Is your head in the cloud?

Over the past decade, cloud computing has revolutionized global business. Back in 2014, following his appointment as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella predict sth.etw. prognostizierenpredicted that “everything is going to be connected to [the] cloud.” Forbes declared that “few technological advancements have had as profoundtiefgreifendprofound an impact as the rise of cloud computing.” And in 2024, spending on cloud infrastructure is set to top $1 trillionBillion(en)trillion for the first time. But what exactly is the cloud, and how can it help your business?

simply puteinfach gesagtSimply put, the cloud is made up of various computing services — servers, databases, software, analytics, etc. — that are available via the internet. Information is not physically stored in one place, on a hard driveFestplattehard drive, for example. Instead, the main service providers, which include Amazon, Microsoft and Google, rent out secure and reliable space for this data.

Companies are moving away from storing their data on internal hard drives for various reasons. One is flexibility — cloud storage allows employees to access information from anywhere in the world (provided they have an internet connection). It’s no surprise that cloud usage greatly acceleratesich beschleunigen, zunehmenaccelerated during the pandemic.

If you don’t use the capabilities the cloud offers, you’ll fall behind. It’s a mistake

Diego Peleteiro is technology director at Globant Germany, a technology services organization that helps other companies develop digitally. “In the past, CEOs were asking, ‘Is cloud computing part of your strategy?’,” he told Business Spotlight. “And now, it’s a question of how the cloud is a part of a company’s strategy. If you don’t use the capabilities and opportunities the cloud offers, you’ll fall behindins Hintertreffen geratenfall behind. It’s a mistake.”

Globally, over 90 percent of companies utilize sth.etw. nutzenutilize cloud services, but things are different in Germany. as of...Stand ...As of July 2023, just 46.5 percent of German companies used cloud technology. Many believe this is because the largest cloud service providers are based in the U.S., and German companies fear data security breachVerletzungbreaches.

Peleteiro believes that apprehensionBesorgnisapprehension about the cloud is be detrimental to sth.sich nachteilig auf etw. auswirkendetrimental to innovation. “No industry is safe,” he says. “Think about the automotive industry. Ten years ago, they didn’t see the need to innovate radically, then Tesla came along. Without the cloud, you’re not fast enough. If companies are resistant, they will lose out.” Peleteiro suggests employing a multicloud strategy — i.e.das heißt, d. h.i.e. using various cloud service providers — to maximize security. He says this approach is safer than relying on local IT infrastructure, such as internal servers, which is possibly outdated and be vulnerable to sth.für etw. anfällig seinvulnerable to cyberattacks.

The cloud is the place to be

As cybersecurity threats intensify, awareness of the benefits and opportunities of cloud services is rising. The cloud offers better security than most local networks can manage. According to one Salesforce study, 94 percent of businesses say they see an improvement in security after switching to the cloud.

While the initial cost of a switch might be high, the longer-term ROI (return on investment)KapitalrenditeROI makes the investment more viablerentabelviable. Providing employees with easy remote access to company data saves time and money. Moreover, most cloud services are pay-as-you-go, meaning customers don’t pay for unnecessary services. Forbes estimates that businesses can save up to 50 percent on data-management costs when switching to the cloud from internal servers, as there’s less infrastructure that needs to be maintained.

Big cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google, guarantee an uptimeBetriebszeit, Verfügbarkeituptime of 99.95 percent for the majority of their services. Along with availability comes a high level of reliability. Jeff Barr, from AWS, put this into perspective: “If you store 10,000 objects with us, on average, we may lose one of them every ten million years or so.”

Looking ahead

So, what’s holding companies back? At present, big cloud providers are increasing their prices. In 2023, for example, Google raised the price of its Workspace (a collection of cloud computing tools) by 20 percent. Also, companies that use one cloud provider run the risk of vendorVerkäufer(in)vendor lock-in — a situation in which a company is unable to switch to another provider because of the high cost and complexity of migrate sth.etw. migrieren, übertragenmigrating large volumes of data.

“The first step should be small,” says Peleteiro. “For companies starting their cloud journey, one provider makes sense. But then, it’s important to mitigate sth.etw. mindernmitigate some risk by adopt sth.etw. übernehmenadopting a multicloud approach — using different providers to avoid becoming dependent on one.” forecasterPrognostiker(in)Forecasters expect multicloud strategies to increase in popularity in 2024, enhance sth.etw. verbessern, steigernenhancing companies’ flexibility.

Leading the industry

Cloud computing is an integral part of our lives, but also feels abstract to most people. If you stream a film or series on Netflix, for example, you’re benefiting from AWS, which delivers videos over the internet. Many employees rely on file-sharing software, such as SharePoint, and communicate with their colleagues via Teams — both of which are cloud-based applicationAnwendungapplications. Who are the movers and shakersMacher(innen)movers and shakers in this industry? Here are the most influencial heads in the cloud.

Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO (chief technology officer)Leiter(in) TechnologieCTO at Amazon

Vogels has been at Amazon from the early days, joining in 2004. Often called the “godfatherPateGodfather of the Cloud,” he was one of the people who have made Amazon one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the world. Originally, AWS was a solution to the internal problem of growing Amazon’s IT infrastructure. Back in 2006, Vogels refute sth.etw. anfechten; hier: widersprechenrefuted that Amazon was a successful online bookstore. Instead, he said: “first and foremostvor allemFirst and foremost, Amazon is a technology company.” A man with a vision.

Kelsey Hightower, software engineer

formerlyfrüher, zuvorFormerly of Google, Hightower is an advocateVerfechter(in)advocate for open-source cloud computing infrastructure. In one interview, he was asked how tech experts can help to build industry knowledge: “You share it. That’s the trick. Someone has to share it.”

Betsy Beyer, technical writer at Google

Author and editorHerausgeber(in)editor of several bestselling books, including the seminalbahnbrechendseminal Site Reliability Engineering, Beyer is considered an important voice on how Google deals with cloud stability. She began working at Google after responding to a “randomzufällig, beliebigrandom posting on Craigslist,” and has been make wavesAufsehen erregenmaking waves ever since.

Charity Majors and Liz Fong-Jones, CTO and field CTO at Honeycomb.io

Majors and Fong-Jones believe scalabilitySkalierbarkeitscalability is a big advantage of the cloud: increasing or decreasing resources to meet changing demand. They are also activists for diversity. Majors cofounded the software company Honeycomb in 2016, and Fong-Jones joined in 2019, impressed by the number of women in leadership roles there.

Ryan Kroonenburg, cofounder of A Cloud Guru

Kroonenburg was turn sb. downjmdn. ablehnenturned down for a job at AWS, after three months of intensive interviews. He could have attended the official AWS training course to improve his chances of getting a job, but the feeGebührfees were expensive, so instead, he set about creating an alternative learning platform. Within a year, he launched A Cloud Guru, which has since provided inexpensive cloud computing training to more than two million people around the world. After six years, Kroonenburg sold the company for a cool $2 billion.

Heather Adkins, founding member of the Google Security Team

A cybersecurity expert, Adkins has been at Google for two decades. She advocates for strong, reliable systems and has coauthored books with Betsy Beyer to encourage scalable, secure systems in organizations.