Alright…what the heck is the cloud?

After my most recent family reunion, I had the pleasure of explaining the wonders of Google Photos. My picture- and video-obsessed aunts were low on storage and needed a solution so they could take more pictures and videos.

Now, I probably could’ve told them that the cloud is a network of servers that are hosted on the internet. I also could’ve told them that instead of relying on their iPhones to manage and store their pictures, the cloud lets them access and use their resources as long as they have an internet connection.

Butttttt we’ve all explained tech to someone who really just wants to know how it helps them, right? So here’s what I actually told them: Never mind what the cloud is. Just download Google Photos, and it’ll start backing up your pictures. Once they’re backed up, you can delete them from your phone, and you’re free to take all the pictures and videos you want.

If I told you that 10% of people were using some exciting, game-changing technology, you might not feel FOMO. But what if 94% of the population was keyed into this new thing and you weren’t? You might feel left out…until you realize that you’re already using it, you just didn’t know.

According to Colorlib, 94% of all companies use cloud computing, so you’ve likely experienced the ease of cloud computing through services like Google Drive or Dropbox. And that’s just one use for cloud computing.

So what exactly is cloud computing? Let’s break it down.

Keep reading to learn about cloud computing — what it is, its pros and ons, and how companies like Pinterest and Netflix are using its power.

Table of Content

• What is Cloud Computing?
• Types of Cloud Computing
• Types of Cloud Computing Services
• The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing
• Cloud Computing Use Cases and Examples

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What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of on-demand computing resources — including servers, storage, databases, networking capabilities, development tools, software, and analytics — over the internet, typically with a flexible pay-per-use pricing model. “The cloud” (the resulting product of this setup) provides access to these resources as-needed, allowing you to scale and efficiently manage your IT infrastructure without any physical hardware. The reason you don’t have to own or manage physical servers and hardware yourself is because cloud computing lets you remotely use the power of servers managed by those third-party providers.

I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t break it down with an analogy. Imagine you’re throwing a birthday party at a rented venue. Instead of buying and setting up all the furniture, decorations, and food, all you have to do is rent the hall and choose from a list of services they provide. They handle everything, from the setup to cleaning up afterward. You’re free to enjoy yourself and only pay for what you use — the tables, chairs, food, etc.

This is exactly how cloud computing works! Instead of buying and managing your own physical servers, you’re effectively renting them from a cloud provider. So, they manage the behind-the-scenes details (maintenance, security, etc.) for you (you should still vet your vendors for proper security!). Cloud computing is a headache-free way of accessing and scaling your digital resources without the stress of setting it up and maintaining it yourself.

Related: What is a Cloud Developer? Required Skills, Salary, & More!

Types of Cloud Computing

One of the first things you need to know about cloud computing is the type of cloud deployment service you might use. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and you may implement several solutions depending on your needs. Each model offers a unique approach to managing your cloud. It all depends on what you’re looking for.

There are three types of cloud computing deployment models: public, private, and hybrid.

Public Cloud

Public clouds are cloud computing environments operated by third-party providers. These providers, like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, own and manage all the back-end software and infrastructure. They’re the ones delivering your computing resources — the servers, storage, networking capabilities, and more — over the internet. Companies can access these shared, on-demand resources through a web browser. And you can choose which services you want, typically on a pay-as-you-go or subscription basis.

In a public cloud, you share the same infrastructure and resources as other customers. And if you’re working with a provider like AWS, that could be upwards of millions of people. You may be thinking that the public cloud is like wifi or a webpage, and the more people that use it, the slower it’ll be, right? Wrong. Fortunately, that’s not the case with public clouds. These providers have intentionally set-up extremely high-bandwidth connectivity that you can leverage for better performance and faster access to your data and applications. Now, the systems aren’t perfect (what tech is?) but these companies rely on uninterrupted connectivity, so you can bet that they’ll be up and running.

Private Cloud

Unlike public clouds shared by many users, a private cloud is dedicated exclusively to one organization and isn’t accessible to anyone outside of it. Private clouds provide a secure, controlled environment for your data. More often than not, private clouds are set up on-site, or “on-premises,” within a company’s own data center, but you can pay for it to be hosted by a third-party provider. This offers more flexibility while keeping your infrastructure safe and protected behind a private network.

A private cloud gives businesses a blend of flexibility, control, and security. You still get the scalability and self-service benefits of cloud computing with the extra security and customization that come with having full control over your data. Private clouds can offer this extra security by using company firewalls and internal hosting. This keeps sensitive information secure and out of the hands of third-party providers.

For some companies, having physical access to the servers is critical for security, so it’s typical for businesses and organizations to choose private clouds when they have to meet strict — and I mean very strict — regulation requirements. For example, companies that manage financial data or medical records handle extremely sensitive information. They’re the kind of company where if there’s a data leak, customer dissatisfaction would be the least of their problems.

Managing and maintaining your own private cloud can take a lot of resources, but it ensures that sensitive data stays secure and accessible only to authorized users. And if your company grows or your needs change, you’re not stuck with a private cloud. A private cloud — if it’s well-designed — can easily and seamlessly integrate with public or hybrid clouds, giving you that perfect mix of flexibility and control.

