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The drivers of innovation technological shifts have resulted in the growth of immense potential among the entrepreneurs. The buzz in the world of technology Cloud computing is acting as a catalyst stimulating this growth by making incredible bulk of resources available right at the fingertip of entrepreneurs.

In the rapidly changing times, cloud is being perceived as a remedy to cure several IT pains. The horizons of cloud-supporting technologies are widening every day, helping businesses to concentrate mainly on the crux of the business instead of being interfered by IT glitches. Cloud applications are adapted to fit the needs of small businesses carrying an urge to advance quickly. Implementing cloud solutions can help small business owners and entrepreneurs to manage information efficiently.

Versatile Computing:

Greater flexibility and reduced up-front costs makes cloud technology a natural fit for SMBs as cloud simplifies the IT processes and accelerates the growth curve. Such benefits offered by cloud empower SMBs to battle toe to toe with other startups and established IT enterprises.

A simple situation describes the immense potential of cloud computing: You reached the client site to present a deal but forgot to carry an important fact sheet that defines the success of the deal. But, before leaving for the meeting you shifted the required data to the cloud which helped to access the data right at your fingertip at the clients site.

Storing data in the cloud enables secure access to data, using all devices such as PC, tablet and smartphone operating on the same system. This means entrepreneurs can maximize their efficiency by getting the access to information, using any device they have, at any given moment.

Reduction in Expenses:

The launch of startups usually requires expenditure of six to seven figures on hardware, software tools and other equipment. The need for purchasing database licenses, servers and other IT tools and equipment arises just to perform simple tasks such as tracking sales lead, paying bills, etc.

Cloud technology eliminates all such expenditures and costs. This saves up-front capital, reduces investors risk which in turn helps entrepreneurs to invest more towards actual business plans. The cumulative effect of this is that startups require less capital to launch its business and can help to retain more of the founding stock.

Cloud computing service excludes the need for onsite servers taking away with it operating costs and extra space required for storage of onsite servers. Also, the need for managing the network and information by devoted onsite staff diminishes. This leads to improved cost efficiency.

Competent Knowledge Base:

Almost every entrepreneur shares the same experience that it is practically not possible to execute business processes smoothly without a reliable network, computer and associated equipment.

It is often difficult for an average entrepreneur to keep its network up dated and maintain smooth functioning of software and other tools. By making the move to the cloud, entrepreneurs need not to bank upon guesswork.

Your cloud vendor delivers an immediate resolution to any kind of repairing and troubleshooting issue. This enables entrepreneurs focus more on running businesses smoothly, instead of devoting time in performing research on servers and building the infrastructure.

Enhanced Scalability:

Nowadays, maintaining a website forms the crux of every business. But, it is generally not a cost-effective solution to host a website using a dedicated server. Cloud helps to operate a fully-functional website quickly and easily.

Entrepreneurs and SMB owners can enlist the website design services by a developer who implements cloud-services to store entire website information and may even deliver design services. This enables entrepreneurs to efficiently manage their website by saving time and money.

Although, cloud-services enclose security issues and an additional expense for an entrepreneur, the improved productivity and big savings overcomes the risks. This makes entrepreneurs to focus on delivering the best services which facilitates the growth of their businesses and maximize efficiency.

Conclusion:

Instead of investing vast amount of money in deployment of conventional IT services, newbies can incorporate cloud-based services to run business services more quickly. Merely, with few mouse clicks cloud-enabled services can turned on or off. The traditional IT services needs such as relocation, outsourcing, etc. get over as cloud adjusts smoothly and immediately with the needs of startups.

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A five-year-old effort by the U.S. government to cut IT costs through data center consolidations, cloud computing and other technology changes may be paying off, according to a report Tuesday by a government watchdog agency.

In 2010, the federal government embarked on a plan to cut IT spending by consolidating data centers, moving to cloud computing and sharing more services among agencies. The government budgets about $80 billion annually on IT.

