Cloud computing: opportunities and challenges

1. Introduction

Cloud technology is a paradigm shift in computing that has piqued the interest of both industry and academia owing to its possibilities. Organizations benefit from this technology because it addresses the issues of traditional information technology governance while also giving prospective advantages. Since IBM announced cloud computing in 2007, IBM, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as other significant commercial organizations, have fiercely supported it. Cloud computing and related services have gained enormous commercial significance in recent years as they have become widely recognized and used in a variety of fields. For instance, Microsoft’s cloud computing revenues reached 18 billion U.S dollars within 2021’s last quarter.

In recent years a range of new smart gadgets have arisen and are extensively used as a result of the rapid technical development of ubiquitous intelligent devices. As an example, since 2011, the global shipment of smartphones has surpassed that of Personal Computers. In the case of smart wearable devices, watches, wristbands, and other wearable gadgets have all advanced significantly in recent years. In addition, a variety of intelligent and non-intelligent sensing devices such as radars, cameras, and etc., have been deployed in cities, communities. Then came the development and deployment of ubiquitous network technologies. Wireless broadband technologies such as WiFi, 4G-LTE, LTE-A, and others are widely employed. Furthermore, the fast growth of ubiquitous intelligent devices and networks has resulted in a plethora of new network applications and services. The Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles, smart planet, city, grid, social networks, for example, have all steadily gained public awareness.

All these new technologies and tools require the use and improvement of cloud technology.

Organizations are increasingly discovering that their significant capital investments in information technology are often grossly underutilized, which is driving change (even though, as I discuss later in the document, the promises from a technological functionality perspective are equally appealing).

2. What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing combines two major trends: (i) IT efficiency, in which the power of modern computers is better utilized through highly scalable hardware and software resources; and (ii) business agility, in which IT may be leveraged as a competitive tool through quick deployment, parallel batch processing, compute-intensive business analytics, and mobile interactive applications that respond in real-time to user needs [1].

Many people and organizations in the business and academic worlds have tried to describe what "cloud computing" is and what distinguishes it from other technologies. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States defines cloud computing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications, services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. The idea is that a portion of the ICT support services required by businesses are delivered over the Internet by external providers on a demand basis, and users pay for the service as an operating expense based on actual usage, rather than having to make significant hardware and software investments.

Sultan states that a more commonly used definition of cloud computing describes it as clusters of distributed computers that provide on-demand resources and services over a networked medium, usually the Internet [2]. Three types of services have been stated: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) [3]. Software as a Service provides web-based solutions that are controlled by the software supplier rather than your firm. This frees your company from the ongoing pressures of software maintenance, infrastructure management, network security, data availability, and all the other operational concerns that come with keeping applications operating. Platform as a Service is a service that falls between infrastructure as a service and software as a service. It provides customers with access to a cloud-based environment where they can create and distribute apps without having to install and work with IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), which may be rather costly. Infrastructure as a service is a standardized method of obtaining computer resources on demand and through the internet. Storage facilities, networks, computing power, and virtual private servers are examples of such resources.

The essential characteristics of cloud computing can be generalized according to a paper from the University of California Berkeley: (i) the appearance of endless computing resources; (ii) the elimination of an up-front commitment by cloud users; and (iii) the possibility to pay for use.

While there are a plethora of different definitions, there appear to be certain commonalities among the most famous ones given above that a cloud should possess: (i) pay-per-use (no on-going commitment, utility prices); (ii) elastic capacity and the illusion of infinite resources; (iii) self-service interface; and (iv) resources that are abstracted or virtualized.

3. Benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing, in particular, provides the following significant benefits:

i) Back-up and restoration of data: Cloud backup is a service that backs up and stores data and apps on a business's servers on a distant server. Businesses use cloud backup to keep files and data accessible in the case of a system outage, outage, or natural catastrophe. Business cloud backup works by duplicating and storing the server's contents on another server in a different physical location. Depending on its needs, a company can back up part or all server files.

