud backup allows the company to backup data and information to a cloud-based
server, the stored data in the cloud can be accessed by employees of the company. Cloud
backup is able to provide benefits to the company such as scalability, being that it is cloud
based, cloud backup is capable of adjusting storage space to the company needs allowing the
company to be worry-free about limited storage space. Another important benefit is that it is
able to provide is disaster recovery, if unforeseen problems such as earthquakes occurs, as the
data is backed up by the cloud service provider, the company will suffer no loss of data,
allowing the company to be up and running at quickly as possible reducing the period of
inactivity. The backups are automatic and does not require the company to constantly perform
backup updates periodically. The downside of using cloud backup service is that the company
will not have full control over the data as it will be stored with the cloud service vendor which
may incur risk of unauthorised users looking at it. Therefore it is important to include
encryption of the data before sending it to the cloud, it is also important to check with the
vendor if he is able to include any encryption services such as local, transit and also server side
encryption.
Service Models
When venturing to use cloud computing technology, there are many services that the
company can use such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Overall, to fully leverage on cloud computing technology, I
recommend using the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a service that allow hosting of company applications and data
on the cloud providers server and storage systems, consumers are able to access data in the
SaaS cloud using web browsers without any installation on the companys computer. It uses
pay-as-you-use basis allowing the business to pay according to its usage of the service. There
are many advantages of using SaaS such as not having to purchase, install, update or maintain
any softwares as those will be handled by the service providers. As all data are stored in the
cloud, any device or computer with internet access are able to access it, Also, no data will be
lost if the device or computer breaks therefore preventing loss of data when physical disasters
happens. Another benefit of SaaS is that it is able to provide immediate solution for a specific
problem with no upfront investment. There are also many downside of using SaaS such as the
consumers have very little control over the application other than knowing who has access to
it. Although the consumer are able to change various configuration but often has no control
over the agreement with the service provider, maintenance and the infrastructure of the
service.

One trusted and reliable SaaS vendor the company can engage is Salesforce. Salesforce is a
reputable SaaS provider in the line of cloud computing and it is also able to provide a
dedicated hosting server to allow the company to fully leverage on the benefits of using
Software as a Service.
Platform as a service (PaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is one of the services the service provider provides, Unlike the
SaaS where the applications are readily available, PaaS provides a platform and the
environment to allow the company to deploy its own application and services over the internet.
The service provider will be managing the operating softwares and also the virtual machine
itself and also same as the SaaS, PaaS also runs on a pay-as-you-use basis. There are many
advantages of using PaaS such as having development tools readily available to the business to
allow its products to be released quickly to the market and the company also need not have to
manage the virtual machine itself, instead the business only focus on building the business
functionality. There are also disadvantages such as being that the company does not have
control over the operating system and network access, the developers have to work within
constraints of the platform, which overall might not be optimal for high performing
applications. The consumer also highly relies on the agreement of the PaaS providers which
make it difficult to establish an ideal agreement for the business. In addition, as the
development tools are stored in the cloud, when the service goes down, the developers are
not being able to do anything and remain unproductive until the provider restores service.
One trusted and reliable PaaS vendor the company can engage with is Windows Azure.
Window Azure is one of the oldest PaaS provider and in addition it has a function that other
PaaS vendors does not provide which is the ability to mix and match Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS) components with the services found in PaaS offerings, allowing the company to fully
leverage as it allows the company to obtain more control when using the hybrid service of IaaS
and PaaS.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is also one of the services the service provider provides, unlike
the previous services SaaS and PaaS, IaaS service providers is able to provide the company with
virtual machines environments and also connectivity resources to run the company
applications. The company is responsible for the virtual machine such as installing and
maintaining the operating system and applications while the IaaS provider is responsible for
managing the infrastructure hardware which the virtual machine run on. Similarly to the SaaS
and PaaS, IaaS also uses the pay-as-you-use basis. There are many advantages of using IaaS
such as it being able to provide dynamic scaling which is able to scale up and down of the
infrastructure services based on the usage of applications, it is able to quickly accommodate to
applications that either significantly spikes up or drop. IaaS services can also quickly scale up to
the huge increase of demand and scales down when demand is low which is able to provide a
huge flexibility and making full use of resources, it is also able to support multiple tenets which
is important in business as it allow multiple users to access the same piece of infrastructure,
which overall improves productivity greatly. Another advantage is that in IaaS, infrastructure is
made available as a collection of Application Programming interface (API) enabling company to
select specific service. There are also disadvantages of using IaaS services such as placing heavy
demands on the technical resources of the company, the company is also responsible for
making and configuring the virtual machines to run the company applications as the service
provider is not responsible for it. Another disadvantage is that if the company is looking for a
specific infrastructure or service, the IaaS provider may not be able to p/rovide it.
One trusted and reliable IaaS vendor the company can engage with is Amazon Web Services.
Amazon Web Services is a trusted and reliable IaaS service vendor being that it is at top of the
IaaS market and it is able to offer five times the utilized compute capacity compared to the
rest of the IaaS providers. This allow the company to fully leverage on the infrastructure as a
service (IaaS).
SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS Table
Name of services Software as a Service
(SaaS)
Platform as a Service
(PaaS)
Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS)
Definition Service allowing
consumers to access
and use applications
and data in the
cloud. Consumer
gain access using
web browsers.
Service allowing
consumer be able to
deploy their own
software and
applications.
Service allowing
consumer to control
and manage the
virtual systems, but
not the physical
infrastructure
Service provided 1.Finished
application


