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Advantages and Disadvantages of
Cloud Computing
There is no doubt that businesses can reap huge beneᲰts from cloud computing. However, with the
many advantages, come some drawbacks as well. Take time to understand the advantages and
disadvantages of cloud computing, so that you can get the most out of your business technology,
whichever cloud provider you choose.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
Cost Savings
Perhaps, the most signiᲰcant cloud computing beneᲰt is in terms of IT cost savings. Businesses, no
matter what their type or size, exist to earn money while keeping capital and operational expenses
to a minimum. With cloud computing, you can save substantial capital costsPowered
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server storage and application requirements. The lack of on-premises infrastructure also removes
their associated operational costs in the form of power, air conditioning and administration costs.
You pay for what is used and disengage whenever you like - there is no invested IT capital to worry
about. It’s a common misconception that only large businesses can aᲰord to use the cloud, when in
fact, cloud services are extremely aᲰordable for smaller businesses.
Reliability
With a managed service platform, cloud computing is much more reliable and consistent than in-
house IT infrastructure. Most providers oᲰer a Service Level Agreement which guarantees 24/7/365
and 99.99% availability. Your organization can beneᲰt from a massive pool of redundant IT
resources, as well as quick failover mechanism - if a server fails, hosted applications and services
can easily be transited to any of the available servers.
Manageability
Cloud computing provides enhanced and simpliᲰed IT management and maintenance capabilities
through central administration of resources, vendor managed infrastructure and SLA backed
agreements. IT infrastructure updates and maintenance are eliminated, as all resources are
maintained by the service provider. You enjoy a simple web-based user interface for accessing
software, applications and services – without the need for installation - and an SLA ensures the
timely and guaranteed delivery, management and maintenance of your IT services.
Strategic Edge
Ever-increasing computing resources give you a competitive edge over competitors, as the time you
require for IT procurement is virtually nil. Your company can deploy mission critical applications that
deliver signiᲰcant business beneᲰts, without any upfront costs and minimal provisioning time. Cloud
computing allows you to forget about technology and focus on your key business activities and
objectives. It can also help you to reduce the time needed to market newer applications and
services.
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
Downtime
As cloud service providers take care of a number of clients each day, they can become overwhelmed
and may even come up against technical outages. This can lead to your business processes being
temporarily suspended. Additionally, if your internet connection is oᲰine, you will not be able to
access any of your applications, server or data from the cloud.
Security
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Although cloud service providers implement the best security standards and industry certiᲰcations,
storing data and important Ჰles on external service providers always opens up risks. Using cloud-
powered technologies means you need to provide your service provider with access to important
business data. Meanwhile, being a public service opens up cloud service providers to security
challenges on a routine basis. The ease in procuring and accessing cloud services can also give
nefarious users the ability to scan, identify and exploit loopholes and vulnerabilities within a system.
For instance, in a multi-tenant cloud architecture where multiple users are hosted on the same
server, a hacker might try to break into the data of other users hosted and stored on the same
server. However, such exploits and loopholes are not likely to surface, and the likelihood of a
compromise is not great.
Vendor Lock-In
Although cloud service providers promise that the cloud will be Ჰexible to use and integrate,
switching cloud services is something that hasn’t yet completely evolved. Organizations may Ჰnd it
diᲰcult to migrate their services from one vendor to another. Hosting and integrating current cloud
applications on another platform may throw up interoperability and support issues. For instance,
applications developed on Microsoft Development Framework (.Net) might not work properly on the
Linux platform.
Limited Control
Since the cloud infrastructure is entirely owned, managed and monitored by the service provider, it
transfers minimal control over to the customer. The customer can only control and manage the
applications, data and services operated on top of that, not the backend infrastructure itself. Key
administrative tasks such as server shell access, updating and Ჰrmware management may not be
passed to the customer or end user.
It is easy to see how the advantages of cloud computing easily outweigh the drawbacks. Decreased
costs, reduced downtime, and less management eᲰort are beneᲰts that speak for themselves.
Want to understand more about the beneᲰts of cloud computing
for your business?
Contact us
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