Cloud computing is getting increasingly popular lately, but what is it exactly? Its definitions seem to vary depending on who you ask. “The cloud”, this moniker based on the so-called cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, often is used to metaphorically refer to the Internet, but in the case of cloud computing it is essentially a different kind of utility computing, functioning as a bank of virtual servers over the internet. This virtualization of servers is a trend that has been on the increase in recent years, and when you look at the potential benefits you can see why.

A big one is the fact that a cloud-based service can save companies thousands of pounds a year in hardware and software costs. Similarly, maintenance costs (and time required in order to perform this maintenance) are also greatly reduced, meaning that both the spare money and time can be channelled elsewhere in the company (or, of course, simply saved for a rainy day).

Arguably one of cloud computing’s most popular aspects is its app running capabilities. The apps, rather than being run by yourself, are instead run on a shared data center, which makes setup incredibly easy; log in to the app that runs in the cloud and you’re ready to go. Today all sorts of apps are run in the cloud, from accounting even to companies’ own custom-built ones. The cloud ensures that all apps are automatically kept up to date, too, making sure that they provide latest and best performance, security and new features. As well as apps, services offered by cloud computing include spam filtering and storage.

Cloud computing certainly looks to be here to stay, its benefits and capabilities seeming to increase with each passing day.