It’s undeniable that the concept of cloud computing has exploded in growth over the last decade. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others have all made huge bets on their cloud computing technology since the turn of the century, and for good reason. That being said, the cloud comes with a lot of jargon, duplicative and similar products, and opportunities for overengineered solutions that cost more than their worth. In this post, we’ll talk a bit about what the cloud truly is, how to best understand it, and how to position yourself for success and utilize the cloud for its strengths.
What is the Cloud?
Before the cloud, in many ways, technology was simpler. To run some technology in your business, you needed to own a server or a computer that was going to run that technology.
Take for example a simple database that stores your clients and information about where they live, when they last purchased your services, contact information, etc. Before cloud computing, to support a database like this, you needed to have a server of some kind on site at your company. Furthermore, you likely would also need to employ an administrator who could set up that server, understand the tech, deploy the database you needed, and monitor that database for any issues, updates, etc. While this paradigm was very simple, as you could clearly see the physical machine that ran your database, and you owned that server yourself, it also made the cost very high to have databases like these supported. For highly technical companies, it would certainly make sense to pay that price to have onsite staff maintain your databases and servers, but for smaller businesses, this value just simply wasn’t there.
Enter the cloud! This term was popularized by Amazon when they launched Amazon Web Services in 2006 and has since been co-opted by other large cloud providers, namely Google (with their offering, Google Cloud Platform) and Microsoft (with Microsoft Azure). What they offered is simple in concept: instead of you needing to have that server yourself, you can pay them to maintain that server for you. Now, you can trade out the cost of maintaining that server and hiring a database administrator with a regular cost you pay to Amazon. You still control the data, you still control the database’s initial setup, but they will maintain the server and keep things updated.
Since 2006, the market for cloud computing has exploded. The cloud computing market was worth just under a trillion dollars in 2025 and is forecasted to be well over 2 trillion by 2030[1]. Companies that are willing to invest in cloud computing are able to see a ton of value from that software, without having to take on as much upkeep.
The Trade-Offs of Cloud Computing
The upsides of this are clear – companies that have less software needs, and thus less need to hire full-time software administrative staff, can still materialize the value from that software with much lower upkeep. However, these upsides come with their own downsides as well.
One of the most glaring downsides of getting started with cloud computing is the complexity of the cloud itself. There are three big players in the cloud computing space, and each of these providers has their own offerings with regards to the types of servers you can rent, how they are set up, and how you will be charged for them. For our previous example of a simple database for clients, Microsoft Azure has at least three distinct offerings that could fill this need, and each of those comes in different ways you might pay for that service. Perhaps you want to “pay as you go” – paying each time you add data or query the database. Or perhaps instead you’d rather pay up front, paying for a database of a certain size all at once, and not having to worry about how often the data is accessed.
The silver lining to this complexity is that the end solutions that are built in the cloud are infinitely customizable. Provided you can navigate the initial complexity of the cloud, you can find the option that is optimal for your budget, business needs, and technological needs. However, it can often take some head scratching to get there.
How to Get the most Value from Cloud Computing
We’ll conclude by covering some of our recommendations for building cloud solutions that are both scalable but also cost efficient.
Understand the level of tech management you’d like to do
With all of the cloud platforms, there are ways to do things that are very inexpensive, all the way up to implementations that are very expensive. What tends to separate these options is the amount of management that you take on versus what the cloud provider takes on. In our database example, the cheapest option may be to do the vast majority of the database management yourself, handling database upgrades on your own, and essentially only relying on the provider to give you the server that database is running on. At the other end of the spectrum are what would be called “managed databases” where the cloud provider handles just about everything except for how the data gets into and out of the database.
We tend to recommend beginning with the least expensive option you feel comfortable maintaining, keeping your cost profile low until you prove you need more managed solutions that are more expensive. This way, you allow your cloud costs to start very small, and you can then spend to alleviate any pain points you have, versus paying for features you do not use.
Understand Cloud Security
With any cloud system, you are trusting your business operations and data to make their way to Microsoft, Amazon, or Google’s datacenters at some point. This creates the need to ensure your solutions are secure, and you do not run the risk of exposing your private data to the public internet. The good news is that all of the major cloud providers are quite secure and provide a myriad of ways to secure your solutions.
The easiest way to set yourself up for success from a cloud security standpoint is to set up a virtual network for all of your cloud resources. Without getting too much into the networking details here, simply imagine that what this does is ensure that not just anyone can access your company’s resources. Instead, you set up a special network that all of your cloud resources are a part of, and then only accept connections to this network from your company’s devices. What this does is ensure that you aren’t susceptible to something like your database password leaking to the public, as you also keep that database locked down to only your company’s connections.
Conclusion
The cloud is an exciting space for businesses of all sizes, especially now that cloud costs have dropped relative to where they were back in the early 2000s, enabling players that may have forgone cloud computing to see a ton of value from this tech. At the same time, any technology comes with risks and tradeoffs. By optimizing your cloud infrastructure for cost and security, you ensure you set yourself up for success in the long run!
Want to get started in the cloud space while working with cloud and data experts? We at Ascent Data Insights specialize in helping companies get started on their cloud journey, getting you started on the right foot and helping to explain cloud concepts along the way. We provide both cloud and data training, as well as consulting work to help set up and maintain your cloud infrastructure! Reach out to me at parker@ascentdi.com to start a conversation.
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