The Rise Of Cloud Computing	1.0/5.0 (1 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Andrew Simmons November 09, 2018

Roll back the clock a few years ago, and the term cloud computing would probably be associated with fairyland. Suffice to say, things have changed, and this is now one of the main buzzwords of the tech industry.

From a website infrastructure perspective, there's no doubt that the cloud has transformed how businesses operate. One only has to look at the UK Cloud website to see the kinds of packages that are now available to many organisations, and this is simply making the technology more prominent.

However, for the typical person, it can still be difficult to determine exactly what the cloud is. Through today's post, we will now mull over some of the benefits which have made cloud computing such a staple of the modern-day website world.

The flexibility-factor

This first point is one of the most important for small businesses. These are the businesses who don't want to spend a small fortune on their infrastructure and would instead rather gradually grow. Rather than installing a huge server at their own location, the cloud system allows them to gradually scale-up on the amount of bandwidth they require as they grow. In other words, they just pay for what they need now - rather than what they might need later down the line.

Automatic software updates

Whether you are part of a large or small organization, you will have probably been in those situations where your website's hardware needs an update. Sometimes, it can take the whole thing offline, and your users are left with one of those frustrating holding pages that simply encourage them to take their business elsewhere.

Suffice to say, cloud computing is much more flexible. As the servers are completely off site, the cloud supplier takes care of everything. They can generally do this at scale and install an update in a flash, meaning that your website and systems aren't impacted in the slightest.

It can make websites incredibly fast

This next point might not be relevant in all situations, but if you are planning to tap into a CDN then it completely is. A CDN is somewhat different to typical cloud computing, as it is based on multiple servers located in different points around the world. It will use the server that is closer to the end user and therefore provide a direct speed benefit.

As such, if you are just purchasing a cloud service you might not be gifted with such advantages. However, delve deeper into the cloud and such an option does become available - and the benefits for your website users (and possibly your conversion rates) are there for all to see.

It is more secure

Next on the list is security, a word that is on the tip of everyone's tongues right now. This point relates to the update-factor we mentioned some time ago, and how cloud computing systems do tend to be much more up-to-date. After all, these systems are being continuously updated, and this means that they are closing all of the loopholes that hackers seem to find so easily.

Additionally, as everything is living in the "cloud", suddenly that lost laptop doesn't seem as damaging as it once might have been.