1.Cloud Storage
2. Runtime
environment for
application
1.Virtual Server
2.Cloud Storage

Advantages 1. Consumer need
not have to do
maintenance on the
virtual and physical
system

2. Consumer need
not have to do any
installation on any
computer to access
it.

3. immediate
availability of a
working solution for
specific problem
1. Consumer does
not have to manage
hardware, operating
systems and
database system.

2. readily available
development tools
that the consumer
can use to develop
their applications

3. Consumer can
focus solely on
building business
functionality
1. Dynamic scaling
that allow
infrastructure to
scale up and down
based on usage of
application

2. Infrastructure is
made available as a
collection of
Application
Programing interface
(API) allowing
selection of specific
infrastructure.

3. Able to run almost
any type of
application as the
consumer is in
control of the
infrastructure.
Disadvantages 1. Consumer has
very little control
over the applications
other than who has
access.

2. The consumer
often has no say in
Service Level
Agreement (SLA),
maintenance
window and
underlying
architecture.

3. Rate of data
transfer solely
depends on the
internet speed the
consumer is using.
1. Consumer has to
work within
constraint of the
platform

2. Consumer is highly
dependable on the
Service level
Agreement of the
PaaS provider.

3. Unable to achieve
very high scale
unless platform
provided has both
failover capability
and auto scaling

1. Heavy demands
on technical
resources on the
consumer

2. Consumer is
responsible for
maintaining and
configuring the
virtual machine.

3. Cloud Provider
may not be able to
provide the specific
infrastructure the
company is seeking.



Overall, I recommend the company to use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) over Software as a
Service (SaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS).
The reason I did not decide on SaaS is that although it is able to allow business to be up more
quickly and running compared to IaaS and PaaS, the company also need not have to constantly
update as the service provider will be responsible to manage that and also it is able to scale
dynamically to the usage of the need of the business but, overall, SaaS is only useful and
efficient in the short run and not in the long run as SaaS has total dependency on the internet
in which the data is transferring to and from the business at internet speed and also switching
between SaaS vendors is difficult as it is a slow and difficult task of transferring huge data files
over the internet. The company often has no say in the agreement with the service provider
resulting of being not able to get an ideal operating system which is capable of running all
types of application services, resulting in a very limited pool of applications to use. Unlike IaaS
where it is able to use all available applications as it is able to run on other operating systems.
Which overall deterred me on deciding on Software as a Service (SaaS).
The reason I did not decide on Platform as a Service (PaaS) is that though it is much better than
SaaS being that it is able to customise and create applications that are able to work on the
operating system it is using, enabling more variety and choice of applications compared to
SaaS. It is also much better than IaaS being that the company does not have to manage the
virtual system and also capable of deploying applications in minutes. However, PaaS has
limitations on their ability to achieve very high scale as the platforms provided must be able to
provide auto scaling and failover capability for all applications of the platform which currently
very limited provider is able to offer. Overall PaaS strongly recommended when the company
only focus on building business functionality but not when the business require flexibilities.
Therefore I did not recommend on PaaS services for the company.
The reason I decide to recommend on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is that firstly, as service
provider is providing the infrastructure as a service, the company is able to look for specific
services to suit their needs which enables flexibility for the business when it requires more
storage or computing power. IaaS also has the most control over SaaS and PaaS, as the
infrastructure is abstracted and is made available as a collection of application interfaces, IaaS
providers is also provide cloud resources available almost immediately when it is on demand.
In terms of dynamic scaling, IaaS is much better being that there are no limitations on IaaS
unlike PaaS that has platform limitations. Therefore IaaS is preferable in terms of control, data
