Of late, businesses have accelerated exponentially due to the pioneering innovations in the technology sector, and cloud hosting is a powerful business enabler when it comes to metrics such as efficiency and flexibility. Cloud Hosting is just a name for storing and processing data online on virtual servers. It allows an unlimited number of machines to act as one system. Cloud hosting is a viable solution involving many computers connected to a real-time communication network, which is typically the internet.
Cloud hosting is a relatively new technology and is considered viable than most traditional hosting solutions. The work environment is constantly changing around the world, and Cloud Computing is a significant contributor to the scalability of a business. A study by Gartner forecasts that the cloud services are likely to grow to $244 billion by 2017.1
Cloud hosting is increasingly preferred to on-site infrastructure by many small and big businesses, owing to its key advantages.
Key Advantages of Cloud Hosting
Cost Effective – A company can cut down on capital expenses by spending less on hardware and resources associated with running a physical server.
Superior website performance – The whole purpose of cloud hosting comes down to the efficiency of a website. The performance of a website improves significantly when superior hosts are backed by advanced hardware, which positively impacts the client’s business.
Customized Solution – Cloud hosting service provides tailored solutions for businesses. A business can add more storage as it grows. Cloud hosting offers a robust customer service and a grievance redressal system, which helps the businesses knock down several technical issues effortlessly.
Types of Cloud Hosting
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Shared Hosting with Cloud Flexibility
Shared Cloud Hosting is a simplified approach curated for Small and Medium Businesses. SMBs can share common space, sophisticated security protocols, seamless back-end data administration and data portability by the service provider. Shared hosting has a direct positive impact on SMBs, and can be tailored to their needs.
How Businesses can benefit from Cloud Hosting
Cloud Hosting is a better solution for SMBs than traditional hosting options, since it can cut down the operational cost and offers far superior service. Technology is driving the business ecosystem around the world, and this is where cloud hosting can come to the rescue of small and medium sized enterprises. At every stage of a business lifecycle, cloud hosting can provide better services, like enterprise email, website security, website backup and SSL certificate.
The dynamic Cloud hosting technology is growing rapidly, and the adoption is global. Results from the recent Amdocs SMB survey, conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, a business to business market research company found an average 57 percent of SMBs around the world subscribing to cloud-based services.
Robust infrastructure – Cloud Hosting uses the latest hardware, HVAC architecture and advanced networking switches. These are essential pillars of a robust cloud hosting infrastructure.
High scalability and flexibility – Cloud hosting ensures easy scalability when a website demands extra resources in real time from different virtual hosting servers. Also, the RAM and CPU upgrades can be done instantly in the case of higher website traffic. There is also the flexibility of using a backup server if the parent server fails.
Enhanced data security – The vast network of servers is housed within different data centers in different locations to ensure data security. Most services provide data encryption which further protects the confidentiality of the client’s resources.
Convenience and Reliability – Cloud Hosting provides efficient services while maintaining excellent uptimes for websites. Owing to dynamic provisioning and data mirroring across multiple drives, hardware issues and server failure incidences are handled successfully.
A well-managed support by cloud hosting service providers can help clients utilize a reliable cloud infrastructure.
Vulnerabilities of Cloud Hosting
Although cloud hosting is a suitable solution, vulnerabilities of the platform cannot be ignored. Issues such as confidentiality, data integrity, and privacy are a concern for any business. Since cloud hosting stores data with minimal management efforts and provides services through the Internet, instances of security breaches, data losses and outrages are real. However, these security issues are not just limited to cloud hosting and extend to other hosting solutions as well.
In the last few years, the information security landscapes have undergone a major overhaul. Cloud hosting companies are adopting more stringent policies to secure the data and information of the client. This will further make cloud hosting more secure.
Final Thoughts
For instant scalability that too at an affordable price, the prowess of cloud hosting is simply unmatchable. A cloud hosting platform offers business owners and IT developers the much-needed freedom to take quick decisions with respect to their web presence. All migrations can be done on an active server without an instance of a downtime. In a dynamic environment of today, business needs can alter dramatically. Therefore, cloud hosting is a viable and optimal hosting choice.