It is an advanced and cost-effective technology through which applications, data and services can be shared through a network.
This type of distributed computing allows the user to fetch information from other servers as opposed to the local PCs.
Cloud computing relieves the user from the time and cost of buying hardware and software. Also, it allows the convenience of data access irrespective of the location of the user as long as the internet connection is available.
What is Cloud Computing?
It provides infrastructure and applications through the internet. This model enables the users to access the data through any device with an internet connection, hence is no need to install and maintain software applications locally. Businesses can access and use applications and services from a central server which means that they shall incur low costs in managing and maintaining software applications. Moreover, cloud computing allows paying only for the actual use of the services and storage; contributing to the decrease in operating expenses.
Traditional Computing
Mainframe computing entails the access of hardware, software and any other related services through a central place. This model means that businesses need to obtain the right hardware and software and adequately staff for these resources to be properly managed. Mainstream computation may be expensive compared to the cost optimization that accompanies cloud computing. Furthermore, traditional computing cannot support features like remote access and scalability which is supported by cloud computing.
Cloud Computing vs Traditional Computing in 2024 across various factors
Benefits of Cloud Computing Compared to Traditional Computing
Cloud computing is widely used today because of the following benefits compared with conventional computing.
While adopting a normal computer the company can purchase software, hardware and services, but cloud computing enables the business to obtain these services online with the option of increasing or decreasing the amount of service needed.
It is a cost-effective method because firms only hire the services of an SMO as and when they need them eliminating high capital investments and operational costs.
Moreover, through an organized data storage system, cloud computing also brings the benefit of a higher security level and reliability due to the remote access to data and strong encryption and security measures provided by most of the cloud service providers.
Cloud computing enables organizations to obtain or better still, subscribe for the use of computing resources that are hosted by a third party. This model is quite cheap and organizations can flexibly scale up or down their computing capabilities whenever they want.
In addition, cloud computing enables larger data availability from any location and at any time.
On the other hand, traditional computing necessitates that the business organization has to procure its hardware, software, and services.
Which is better: Cloud or Traditional Computing?
Hence it can be concluded there is no right or wrong when coming to cloud computing and traditional computing it all depends on the business needs that are required to be met. Cloud computing helps in reducing costs, and the setup is scalable and allows users to access data in various ways. This makes it ideal for business organizations that require flexibility and which entail less capital investment at the initial stages. However, traditional computing provides more control over the architecture and configuration which may be needed for some companies.
For organizations that wish to avoid large capital investments and take advantage of cloud versatility in the business, cloud computing is probably the way to go.
Learn More About Cloud Computing in Detail
The Future of Computing
Cloud computing is a novel solution that has gained significant popularity as an alternative to conventional local computing. But it is not the future of computing painted as a winner-take-all proposition. Rather, a combination of both models that take advantage of the positive aspects of each will most probably evolve.
It can therefore be concluded that for organizations that need flexibility, more capacity and efficiency, cloud computing shall continue to be the option of choice. However, the organizations, that have more stringent security demands or the ones, that are handling highly confidential information, might feel more comfortable with hybrid cloud and on-premise setups.
New security technologies and data protection legislations continue to bring the distinction of cloud and conventional computing closer. Also, there is the rather recent phenomenon of edge computing, where data is processed closer to where it is generated, which could potentially create yet another tier in the computing hierarchy.
Organizations will have to decide whether to implement cloud solutions or other solutions hosted locally or even a combination of the two.