transfer and dynamic scaling, which make me decide to recommend the company to use this
service.
Precautions to ensure security of cloud computing technology.
There are many precautions to take in ensuring security of using cloud computing technology
to protect data and prevent information from being tapped by unauthorised individuals.
Therefore it is important to take measures to ensure security in using cloud computing
technology.
Selecting a Trusted Vendor & Service Level Agreement (SLA)
First of all, one of the precautions to take is to decide on a trustable and reputable cloud
service vendor. It is important as the companys sensitive and important data will be stored in
the cloud service the provider provides. It is important to research about the cloud service
provider that the company is engaging with, such as inquiring the about the physical location
of the data centres, downtime history, the kind of security standard the cloud provider use and
the immediate steps taken when there is a security breach. It is also important to inquire
about how data and information will be stored in a cloud, either no encryption of data and
direct transmission or encryption of data and uploading through secure socket layer (SSL)
internet connection. It is also important to establish a comprehensive Service Level
Agreement (SLA) between the company and the cloud service vendor regarding issues such as
service provisioning issues and legal issues.
High Policy Standards & Encryption of stored data
After deciding on a specific cloud service provider to work with, it is Important for the
company to maintain a high standard of passwords policy as the employees will be accessing
the cloud for the data they need. It is also important to add in 2 factors of authentication to
enhance security and provide better identifications. By having a high password standard,
unauthorised individuals will not have the opportunity to get any data from the companys
cloud which also helps to improve security of using cloud computing technology. The company
also has to provide extra protection to the data in the cloud such as implementing a personal
encryption system, where the information and data in the cloud will be encrypted when it is
stored in the cloud.



Anti-Virus, Physical Backup & limiting access of data geographically
Another important precaution the company need to take is to install anti-virus and anti-spy
software, reason is that all access to the cloud is from a system, therefore if the system is
loaded with viruses and spywares and the system access the cloud for data, it is highly possible
that passwords access to the cloud will be leaked, therefore installing anti-virus and anti-
spyware is essential to promote security to the cloud. It is important to limit information
access based on geographical location of the individual. An example is when the individual is at
the workplace, he is able to fully access all the data compared to when the individual is outside
the workplace and wants to access the cloud, the amount of data he is able to access is limited.
It is also important to have a physical back up of the data as safety measure, as when the
company is relying on cloud technology, when the service is down, the company is unlikely to
access most of the data stored in the cloud. Therefore by having a physical backup readily
available, users are able to retain sensitive information when the data in the cloud are either
deleted or not found. This provide extra protection for sensitive data in the cloud, thus
ensuring security precautions of cloud computing technology it.
Implementing Intrusion Detection & prevention System (IDPS) & Cloud security
auditing
It is important for the company to include intrusion detection and prevention systems in the
service level agreement with the vendor as by implementing intrusion detection systems in the
cloud, which an example of a software is Event Calling, this allow monitoring on the network
for policy violation and malicious activities and reporting to the vendor, this allow the vendor
to take actions such as changing the targeted file to a dummy file and also notifying the cloud
user about the attack. It is also important for the company to engage in third party cloud
security auditing as if the attacker managed to steal or damage the company data, the cloud
service vendor may not inform the company about the loss as it may affect his overall
reputation, therefore by having a third party cloud security auditing it is possible to check the
integrity of the cloud service vendor and also provide alerting and monitoring for the cloud
company.