Hybrid Cloud

Imagine a cloud computing setup that combines the best of both worlds — public and private clouds — for optimal performance. Great news – a hybrid cloud integrates public and private cloud environments into one system.

This dynamic blend lets you seamlessly share data and applications between the two environments, giving you more flexibility and efficiency. You can easily scale your resources up or down as needed. For example, during peak times, you can use the high bandwidth of the public cloud while keeping the strong security and compliance of your private cloud.

Hybrid clouds have come a long way. At first, businesses would use them to connect on-premise data with private cloud infrastructure. Then, they’d connect it to public clouds for additional power. Now, hybrid clouds support seamless movement and automated deployment across both environments.

You’ll still only pay for what you use from the public cloud, avoiding the bank-breaking costs that come with maintaining idle resources and making sure your data stays secure and only accessible to you.

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Types of Cloud Computing Services

Now that we understand how to set up clouds, what about how to utilize them? Cloud services are resources that you can access over the internet. Understanding these services can help you choose the best cloud strategy (or strategies) for your needs. You can mix and match cloud services based on your goals, like whether you need more data storage or more powerful processing.

There are four types of cloud computing services: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and serverless computing.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the foundational layer of cloud computing where you essentially rent the building blocks of IT — servers, storage, networking, and more — over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. It’s like having access to a fully equipped restaurant kitchen where you can scale up or down as needed, without the hassle of buying and maintaining the physical equipment. This still includes the scalability we’ve talked about already.

IaaS offers you flexibility and control, allowing you to manage and configure your resources just like traditional on-site setups but with the added perks of scalability and cost-efficiency.

IaaS Examples: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a service (PaaS) is a dedicated, cloud-based environment where you can build, test, and manage software applications without having to spend your time on the nitty-gritty of the behind-the-scenes infrastructure. It’s like taking the essentials of IaaS and streamlining them just for app development. Think of it as a workshop where you get all the tools you need — servers, storage, networking. PaaS takes care of all the heavy lifting for you and delivers a streamlined working arena so you can focus on building and perfecting your app.

PaaS means you get access to a fully managed suite of tools and services, letting you create and scale your apps quickly. At the same time, the cloud provider is handling the infrastructure, maintenance, and updates.

PaaS Examples: Google App Engine, Red Hat OpenShift, Heroku

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a service (SaaS) delivers software over the internet where you access it through a web browser or app while your third-party provider takes care of everything behind the scenes. This is probably one of the most common types of cloud computing out in the world. Again — like the other cloud services — you’re still renting. With SaaS, you’re renting a fully managed software experience. You don’t have to worry about installing the latest features or security updates. You can forget about maintaining servers. All you have to do is subscribe to the service and use the software as needed, whether that’s on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, or all three. This is extremely ideal for remote teams and allows them to use and collaborate on the same tools no matter where they’re located. With SaaS, you’ll likely pay per license, or ‘seat’, or by storage.

SaaS Examples: Dropbox, DocuSign, Slack

Serverless

Despite the name, “serverless” computing doesn’t literally mean there aren’t any servers involved. It just means that you don’t have to manage them. In serverless computing, your cloud provider takes over tasks like setting up, scaling, and maintaining your servers, allowing you to build and deploy apps without worrying about the back end. Serverless architecture — a rapidly growing trend in full-stack development — is highly scalable and driven by events. So your resources are only used if a specific action or event happens. It’s another cost-effective service where you don’t pay for your servers if they sit idle. You only pay for the time they spend computing.

Serverless Example: Coca-Cola’s smart vending machines, iRobot

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The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing

Okay, we’re deep into cloud computing and its mix of innovation and efficiency, but let’s not get swept away by the hype just yet. Just like all tech, cloud computing has its pros and cons. Cloud computing can help drive your business forward, but there are some challenges you’ll want to account for, too.

Pro: Cost

One buzzword we’ve been throwing out a lot is “pay-as-you-go.” Instead of sinking your money into buying and maintaining physical servers, data centers, and everything that comes with it — power, IT staff, etc. — shifting to cloud computing means you pay only for the resources that you use. This eliminates the high upfront costs of hardware and infrastructure while taking advantage of your third-party provider’s scalability. By pushing off managing servers, networking, and storage to your vendor, you’ll cut costs and save your time, energy, and money for building and deploying your apps.

Con: Vendor and Internet Dependency

Even the most powerful cloud services can experience outages from glitches, maintenance (scheduled and spontaneous), or cyberattacks that can keep you from accessing your data and applications. This downtime can disrupt your productivity and business operations. This goes both ways, too. A stable, fast internet connection on your side is absolutely critical. If your internet service lags or experiences interruptions, it’ll also prevent access to your cloud services and data, potentially causing even more delays.

Pro: Scalability

The scalability of cloud computing means your IT infrastructure can grow (or shrink) with your business. Whether you’re experiencing a surge in traffic during a launch, or need to dial back your resources during a slow period, the cloud adjusts to meet your needs. This means you can handle unexpected spikes without investing any extra money in resources that might sit unused.

