Doing Business Above the Clouds

CLOUD COMPUTING

If you are a close follower of the IT world, you must know that there is no more popular concept than Cloud Computing in the IT industry in recent years.

Cloud Computing, which is called the second big wave of the web and stands out as one of the most important concepts that will shape the business world in the future, is defined as the use and development of information technology resources offered as a service over the internet.

These resources are made available to businesses with a pay-as-you-go model, minimizing the financial and workforce resources that businesses need to allocate for IT.

Cloud Computing is actually an IT outsourcing service on its own.

This concept, which has shaken the world, has now become widely spoken in our country. The economic and social motivations for cloud computing are very high. Businesses demand speed and agility more than ever before. The business world, under the pressure of the crisis, cannot spend much money on IT and needs an information system more than ever to keep business processes and costs under control. Cloud Computing applications, which offer great benefits to businesses in keeping pace with change, with very low usage costs, are experiencing their golden age.

New success stories on the clouds are added every week.

On the other hand, although the giants of the world, which own the dinosaur technologies in the software world, announced on various occasions that they have come a long way in this regard, the independent consultants and columnists that they guide (supposedly) under the name of Cloud Computing and the dangers of the SaaS applications within it.

As Workcube, we offer software services to our customers with both sales and rental models with our software solutions with 100% web-based technology. We are neither 100% defensive, like companies focused only on Cloud Computing, nor 100% scathing, like dinosaur software companies with obsolete technology. There is only one thing we defend, whether by purchasing or leasing, in today's world no small or large business can be successful without information technologies, and businesses now have to invest in 100% Web-based technologies no matter what.

In summary, IT professionals are quite confused about Cloud Computing. Here are the questions and their answers.

Where does the cloud concept come from?

The Cloud element of the Cloud Computing concept is a metaphor for the internet. This concept has started to be used for the internet as a result of both symbolizing it in this way in network diagrams and hiding complex infrastructure applications in abstract terms, almost like a cloud.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is a concept that refers to scalable, real-time, internet-based technology services and resources. The concept of cloud computing is integrated with Software As a Service (SaaS), Web 2.0, and other technology trends that have emerged since 2005.

The complexity and cost of traditional business applications paved the way for the development of cloud computing. In addition to traditional software, additional loads such as data center, uninterrupted energy, cooling, bandwidth, networking, servers, data storage solutions required for this software required significant labor and financial resources in businesses. Also, considering that different software and hardware are used in each department or company unit, it becomes even more difficult to manage these works.

When it comes to Cloud Computing, your enterprise business software resides in a data center, not in-house. When you start using any software on the cloud, you just log in and you can start using the system immediately by making parametric adjustments according to your company. This is where the biggest power of Cloud Computing lies. Fast, practical, and effortless.

One of the most important issues is that the cost of cloud computing is very low. First of all, you do not have to pay for software licenses, developers and implementors who will implement the software, and IT professionals who will manage and maintain the software, so the cost is automatically reduced.

Software upgrades are made automatically and you use it immediately. Even if any development has been made specifically for your business, it becomes a function that is available to all other businesses using this system. Of course, this is also a guarantee of the continuous development and up-to-dateness of the functions and security of the software on the clouds.

You don't need to buy anything to use the software. Paying a monthly subscription fee, which is priced specifically for certain user numbers, is enough to do business on the cloud.

Now, all software solutions from human resources to CRM, from accounting to finance can be used on the cloud, and thousands of businesses around the world meet their software needs in this way.

I want to use standard software, I don't need customizations for my company, and I don't have the budget to allocate for this job, but if you say that you need to organize and develop my work with software, Cloud Computing is for you.

Simple, affordable but it has a great effect…

What are the Features of Cloud computing?

• It is put into use very quickly, so it is very fast to generate value.
• No initial costs or financial investments needed
• For services such as training and support for software use, the pay-as-you-go method is valid instead of a fixed price.
• It is possible to meet your service needs not only from the company that offers the software but also from thousands of people or institutions that use this system as you.
• Those who use the same solution on the cloud create a very large user network and can communicate directly with each other.
• Apart from the parametric definitions in the software, your ability to customize for your company is very limited.
• In most businesses, it starts to be used 100% actively within 1-2 months.

Does cloud computing only cover software?

In terms of Cloud Computing, usage agreements can be made in 3 different categories or in the form of their components.

1. Infrastructure As a Service: At this level, virtual server, hosting, storage, and network services can be used with a subscription system. For example, Amazon provides Elastic Compute Cloud and Simple Storage services in this regard.
2. Platform as a Service: Everything required for the technological hardware infrastructure, operating system, hardware, load balancing, and moreover, can be used over the internet with agreements made under the platform title. Microsoft's Azure investments are made to serve this purpose.
3. Software as a Service: Web-based software that appeals to corporate or end users can also be used over the internet with a subscription system. The use of CRM, ERP, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources Management software in the corporate market is increasing rapidly all over the world.

What is SaaS?

In general, SaaS (Software As A Service) is software developed and managed by a software company that can be accessed by end-user customers over the internet. Unlike traditional packaged applications that are installed on computers or servers by the user, the SaaS vendor has software and runs this software on computers in its own data centers. The customer does not own the software but effectively rents it, usually for a monthly fee. SaaS is also known as OnDemand software.

SaaS applications are (at least initially) cheaper than onsite installation. SaaS customers typically pay a flat monthly fee per user for software. SaaS applications are also inexpensive. Because businesses do not have to buy additional hardware or infrastructure to run the software. So there are no capital expenditures in SaaS. As with traditional enterprise software, there is no need to hire an army of consultants to install the software.

Is SaaS Secure?

Many users using this system say that SaaS is at least as secure as their internal systems. In addition, software supplier companies are also making large investments to ensure that the software is secure and can be used 24/7.

Still, companies have legitimate concerns about keeping their data in SaaS vendors' systems. The fact that they do not have direct control over the system causes these concerns. That's why, when contracting with your service provider, you need to make sure you have access to your data, software, or source code if it's open, now and in the future. Some companies can keep the data inside themselves by keeping someone responsible to protect the data. In addition, it is necessary not to neglect to guarantee data confidentiality in the contracts made and to monitor the control of the seller.

About 5 years ago, manufacturers providing software services on a rental or subscription model had to work hard to address their customers' security concerns. But today, security is a subject that has been studied since less than 5 years ago, and with the development of the internet, security applications on the internet have also improved a lot. Still, it's wise to evaluate your vendor's security measures. These measures include firewalls, encryption techniques, socket security features, system access control layers, intrusion detection system (IDS), and other protection tools available on the vendor's server.

If you're still concerned about reliability, a self-hosted software system instead of Saas will do the trick.