Curriculum
- 4 Sections
- 10 Lessons
- 12 Hours
- Benefits of using Cloud systems for SMEs4
- Identifying and mitigating the risks associated with usage of Cloud systems3
- Working and leading a team in compliance with European and national standards in using the cloud systems4
- Further Readings2
Curriculum
Fundamentals and Theoretical Basis
SMEs are growing in the course of the transition to the information society and industrial society in the rising big organisations against the domination of one of the major changes. SMEs are crucial to the industry’s restructuring and have developed in European countries.
For this reason, a growing number of SMEs are moving to cloud systems as they become more digitalized. Many businesses prefer the flexibility and ease of cloud computing over traditional local hosting and on-premise software when it comes to data processing, storage, and collaboration. Cloud computing, which is a new IT service model and attracts attention with its development potential, has disadvantages as well as advantages it provides to businesses.
Types of Cloud Environments
- Private Cloud: A private cloud can either be set up by the organisation itself or by a third-party service provider.
- Public Cloud: The public cloud works on shared infrastructure. The users usually have a subscription to pay-per-use fee models to access information in the public cloud.
- Hybrid Cloud: A hybrid cloud uses two different clouds – public and private. The database servers are in your private cloud, whereas the Web servers are hosted in a third-party cloud-shared environment.
- Community Cloud: In a community cloud, users share the same set of data and resources. It is accessed by multiple parties, such as universities and colleges, that have the same goal.
For most businesses, staying On-premises comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest opportunities offered by cloud computing, which allows businesses to have the information technology infrastructure they need without making an initial investment, is that it allows businesses to benefit from IT technologies equally with companies larger than themselves. Before moving on to the advantages of Cloud computing offered to SMEs, let’s have a look that on which purposes it can be used.
- Cloud storage: Cloud services guarantee that your data is kept on an off-site cloud storage system, making it accessible from any place or device with an internet connection. You can sync data between devices and exchange them securely with cloud storage. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures the resilience of collaborative efforts, as information can be seamlessly shared and updated in real time.
- Cloud backup services: Backup services are safeguards in case of a cyberattack, server failure, or other data loss at your business. The finest cloud backup services provide high-level security, real-time backups, archiving, data synchronization and restoration, and storage.
- Cloud hosting: Cloud hosting services provide data storage, web-based phone systems, email services, and application hosting, among other forms of information exchange. Database management, domain name registration, and website hosting are all possible with cloud hosting services.
The types of cloud computing services are:
Type | Characteristic | Examples |
| Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) | Infrastructure as a Service is an online service that provides the virtualization of underlying network infrastructures such as physical computing resources, location, data partitioning, scaling, security, and backups. | Amazon EC2, Cisco Metapod, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine (GCE) |
| Platform as a Service (PaaS) | In Platform as a Service, a platform for development is offered to users on a subscription basis. In this model, a set of development tools are provided by the service provider | Google App, Engine, Microsoft Azure, Intel Mash Maker, |
| Software as a Service (SaaS) | In Software as a Service, an application is licensed to users after they purchase a subscription. The licence holder must then renew their subscription to continue to use the full features of the application. Typically, users will need a Web browser to access the application | Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Office 365, Cisco WebEx, Citrix GoToMeeting, Google Apps |
| Network as a Service (NaaS) | Network as a Service, the clients have access to the additional network resources, such as switches and routers. The third-party provider owns the resources and provides it to an organization either through a fixed fee or component-wise fee | Amazon, Rackspace, AT&T |
| Security as a Service (SECaaS) | Security as a Service offers cloud-based security solutions. When you implement this solution, it removes the burden of having the on-premises hardware | Cloudbric, CloudFlare, Incapsula |