Cloud services allow businesses to delegate infrastructure management to third party providers to allow them to focus on their business applications and utilize the data to fuel innovation. For example, a company could swap expensive server centers and IT departments for fast Internet connections that let employees access files and applications online. The provider is responsible for the hardware middleware, application software and security, while clients can use the service on demand to complete their tasks. This is especially effective for applications that are commonplace, such as social media or email management.
Cloud providers provide a variety of services designed for large-scale enterprise systems. These include infrastructure as an Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Services (SaaS). IaaS offers the greatest control over IT resources, PaaS caters to developers, and SaaS gives users the least amount of control. These three models let users pay per use, which reduces maintenance costs.
While some may be skeptical of cloud computing, it can provide significant benefits for businesses. Dropbox, for example, lets you upload files and save them directly to your computer. The cloud storage is a physical item that is available in a myriad of locations across the globe.
In addition, cloud services are incredibly flexible and can support different types of environments without locking users into one provider for all their work. Multi-cloud is the result this flexibility. Businesses are able to mix and match cloud capabilities from different providers.