ii) Accessibility: It can give consumers practically instant access to hardware resources while requiring no upfront financial commitments, resulting in a shorter time to market in many industries. Treating IT as an operating expense reduces the upfront expenses of business computing significantly. The cloud transforms into an adaptable infrastructure that may be shared by a variety of end-users, each of which may utilize it in a unique way. Users are totally isolated from one another, and the infrastructure's flexibility allows computational demands to be balanced on the fly as new users join the system. [4]. The beauty of the design is that as the number of users grows, the system's demand load becomes more balanced in a stochastic sense, even as economies of scale grow.

iii) Cost maintenance: It reduces the barrier to entry for smaller businesses looking to make use of compute-intensive business analytics that were previously exclusively available to the larger organizations. These computational activities often need a considerable amount of computer power for a short period of time, and cloud computing allows for such dynamic resource supply. Cloud computing also represents a huge opportunity for many third-world countries that have been left behind in the IT revolution – as we'll see later, some cloud computing providers are leveraging the benefits of a cloud platform to enable IT services in countries that would otherwise lack the resources to deploy IT services widely.

iv) Collaboration: Team communication is more convenient and reliable thanks to cloud technologies. It enhances file sharing by allowing for faster handoffs and response times and improves team responsibility with better record keeping. Instant access to files, document co-authorship, file syncing, large file storage, uploads, and downloads are all provided by cloud technology.

v) Pay per service: Cloud computing enables businesses to extend their services – which are becoming increasingly reliant on correct data – in response to customer demand. Because computing resources are governed by software, they may be quickly deployed as new needs arise. In reality, the purpose of cloud computing is to dynamically scale resources up or down based on client traffic via software APIs with little service provider engagement.

vi) Sustainability: It refers to the cloud's potential to save energy and have a lower environmental effect. Cloud computing is a good choice for any business looking to improve its institutional image and be viewed as environmentally friendly, as it allows massive IT systems to reduce their carbon footprint.

vii) Universality: Cloud computing also enables new types of apps and services that were previously unavailable. For example, users may utilize parallel batch processing to analyze terabytes of data in a short amount of time, allowing them to take advantage of massive quantities of computing power. Or location, environment, and context-aware mobile interactive apps that respond in real-time to information supplied by human users or non-human sources. Further, analytics apps can analyze large volumes of data to learn about consumers, buying patterns, supply networks, and so on [5].

4. Barriers to Business for Cloud Computing Adoption

Although there are several advantages to using cloud computing, some substantial drawbacks still exist.

i) Security: Because cloud computing is a new computing model, there is a lot of ambiguity regarding how security can be achieved at all levels: host, network, data and application. Due to this uncertainty, information executives have frequently said that security is their top worry with cloud computing. Cloud computing's capacity to appropriately handle privacy requirements also has been questioned by them. Organizations today are faced with a plethora of requirements aimed at protecting the privacy of individuals' data, and it is unclear whether the cloud computing model provides adequate data protection or whether organizations will be found in violation of regulations as a result of this new model. For instance, because all of a company's data is online on the cloud, storing it there might pose major risks of information theft. Even the most secure enterprises have had a security breach, and it's a danger that exists in the cloud as well. Despite the fact that modern security measures are placed on the cloud, keeping private data on the cloud might be problematic, and hence attack vulnerability must be addressed.

ii) Reliability: Enterprise applications are now so important that they must be dependable and accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to support operations. Contingency plans must take effect seamlessly in the case of failure or outages, and recovery plans for catastrophic or devastating failures must commence with minimal disturbance. When working with a cloud service provider, each facet of dependability should be carefully evaluated, negotiated as part of the service level agreement, and tested in failover drills. Additional expenditures may be connected with the needed levels of dependability; yet, the company can only do so much to reduce risks and the cost of failure. For widespread acceptance, it will be necessary to establish a track record of dependability. Cloud computing reliability is critical for organizations of all sizes. Bugs in software may result in lost productivity, income, and brand confidence. Measures should be applied to redundant resources, downtime, and availability of services for sake of reliability.

iii) Connectivity: Cloud computing can only be accessed over the Internet. When there is no internet connection or when the internet channel to the cloud provider is down, access to the cloud computing machine is immediately disabled [6]. This is now the most significant impediment in poorer nations and distant places with poor internet connectivity. The public cloud's drawback is that everyone has access to the same server, which increases the danger of an attack and brings the server down. Similar to the availability of power, global connection brings up new opportunities for industry and a new variety of consumer items. Connectivity and free access to computing power and information through the cloud usher in a new era of industrialization and a need for increasingly sophisticated consumer goods.