Over the past four years, these efforts have saved the U.S. about $3.6 billion in IT costs, either in direct reductions or by avoiding new costs, said the Government Accountability Office in a new report.

The government achieved some of the reductions through a "cut and reinvest" strategy that requires agencies to propose 10% IT reductions, and then pitch reinvestments of those savings in IT projects that result in considerably higher savings. There were 26 agencies involved.

The federal agencies with the biggest cost savings were also the largest: The Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration. Those four agencies accounted for about 70% of the savings.

Data center consolidations are responsible for about half of the overall IT cost reduction. The savings came from reduced hardware needs thanks to consolidation, which includes data center closures, increased use of virtualization, consolidation of licensing agreements, expanded use of electronic analysis tools, migrations to Web-based management platforms and moves toward the government's "cloud first" policy.

If the GAO found fault with anything, it's that the agencies can do a better job in estimating savings (they may be underreporting them) and develop better plans for reinvesting savings.

Patrick Thibodeau Senior Editor

Patrick Thibodeau covers cloud computing and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld.

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Cloud Computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing data storage, processing and bandwidth.

A simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo email, Gmail, or Hotmail etc. All you need is just an internet connection and you can start sending emails. The server and email management software is all on the cloud ( internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo , Google etc. The consumer gets to use the software alone and enjoy the benefits. The analogy is , 'If you need milk , would you buy a cow?' All the users or consumers need is to get the benefits of using the software or hardware of the computer like sending emails etc. Just to get this benefit (milk) why should a consumer buy a (cow) software /hardware?

Cloud computing is broken down into three segments: "application" "storage" and "connectivity." Each segment serves a different purpose and offers different products for businesses and individuals around the world. In June 2011, a study conducted by V1 found that 91% of senior IT professionals actually don't know what cloud computing is and two-thirds of senior finance professionals are clear by the concept,[1] highlighting the young nature of the technology. In Sept 2011, an Aberdeen Group study found that disciplined companies achieved on average an 68% increase in their IT expense because cloud computing and only a 10% reduction in data center power costs.[2]

Community cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns , whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. The costs are spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than that of a private) to realize its cost saving potential.

A public cloud is established where several organizations have similar requirements and seek to share infrastructure so as to appliance. In addition, it can be economically attractive as the resources (storage, workstations) utilized and shared in the community are already exploited.

This is the cloud computing model where service providers make their computing resources available online for the public. It allows the users to access various important resources on cloud, such as:Software, Applications or Stored data. On of the prime benefits of using public cloud is that the users are emancipated from performing certain important tasks on their computing machines that they cannot get away with otherwise, these include:Installation of resources, their configuration; and Storage.

For obvious reasons, public cloud is bound to offer a multitude of benefits for its users, which can be sensed by its ubiquitous demand. Some of the most important ones are mentioned here:

A paradigm shift to cloud computing will affect many different sub-categories in computer industry such as software companies, internet service providers (ISPs) and hardware manufacturers. While it is relatively easy to see how the main software and internet companies will be affected by such a shift in Ginger's chunky nuggets, it is more difficult to predict how companies in the internet and hardware sectors will be affected. Most of the major companies have launched their product. IBM launched their new SmartCloud data center in Japan in 2011.

Cloud Computing ideal as a Disaster Recovery solution?[6]

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Concept:Cloud Computing - Wikinvest

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Since 2009, IDC has ranked Trend Micro as the global market leader in server security (*IDC, Worldwide Corporate Endpoint Server Security Research, 2009-2013, market share based on revenue). Our Cloud and Data Center Security supports physical, virtual, and cloud environments so you can manage your data security as it moves from the data center to the cloud.

NSS Labs ranked our Custom Defense solution: most effective recommended breach detection system" for protecting your network from targeted attacks and advanced threats. And InfoTech named Trend Micro a Champion in endpoint security, making our Complete User Protection solution simply the best endpoint protection available.

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