What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing means running applications on servers that are connected to the internet, instead of installing and running them on your own device. The software itself sits on the provider's servers, and you reach it over the internet, usually through a browser.

Because the processing happens on the provider's machines, your own device does not need to be powerful. A modest laptop, a tablet or even a phone can use a large, demanding program this way, as long as it can get online. The provider buys, powers and repairs those servers, and applies the software updates, so nobody in your organisation has to install a new version.

Why an organisation might choose it

• Cost effectiveness — a subscription replaces buying the software outright and buying the servers to run it on. The saving is in what you no longer have to buy and maintain, rather than the software simply being cheap.
• No in-house IT staff — the provider maintains the servers and the software, so the organisation does not pay technicians to do that work.
• Automatic updates — the provider installs them, so users never have to download and install anything themselves.
• Scalability — accounts can be added when staff join and removed when they leave, without buying extra machines for each new person.
• Access from anywhere you can get online — for example, a five-person catering company can plan menus from the kitchen, a client's office or home, all using the same service.

Cloud computing is not the same thing as cloud storage: one is about running software, the other about keeping files. It also does not remove the need for the internet — if your internet connection fails, you cannot reach the application at all. It is the internet connection that matters, not just Wi-Fi.