Cloud computing and its transformative effects

In this essay, a critical analysis of Cloud computing’s transformative effects on businesses and people, and security . Firstly, we will begin with a brief history on cloud computing including the genesis and how the technology was shaped by history and today’s current needs and trends. Then, we will explore the benefits and challenges of cloud computing in business and in the lives of people.

History

Born in an age where virtualisation is thriving, and in a space where large companies hold huge amounts of data storage, Cloud computing emerges. From the first emergence of the personal computer in the 60s, we see Cloud Computing holding similar trends to that of the first computer, with it being centralised, and capable of sharing computer resources( Bohm, et al 2011). Even back then there were conceptions of the idea already being developed, with John McCarthy, a well known computer scientist saying “computation may someday be organised as a public utility” (McCarthy 1960). 

Following this, in the early days of the computer’s birth the cost per unit and the operation price was quite high, which lead large companies to lease out their resources to third parties. Ultimately, leading to the creation of providers that specialises in the distribution of internet and computer services. Cloud computing was born as a result of the early development of computers and was further solidified when it offered a solution during a time when IT companies faced increasing need for demand and data space. Leimesiter sums this all up by stating that customers had a range of desires including a cost-effective and efficient delivery of IT services, innovations or the identification of a customer specific innovation from providers, and on demand payment (2014).  

 

Transformative effects.

Businesses

To begin, we will explore the business benefits of cloud computing. For many businesses, cloud computing offers a more cost effective solution to their servers. In 2000 over 45% of capital equipment budget was spent on IT and averaged only a 6% use on servers. The cost of infrastructure and energy costs outweigh the purchase price of a server by far. Cloud computing greatly benefits businesses as it offers a reduced price point in terms of upgrades and maintenance, and can lead to a five to seven time reduction in costs (Armbrust, et al 2009).

A great example of the increase in production that cloud services offer is Flowserve. Flowserve corporation is an enterprise that is well known for supplying valves, seals, and pumps. To improve their process and accuracy, the company adopted Oracle Configure, Price, Quote Cloud. Each component allowed the company to increase productivity. With Oracle fastening increasing the delivery time of quotes from days to within twenty minutes, Price increasing the delivery of quotes to 95%, and Quote Cloud deploying products multiple times a week as opposed to once every quarter year (Zhu 2017). 

From this online change, it is not only Flowserve that has benefited, but thousands of other companies big and small around the world. It is through business demands and needs like this that cloud computing has emerged as a technology. 

For large businesses like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and IBM cloud computing has changed the way their revenue is made.

Being able to provide full scale cloud computing services, due to the enormous amounts of maintenance and costs of the infrastructure, which means they are able to rent out unused data space. However, “the percentage of the overall revenues in case of these companies is little ” (Leimbach et al 2014). This means that currently, it is the smaller companies who save by renting infrastructure are the ones profiting the most. Although, in future these companies announced that the cloud will be an important aspect, with IBM targeting a revenue of $7 for cloud products (Kelly 2011). 

 

People

Even for employees cloud computing has had benefits as the outsourcing of technology and the capabilities for online software have brought on the possibility of the work from home ethic (Baciu 2013). According to figures from Sage, flexible working will be the main way of working for around 70% of organisations by 2020, with cloud computing holding a major role in the reasoning behind this (2017). 

With cloud computing offering employees a chance to work flexible hours and a better life balance, it presents the possible consequence of distancing workers from team members. Also, working from home also has the conception of being constantly at work, with no hours to limit employees to their work time. This puts more pressure on employees to respond to emails faster and also work more (Leimbach, et al 2014).

Cloud computing for consumers certainly makes their lives more convenient, however there is also the factor of making people more dependent on technology. Services like online schedules, storage of photos, and collaboration tools were the most popular cloud tools in a survey conducted in the US (Forrester 2012). Gartner argued that it was due to the high amount of people using cloud tools that businesses and companies were also made to switch (2012). Thus, the cloud is changing the way people live their lives and will have a strong impact on work culture and the future of technology (Schofield 2012). 

With more and more data being stored into cloud servers, this means consumers become dependent on it for storage. Although this presents them with an easy, and usually cost free method of easily accessing their data from wherever they are, it also has some issues. In 2009 the biggest outage in cloud computing history occurred with 800,000 users of Sidekick temporarily lost their data as a result of an outage (Cellan-Jones 2009). 

