The Art of Consultative Selling in IT

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Chapter 14

Cloud Computing

As the name indicates, cloud has its origins from the network topology

that represents connection to services over the Internet. Cloud computing

involves computing over the Internet where users or programs can connect

over a network to applications, software, hardware, etc. without knowing

exactly where these applications, software, or hardware are located. The

connection is established via a communication mode such as the Internet,

intranet, a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or other

means of communication.

Therefore, instead of using a personal computer every time to run the

application or install software, you can now run the application or use soft-

ware from anywhere in the world by the preferred mode of communication

and, in several cases, over the Internet.

Cloud computing takes several forms, of which best known in the indus-

try are social media applications such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook,

which are used daily by millions across the globe.

Users now store data not on their own PC but somewhere at a remote

location in the cloud, be it an internal cloud where the servers are located

within their own organization, or a public cloud where the servers are

located outside the organization. Another example, which has been in exis-

tence for decades, is the use of thin client computers. In this model, local

computers have very limited storage and process ing capacity but they can

give the feel of a super computer. This is because users work on applica-

tions and software that are placed in a highly efcient and capable environ-

ment, which is located elsewhere and shared by several users. They provide

access to applications and remote storage via a (Web) browser. There fore, a

126 ◾ The Art of Consultative Selling

thin client is nothing more than an informa tion viewer that seeks to connect

via a network to the server to perform the desired task.

With these examples, you can understand that cloud computing is not a

new technology but has been in existence for decades. However, there have

been several advancements to the technology, which have helped organiza-

tions to leverage the technology in the best possible ways.

Several cloud models have come into existence in recent years; this

makes cloud computing one of several attractive options for organizations to

adopt. Some advantages of cloud computing are:

1. Cost savings: On demand, companies can reduce their maintenance

costs and capital expenditures apart from maximizing the effectiveness

in specic areas.

2. Scalability and exibility: Organizations can start small and increase the

power of computing on a rapidly increasing on-demand basis.

3. Reliability: Organizations based on the type of requirements can get sup-

port on demand for their business continuity and disaster recovery needs.

4. Faster and quicker: Organizations need not wait weeks or months to get

the services up and running. Several cloud providers have services in

place that can be procured in just a few days.

5. Anytime and anywhere service: Users can access services on a public

cloud with just an Internet connection, thereby improving user experience.

Though there are several advantages of cloud computing, there are

still several security constraints when using a cloud. Despite all of the

hype surrounding the cloud, organizations are still skeptical about deploy-

ing their business in the cloud. Security issues in cloud computing have

played a major role in slowing down its acceptance; in fact, security

ranked rst as the greatest challenge and issue of cloud computing. One

needs to analyze the side effects of security carefully before moving to

cloud computing.

Cloud Delivery Models

The three cloud delivery models comprise a natural provisioning hierarchy,

allowing opportunities to procure services of combined models.