Cloud computing services allow enterprises to access enterprise-level applications without the cost and time of acquiring new hardware and software. This allows businesses to shift from operations to innovation more quickly and gain an advantage over competitors.

Servers are expensive, and unless you invest in redundancy such as an array of redundant disks, there’s an increased chance that your servers will go down at any moment. The cost of maintaining servers and the space required for their installation can quickly increase. Add to that the fact that servers require constant cooling and you’ll be looking at a substantial operating cost.

You can access your data and applications from anywhere that there is an internet connection. This lets your employees be more productive when they are on the road or in the office at home and using their mobiles and tablets.

Cloud computing also allows rapid scaling of virtual resources and storage. It is easy to quickly add capacity to accommodate a sudden up lift in demand, and scale back down just as quickly when things slow down. This is known as elasticity, and it is a major benefit of cloud computing.

Amazon infrastructureroom.com Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google are the three major cloud providers. VMware and OpenStack are also leading contenders. As the cloud continues its evolution we are seeing increasing numbers of people adopting multi-cloud strategies. This is partly because it avoids the risk of vendor lock-in, but additionally, working with multiple providers provides more flexibility.