iv) Economic value: The measurement of the benefit obtained from an item or service to a person or a firm is known as economic value. When corporations officially embrace new cloud services, there is usually a short-term boost in market value as a consequence of the perceived agility, innovation, or cost savings that may occur. When it comes to cloud adoption, however, businesses should look for enhanced long-term economic benefits. The expansion of cloud computing is based on the resulting return on investment. The economic advantage of pooling resources to level out peaks, paying only for what is needed, and reducing upfront capital expenditure in adopting IT systems is logical. In both the short and long term, it will be necessary to carefully evaluate the costs and advantages connected with cloud computing. Support, disaster recovery, program customization, and data loss insurance are all examples of hidden expenses. There will come a point at which merging investments or integrating cloud services makes sense; for example, using numerous independent Software as a Service app may not be efficient or cost-effective. Each may enter into a contract for disaster recovery services. There comes a point where economies of scale dictate that these functions be merged into a single service. Low-volume transactions can be supported with semi-automated master data management when using the application. As usage grows and business process interoperability requirements become more stringent, a new strategy is required. This evolution may be the most cost-effective strategy; nevertheless, there is a danger that the expenses of moving from one solution to another will alter the cost-benefit equation, and therefore the solution that should be used.

v) Technology shift in the organization: Cloud computing adoption, like other technological advances, will have an impact on the IT organization. Shifts in technology take on two dimensions. The first is learning new skills to use technology to solve a business problem, and the second is understanding how technology alters the IT role. The function of IT has evolved throughout the years as technology has progressed. And it will shift once again. The capacity to deconstruct mature solutions from the hype in order to offer real benefit from cloud technology will be impacted by the speed of change, as will the requirement to maintain controls to manage IT risk in the organization.

vi) Interoperability: To various people, interoperability might signify different things. One can refer to the capacity of applications portability transfer from one environment to another, such as from Savvis to Amazon, and for the apps to function identically in both. Another example may be the ability for apps operating in various clouds to communicate information, which would need the use of a standard set of APIs. Customers' ability to utilize the same management tools, server images, and other software with a range of cloud computing providers and platforms is referred to as cloud interoperability by others. The core issue is that each vendor's cloud environment only supports one or more operating systems and databases. Hypervisors, processes, security, a storage model, a networking model, a cloud API, licensing models, and more are all part of each cloud. Rarely, if ever, do two cloud providers build their clouds in the same way, with the same moving parts.

vii) Global boundaries: In the cloud computing environment, there is a lot of variation in terms of where physical data is stored, how it is processed, and how it is accessible. Different privacy rules and regulations may apply as a result of this variation. Because of these disparities in norms and regulations, politics is inextricably linked to the development of cloud computing, which is essentially multijurisdictional. Cloud computing must be kept free from politics in order to continue to flourish as a borderless and global instrument. Some significant global technical and political forces are now enacting legislation that may have a detrimental influence on the global cloud's development [6].

5. Conclusion

This paper aimed to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing. The decisive factors and cons for the adoption of this technology have been addressed. With all of the buzz around cloud computing and many definitions, it's tough to determine precisely what "cloud computing" is. This dilemma is exacerbated by manufacturers' eagerness to declare themselves cloud computing firms, or at the very least "cloud-friendly." Suddenly, the whole technology industry has turned "cloudy"–much like the late 1990s dot-com rush. Adopting one or more technologies should begin with an assessment of the organization's economic operations. IT is or should be, an integrated component of a company. We need technology to assist or enhance economic operations. Prior to jumping into the cloud, the firm should examine its operations and weigh the risks and benefits. Due to the simplicity of their procedures, small and medium-sized firms should be the first to adopt cloud computing services. One of the most significant benefits of cloud computing is cost savings. In relation to IT governance principles, we should first investigate the value that cloud services provide to our firm. Two qualities characterize this value: usefulness and guarantee. Any firm has clients, and the primary objective is to meet their demands. To my mind, the business should first establish its economic goals in terms of the balanced scorecard's four components: financial, customer, internal, and learning-development, and then determine how cloud services might help them achieve these objectives.

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