Con: Data Security Concerns

Do you remember the 2014 iCloud data breach? The iCloud accounts of tons of celebrities were hacked and sensitive — read: nude — pictures were leaked. Cloud providers are pretty motivated to beef up their strong security measures after a big breach, but there’s always a risk of storing sensitive data off-site. It introduces risks of unauthorized access, data breaches, and compliance issues. And even with top-notch security, cloud computing will always have potential data security concerns.

Pro: Speed

Cloud computing transforms how we access and manage IT resources, cutting down the wait from weeks or months to just minutes. Gone (hopefully!) are the days of complicated installs and troubleshooting. Third-party service means software is instantly at our fingertips. Third-party cloud providers are able to offer self-service, on-demand access to their powerful computing services with just a few clicks. This level of access removes the burden of capacity planning — determining the resources you need to meet anticipated demands for a product or service — and cuts down the time it would take to deploy apps. In a SaaS environment, you can onboard a client during the sales pitch, should you be so inclined!

Con: Limited Control

A celebrated perk of cloud computing is knowing that there’s a lot of work that you don’t have to do. At the same time, this also means you won’t have full control over your infrastructure. When using cloud computing, you’ll usually work with a standard list of platforms and services from your cloud provider. While this simplifies your IT management, it also limits your ability to customize and control your infrastructure, applications, and security. And if you have very unique or specific requirements, this limited control can become a problem. It can be challenging to tweak your cloud service to your specific needs because you’re completely relying on your provider’s “standard” solutions, and what might be standard for most may not align with what you need.

Pro: Strategic Value

When you’re developing a product or app, you have to think about your competition. What are they doing? How are they staying ahead of the trends? How can I crush them?! …just me?

Cloud computing gives you access to the latest technology that can push you ahead of the competition. For example, cloud-deployed, generative AI-powered virtual assistants can streamline your customer interactions and boost service response times. Other cloud-based tools can help enhance efficiency by facilitating real-time monitoring and collaboration. When you use cloud providers (who are constantly staying on top of the latest technological advances), you’re typically gaining access to the best, newest services while also avoiding having to invest in any soon-to-be outdated tech.

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Cloud Computing Use Cases and Examples

Cloud computing has revolutionized how businesses approach technology. I know, “revolutionized” feels like an overused exaggeration, but it’s true! Here’s a small glimpse into some of the ways developers and businesses are using cloud computing to transform their operations:

• Building and testing cloud-native applications: Develop and deploy web, mobile, and API-driven applications by leveraging cloud-native technologies like microservices and DevOps. Streamline your development process and ensure rapid iterations and deployments.
• Data storage: Store large amounts of data securely without the need for physical hardware.
• Disaster recovery: Ensure business continuity with disaster recovery measures. Cloud computing offers automated backups and failover systems, automatically switching to a standby system if the primary one fails, ensuring minimal downtime.
• Scaling infrastructure: Easily adjust your infrastructure to match demand. Whether you need to scale up during peak times or down during quiet periods, the cloud makes sure you only use what you need.
• Delivering software on demand: Provide users with immediate access to software and updates via the cloud. This eliminates the need for complex installations and maintenance and keeps your systems current and user-friendly.
• Big Data Analytics: Process and analyze large datasets quickly so you can gain valuable insights and make data-driven decisions.

For these uses and more, big — and I mean huge — companies are turning to cloud computing for their operations. By leveraging cloud infrastructure, they’re handling enormous amounts of data, deploying apps faster than they can think them up, and scaling their resources to meet their fluctuating demands.

Maybe you’ve heard of some of these companies:

• Apple
• Netflix
• Pinterest
• General Electric (GE)
• eBay
• Fitbit
• Capital One
• Coca-Cola
• Kroger
• Etsy
• PayPal
• Xerox

Most of these companies use the three biggest cloud providers including: AWS (Netflix, Pinterest, Coca-Cola), Microsoft Azure (Kroger), and Google Cloud (Etsy, eBay, PayPal). As of early 2024, Amazon Web Services has 31% of the market share for cloud computing services with Microsoft Azure (24%) and Google Cloud (11%) coming in second and third. Other top cloud computing service providers include Alibaba Cloud, Salesforce, IBM Cloud, and Oracle.

Keeping Your Apps (and Head) in the Clouds

The tech world is constantly filled with dynamic, new innovations, but even with all the shiny, new toys, cloud computing still stands out. At its core, it offers a virtual playground for developers and their teams to build, test, and scale apps with impressive speed and efficiency. Its advantages? On-demand resource access, scalable infrastructure, and saving money. It’s disadvantages — potential security concerns and a reliance on internet connection.

Even with its challenges, cloud computing lets you streamline processes and accelerate the time between building and deploying an app. You don’t have to get tied into all the logistics, either. At the end of the day, cloud computing provides a seamless, cost-effective way for you to build powerful apps while leaving the infrastructure — and headache — to the cloud experts.