Cloud Computing has its own pros and cons from the point of view of a user, there are benefits and risks adopting this approach.
Benefits :
Easier deployment :
You can deploy the application faster because there is no local installation required. Unlike an on-premises where you have to put on your own servers, configure it, get it running, with cloud computing, you can just point your browser at the app in the cloud and start using it. Now, in reality, there might be some deployment work required with the customization and so on, but still, cloud deployments are typically faster to deploy than on-premise.
Cost reduction :
Cloud Computing also typically offers usage-based pricing, letting you pay only for what you use. For example, to pay per user per month, this lets you not overpay for any resource you don’t use. It’s easier to scale up and down the number of users in your organization. This can bring less financial risk because the up-front cost is smaller. You can start with a few users, then grow if it’s useful. Products commonly offer free trials, which means you can try the product at no cost at all and if you don’t like it, if it has no value, just stop using it. Compare it with the conventional scenario of deploying a resource in your own data center. There, you buy the resource, deploy it, and then you find out its business value.
Resource reduction :
Cloud Computing brings a reduced need for on-premises resources, like servers and IT staff, since most of the resources are running in the cloud. Cloud Computing also provides easier upgrades, because the providers do the upgrades. Rather than installing updates periodically to keep the infrastructure up to date, the provider does that for you, providing you with new features every so often.
Risks :
Security & Legal Concerns :
Cloud Computing requires that you trust your provider, your cloud provider, for availability, and for security. This can be an issue, trusting your provider is very important. It can be hard sometimes to build that trust. The reality though is that we have to build that trust to use these kinds of cloud solutions.
Cloud Computing can raise legal and regulatory concerns because of storing data outside your own environment. Sometimes SaaS applications will be running in some other country, which means you’re storing data outside your national borders which can be an issue.
Customization :
Cloud Computing can also limit customization, which means lots of customers are sharing the same resources. This limits how much customization you can do compared to having your own data center. Still, modern providers have found a way to get around this through customization, configuration, or in other ways.
Low Performance :
Sometimes cloud resources can have lower performance than on-prem resources. The big reason is the network hop. There are some scenarios where that’s just too slow, too much to work. So there are situations where the delay created by the fact that cloud resources run across the internet can be too slow.
Like everything, cloud computing has benefits and has risks for users. Most people today most often seem to find that the benefits outweigh the risks.
