☁️The Cloud: The technology at the forefront of Digital Transformation | by Leatitia Hudson☁️
Cloud Computing (also known as cloud technology and the cloud) is a breakthrough technology that is at the forefront of digital transformation. It is revolutionising how businesses operate, innovate, provide new services, and generate revenue.
It is the catalyst for new business models, providing a launchpad towards infinite possibilities for organisations leveraging this technology. Organisations that are resistant to change and slow to adopt new technologies such as the cloud will suffer the consequences and be left behind!
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation can be defined as:
‘When an organisation uses new digital technologies, such as public, private, and hybrid cloud platforms to create or modify business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet the needs of changing business and market dynamics.’ (Source: Google Cloud Digital Leader Certification Pathway)
What is Cloud Computing?
“The cloud is a metaphor for the network of data centres which store and compute information that is available through the Internet.” (Source: Google Cloud Digital Leader Certification Pathway)
The cloud consists of a mixture of software, computers, networks and security systems.
🎯 Top Tip: You don’t need to know the technical ins and outs of cloud computing technology. Understanding what the cloud can do as well as the scale and power of the cloud is crucial to staying competitive in an era where digital transformation is happening at a rapid pace!
Data Architecture
What is data architecture?
“A data architecture describes how data is managed--from collection through to transformation, distribution, and consumption. It sets the blueprint for data and the way it flows through data storage systems. It is foundational to data processing operations and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.” IBM
👀 Let’s take a look at some of the ways organisations can set up their data architecture:
On-Premises (often abbreviated to on-prem): Traditionally, IT infrastructure was located on-premises. On-premises can be described as hardware and software applications that are hosted on-site and are managed by expert personnel.
Industries that work with highly regulated sensitive data such as finance, healthcare and government can be required to store certain types of data on-premises as a regulatory requirement.
Benefits and Drawbacks of On-premises
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Do not require third-party access giving organisations physical control over the hardware and software | Difficult to scale when demand spikes, due to a number of factors such as purchasing new hardware, paying to get the hardware installed and in some cases needing to purchase more space. |
| Organisations do not need to pay for ongoing access as is required with the cloud computing subscription models. | On-premises requires ongoing maintenance and management due to the requirement of a physical space with sufficient power and cooling as well as staff to manage and secure the area which can be costly. |
| Susceptible to high overheads as organisations usually acquire more computing resources than they actually need. |
Benefits & Drawbacks of Cloud Computing
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Scalable as subscribing to a cloud provider means that an organisation has access to scalable cloud resources at their fingertips. | Relies on an internet connection traditional computing uses hardwired connection to access data on storage devices or servers. |
| Flexible cloud services can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. | Technical issues can impact performance and connectivity, blocking your company from being able to access the service until the issue has been solved. |
| Cost efficient and effective as services can be scaled up or down based on the business requirements. You only pay for the resources that you actually use. You can quickly scale without the need to invest in physical infrastructure. | Security concerns despite reputable cloud computing providers offering advanced security with their services there are still concerns about security risks, data privacy and online threats. |
| Agile as organisations can quickly deploy new applications by scaling up their cloud usage without the worry of having to scale their own infrastructure. | Cloud provider downtime (Google cloud 2022 example) |
| Strategic value as many cloud service providers invest heavily in innovation, offering competitive advantages to organisations who subscribe to their services, as well as the environment to innovate and try new ideas. | |
| Advanced Security with top security experts advising solutions, automatic maintenance and regular updates. | |
| Data Loss Protection Cloud providers offer disaster recovery and backup features. |
Cloud infrastructures
There are 4 different types of cloud infrastructures currently available. The type of cloud infrastructure selected is dependent on the business use case.
Explained below are the 4 types of cloud infrastructures:
- Private Cloud is a cloud service dedicated to a single organisation and is also known as an internal cloud or corporate cloud.
- Public Cloud is a cloud service model offered by third-party providers to make cloud computing services available to individuals and organisations. These are available on demand and over the internet.
Public Cloud computing Service Models (with associated links that go into more depth on each public cloud environment)
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
- PaaS (Platform as as Service)
- SaaS (Software as a Service)
- Serverless
3. A Hybrid Cloud (sometimes called a cloud hybrid) is a computing environment that combines an on-premises data centre (also called a private cloud) with a public cloud” Microsoft Azure
4. Multi-Cloud is where a company/organisation uses multiple cloud computing services from different cloud service providers.
Cloud Service Providers (CSP)
There are many cloud service providers (CSPs) available, I have listed the 5 key market leaders in the cloud computing space below:
Find out more about the above providers by clicking on the associated links. Each cloud service provider (CSP) offers their own cloud certifications for a more in-depth view of their product offering.
Real World Application: Industry examples
Cognitive City: NEOM The World’s First Cognitive City
NEOM, located in Tabuk Saudi Arabia, is a cognitive city under construction that aims to use data to put the needs of humans and the environment first. NEOM is pushing the boundaries of what is possible and has launched major projects such as The Line and Oxagon.
“A cognitive city leverages 95% of the data that it produces to create predictive insights that change people’s experiences…If you’re going to analyse it you have to have the computing power.” Joseph Bradley
NEOM selected Oracle Cloud to provide cloud infrastructure to its $500m hyper-scale data centre in the new cognitive city.
Super Apps: Careem
A super App is an integrated App offering multiple services in one place, Careem is a market leader in this space. Super apps leverage customer data to offer multiple services in one place, making it more convenient for the customer and limiting the number of background checks, sign-ups and inputs needed when logging into a new app. Additionally, it decreases the number of apps that you will need on your devices.
Careem has experienced exponential growth, from starting out as a ride-hailing company and expanding their product offering to delivery, bike rental, groceries, car rental and more. It has therefore been VITAL to implement a cloud infrastructure so that they can meet the demands of their business scaling needs.
💬 Share your key takeaway from this article in the comments section!
This blog was written by Leatitia Hudson, a Data coach at Multiverse.