Cloud computing offers a myriad of advantages, many of which are common knowledge among IT professionals. These include enhancing computational power, increasing resources' scalability and eliminating the costs of keeping expensive IT infrastructure on site.
In addition to these widely known advantages of the cloud, there are also several lesser known, yet no less significant, benefits that cloud computing can provide. Here's a look at three of them.
Cloud computing saves energy
Cloud computing is powered by enormous data centers that consume large amounts of energy. In spite of this, an academic study found that cloud computing saves far more energy than it consumes. According to the findings, if all American businesses transferred their core applications to the cloud, such as emails, spreadsheets and word documents, companies would reduce their energy footprint by an immense 87%. This is because on site computers are often underutilized, expending energy whilst idle. Cloud servers are constantly at work, maximizing processing time.
Cloud computing improves production processes in novel ways
Cloud-based data analytics can enhance production processes across several industries, and in the most astonishing ways. A fascinating example is how Fujitsu is using the analytical capabilities of the cloud to improve the production of lettuce and spinach. Sensors inside hydroponic greenhouses generate data, which is used to set ideal heating and LED lighting conditions, helping increase the quantity and quality of the vegetables.
Cloud computing shields businesses from unforeseen disasters
Unforeseen disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, electrical outages or terrorism can quickly damage or destroy a business's IT infrastructure, knocking out the data it relies on. By storing or backing up data remotely on a cloud data center, companies can quickly restore any data that is destroyed as a result of a disaster, in what is known as cloud disaster recovery (cloud DR). Cloud DR thus prevents businesses from collapsing due to a loss of data in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe.
Boundless potential
These examples are just a few making the case for cloud computing as a catalyst for positive change, both for businesses and for society at large. There are many more surprising advantages that cloud computing can proffer that presently remain unexplored, as we are still on the verge of tapping into the full spectrum of this amazing technology's transformative power. One thing's for certain though ¨C the future of cloud computing is looking very exciting and very bright indeed.