Relevant points
Deployment models
It is also important to choose the correct deployment models in cloud computing as it is able
to fully utilise the service the company choose. There are four main type of cloud deployment
models such as the public cloud, private cloud, community cloud and hybrid cloud.
Public Cloud
Public cloud is a very low cost deployment model as it allows the business to share
infrastructure or information with others. There are many benefits of using public cloud such
as having increased utilisation of applications, reducing time taken to reach the market,
improving collaborations and also has a wide area of reached, that make public cloud
attractive to most companies. However, there are also downsides of using public clouds is that
it does not provide security to the data being shared therefore leaving sensitive data
vulnerable and exposed to the users.
Private Cloud
Private cloud is a costly deployment model as it allow the business acquire complete control
over data and information unlike the public cloud where it does not have security over data.
The advantages of using a private cloud is that it is able to have reduced risk of leaking
sensitive information to the public, it also has greater flexibility as if an application goes down
in the private cloud, it will not cause all the other consumers to experience a service outage
like in a public cloud instead, it does not affect the other consumers. The private cloud also
allows each consumer to have its own unique security, which allow stricter access to sensitive
data and applications. However, there are also downside of private clouds such that it is very
expensive to be deployed due to the strict security standard it is able to provide.

Community Cloud
Community cloud is a cloud that is shared among a number of organization with similar
interest or goals. The advantages of using the community cloud is that it is not as costly as a
private cloud as the cost Is being shared among the different organization and also unlike the
public cloud, the users of the community cloud has complete control of who has access to it.
The downside of using the community cloud is that when private or proprietary data is stored
in the community cloud, the other organizations are able to access it, therefore it is not as
secure as a private cloud. The different users of the community cloud must also allocate the
costs and responsibilities of the cloud, as the data is being shared by more than 1 organisation,
a strict policy has to be maintained to use the community cloud.
Hybrid Cloud
The hybrid cloud can be the combination of public, private cloud and community cloud,
allowing both security and also efficiency. The advantage using hybrid cloud is that it is able to
be a combination of both public and private clouds which is able to cater to all of the business
needs. However there are also downside of using the hybrid cloud is that, it is difficult to find a
vendor that is able to develop a hybrid model that is able to maximise the benefits of both the
public and private cloud. It is also important for the business to know what kind of information
and documents should be shared and what kind of sensitive information to be kept in the
virtual space of the company to keep it safe and out of reach of authorized users.
Multi Cloud
The multi cloud is the use of multiple cloud service providers, unlike the hybrid cloud which
can be a combination of deployment models, the multi cloud focus on reducing reliance on a
single cloud service vendor through engaging multiple cloud service providers. The advantage
is that in the case that a service of a specific cloud service vendor went down due to
unforeseen problems, the company can access the data from another cloud service vendor
that it is engaged with, therefore overall reducing reliance on a single cloud service vendor and
increasing flexibility. The downside is that in a multi cloud environment, security becomes a
vital issues as the companys data will be placed in more than one third party host, as once the
data is leaked, the company will have a hard time tracing where the leakage of data is from.
Conclusion
I recommend hybrid cloud as a deployment model for the company to use as it is able to cater
to the needs of the company being that it is able to provide both security and also at the same
time be efficient in sharing information to other users. The cloud service provider I
recommend will be Rackspace. Rackspace is a trusted cloud service provider and it is also a
reputable in the line of cloud computing technology service providers, it is able to provide
dedicated hosting services which the company needs to fully utilise and benefit from cloud
computing technology. In addition it is also able to support hybrid cloud deployment model for
the company which is also essential for the business to fully leverage on cloud computing
technology.



















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