Trillions of dollars are being poured into tech spending by some of America’s biggest companies every year. That figure doesn’t even take into account the huge investments being made by small businesses that are looking to jump on the tech bandwagon to make their rag-tag operations more efficient.
As you look to implement or better understand where a lot of the technology investments companies are making are going, we recommend looking into one bit of innovation that may be growing faster than any other tech category… Cloud computing.
In this post, we dive into cloud computing facts to help you better understand its various concepts and benefits. Keep reading to appreciate why adopting cloud computing workflows might be a solution worth exploring!
Table of Contents
1. Cloud Computing Happens Off-Site
The idea of “the cloud” is an elusive one that tends to escape most tech novices. Put simply, the cloud is a computer/server that exists somewhere else in the world. Rather than your computer processing whatever tasks you’re doing locally, it uses the internet and asks a cloud/remote-based computer to do the processing for it.
This turns your local computer into, essentially, a monitor that’s streaming the labor an external machine is doing on its behalf. Consequently, the cloud has made it so the computers you own can be much less powerful than they would traditionally need to be to complete high-end tasks.
2. Investments in the Cloud Are Growing Rapidly
We alluded to the fact that cloud computing was becoming a popular type of technology to adopt. How popular that tech is is better described in numbers!
As of 2020, thanks to ample investment from thousands of businesses, cloud computing is worth 411 billion dollars. As companies invest even more than they were anticipating due to COVID-19 forcing many of their employees to work from home, we expect 411 billion to look even bigger in 2021.
3. The Cloud Goes Beyond Data Storage
When we talk to people interested in cloud computing facts, most of them are curious about data storage. That isn’t surprising given that most people’s introduction to the cloud comes in the way of Dropbox or Google Drive.
While cloud-based data storage is a useful appendage of the cloud, know that cloud technology goes beyond that. Today, whole applications like QuickBooks, Wix, Microsoft Office, and more all operate 100% in the cloud.
4. Businesses and Consumers Love Cloud Applications
Don’t think that the cloud is reserved for the business space. While there are plenty of extraordinary uses for the cloud in the business sector, consumers love the cloud as well.
Have you ever used Netflix? If you have, you’ve leveraged one of the most popular consumer cloud applications.
Netflix uses a series of supercomputers to play movies which you then stream the results of through your local machines online. That’s a classic cloud-based workflow that enables movies to be played on low-end devices that can’t manage that process.
5. The Cloud Brings Security Challenges
We can’t run through cloud computing facts without touching on security. After all, a data breach can cost a business, on average, almost 4 million dollars.
Since the cloud passes information from an offsite computer/server to your local machine, your data is more prone to interception than it would be if your tasks were taking place on your local machine. This has led to substantial investment from cloud companies in encryption.
So, is the cloud safe? If you’re working with a reputable company, mostly. It’s still worth it to carry with you healthy skepticism though.
Ensure that when you’re connected to the internet, it is through a password protected WIFI connection. Using a VPN can also help guard against cloud data leaks.
6. 5G Will Propel Cloud Adoption
The big downside to cloud computing is that, to use it effectively, you have to have a speedy internet connection. While that’s not a problem when you’re using cloud applications at home, it could be an issue if your idea is to work on the road.
Fortunately, 5G is coming and with its incredible speeds, you may be able to achieve at-home internet speeds from anywhere in the United States.
As 5G improves, expect people to more confidently jump into the cloud computing space.
7. Getting Started With Cloud Storage Is Free
Not sure if the cloud is for you? Still having trouble understanding it? If so, give it a try for free!
From Netflix to Google Drive, several cloud applications offer “freemium” services or free trials. Find a free service that you’d be interested in exploring and take note of how interfacing with cloud applications works so you can better learn how cloud computing can help businesses and consumers.
8. Cloud Tech Keeps Improving
The cloud is getting better every day. Applications are transmitting data faster and can manage more laborious tasks.
15 years ago, you could expect the cloud to store your data. Now, people are playing console-quality video games over cloud connections!
9. Cloud Applications Don’t Require Updates
When you compute locally, you need to download updates to keep your software current. In the cloud, updates happen remotely which means that when you log into your cloud applications, they’re always running their newest version.
That alone may well be worth adopting cloud applications if you can’t stand managing software changes.
We Hope Our Cloud Computing Facts Inspire You to Innovate
Reading all of the cloud computing facts in the world won’t innovate your company’s workflows. We hope that you take things a step further and use what you learned to invest more resources into cloud adoption.
Our team is confident that doing so will be a win for your workflows!
For more information on the benefits of cloud computing, check out additional content on our blog.