A user’s relationship with the company and Cloud Computing is affected by the level of trust and safety that one feels towards it. With this outage, the relationship becomes strained as fear of losing data becomes possible. Here, we see two sides of the story as although the cloud has many benefits with connecting it also is capable of harnessing your data and essentially involves the user putting all their eggs in one basket.

 

Governments

Governments and the cloud have a difficult relationship with security and power. 

With cloud computing involving the use of data centers where locations are irrelevant, this brings into the question of legality. Different countries have their own rules and regulations surrounding this topic. For example, in the United States, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act both protect personal health information and prohibits the disclosing of data. But if the datacenter is in India, and the head office is in the United States, where does this stand? 

In addition to this, Cloud computing also brings in the issue of protection and the right for search and seizure. What can its clients expect? In 2011 whistleblowing website WikiLeaks was pulled down from Amazon after heavy pressure from the government. Wikileaks retaliated and argued that it was a breach of freedom of speech (MacAskill 2011). 

This relationship between cloud providers and cloud users is therefore questioned. Amazon’s exclusion of Wikileaks to cloud services as a direct result of government pressure highlights the power hierarchy of the current cloud system where governments and cloud providers are at the top. 

Network providers enable connectivity between consumers and the cloud, and in turn the former is strongly influenced and perhaps even shaped by government policies. This means that some countries have better access to cloud computing than others. BSA’s ranking of countries included Germany as number one as a result of their data privacy, security protection, and broadband penetration, while Vietnam finished at 24 as a result of their free trade policies (Corbin 2013). 

With low cyber protection and regulation, it makes it difficult for some businesses to want to move to the cloud which means it is more easily accessible for some people than others. 

 

Conclusion:

Cloud computing has definitely had transformative effects on the way businesses, people, and governments do their work. However, it also brings up many questions regarding our future involving it. Although many people are benefitting from its technology through components like its ability to connect wirelessly, and provide and easier connection to other people and places, there is also issues surrounding security and privacy. Overall, Cloud computing has greatly benefitted the way businesses and governments run, and the way people are living. We just need to be careful not to rely on it too much.

 

References:

Ahmed, M. and Hossain, M. (2014). Cloud computing and security issues in the cloud. International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications, 6(1), pp.25-33.

Armbrust, A. Fox, R. Griffith, A.D. Joseph, R.H. Katz, A.Konwinski, G. Lee, D.A. Patterson, A. Rabkin, I. Stoica, M.Zaharia (2009) Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of cloud computing, University of California at Berkeley.

Baciu, E. (2013). Advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing services, from the employees point of view. Ph.D candidate. Acad. Andrei Radulescu.

Bohn, M., Leimeister, S., Riedl, C. and Krcmar, H. (2011). Cloud Computing and Computing Evolution.

Bojanova, I., Zhang, J. and Voas, J. (2013). Cloud Computing. IT Professional, 15(2), pp.12-14.

Gartner (2012): Gartner Says Cloud Adoption in Europe Will Trail U.S. by At Least Two Years, Egham (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2032215) May 31. 

Government of the United Kingdom, Department for Business Innovation & Skills and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2008) Digital Britain: The Final report [Online]. Available: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf 

J.N. Hoover (2009). Japan hopes IT investment, private cloud will spur economic recovery: The Kasumigaseki Cloud is part of a larger government project that’s expected to create 300,000 to 400,000 new jobs within three years,” InformationWeek, May 15, 2009.

Kushida, K., Murray, J. and Zysman, J. (2019). Diffusing the Cloud: Cloud Computing and Implications for Public Policy. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 11(3), pp.209-237.

Leimbach, T. (2014). Potential and Impacts of Cloud Computing Services and Social Network Websites. 1st ed. [ebook] European Union: European Parliamentary Research Service. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261758174_Potential_and_Impacts_of_Cloud_Computing_Services_and_Social_Network_Websites#pf30 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2019].

MacAskill, E. (2010). This article is more than 8 years old WikiLeaks website pulled by Amazon after US political pressure. The guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-website-cables-servers-amazon [Accessed 5 Oct. 2019].

Schofield, Jack (2012): Personal cloud to replace PC by 2014, says Gartner, in: ZDNet, March 13, 2012, (http://www.zdnet.com/personal-cloud-to-replace-pc-by-2014-says-gartner-4010025617/).

Zhu, Y. (2017). Cloud Computing: Current and Future Impact on Organizations. Student Thesis. Western Oregon University.