Potential Benefits of Cloud Computing

The benefits of cloud technology are multi-fold. As with many advanced in information technology, these advantages span two major categories. The first of these is the benefit to the user; the ways in which the technology makes computing simpler and cheaper for the user. The second realm of benefits is that of efficiency. These are the ways in which the technological advance makes computing itself faster and more streamlined. Cloud technology has benefits in both of these realms and that is what I would like to explore.

            Most of the benefits of cloud technology are in the first realm; that of user benefit. Especially in the realm of business, cloud storage and computing has many potential benefits. First, and most importantly, the fact that data is stored and handled by a third party company means that companies do not need to install physical storage devices such as servers to handle their data (Research and Markets, 2011). Also, companies only need to pay for the data space that they use on these servers as opposed to having to pay larger fees for future usage. The storage devices still need to be placed somewhere, but the burden is removed from the business and picked up by the third party company (Research and Markets, 2011). Also, the necessary functions that have to do with data such as backup, replication, and the purchase and upkeep of storage devices are offloaded onto the service provider (Toigo, 2009). This frees up time and money from businesses by offering all of these services at a one-time cost. In terms of the general public, this offsite storage frees up space on the personal computer and allows for its access from anywhere on earth (Toigo 2009).

            As for technological benefit, cloud technology makes relatively minimal contribution, especially when compared to business and private benefits enjoyed by users. However, there are still major benefits. Most importantly, all data is stored, consolidated, and backed up by one service (Toigo, 2009). This makes data simpler to access in this it is stored in one format. A single storage style and format allows the computer itself to work more efficiently. Efficiency is also helped by the free memory space that is allowed when data is stored elsewhere. All in all, cloud technology has many benefits, which explains it relatively quick integration into the world of business and private computing.