Cloud Sourcing: A Complete Guide in 6 Points

INTRODUCTION

Software installed on the hard disk needs to be installed on every computer which may consume a lot of time and efforts and its capital expenditure is quite high which gives rise to cloud-based applications. Cloud sourcing is a popular method used by almost every organization these days. 

As technology and internet connectivity improved, all web-based applications have moved to cloud-based applications.  Many organizations prefer to outsource their IT services because it’s not their main function to have a dedicated team and complex IT systems. This leads to the emergence of cloud sourcing.

In this article let us look at:

1. WHAT IS CLOUD SOURCING?
2. PURPOSE OF CLOUD SOURCING
3. TYPES OF CLOUD SOURCING
4. CLOUD SOURCING SERVICE MODELS
5. EXAMPLES OF CLOUD SOURCING
6. TOOLS USED FOR CLOUD SOURCING

1. WHAT IS CLOUD SOURCING?

Cloud simply means applications, services and data storage on the internet. Sourcing means outsourcing services.

Cloud Sourcing refers to making the data, services, applications available on the internet by the service providers to various organizations. As the model of IT-enabled services is available on a virtual platform, users can access it anytime, anywhere 24*7. It gives the ability to the organizations to expand and reduce the resources as per their requirement and pay for only if they use them.

2. PURPOSE OF CLOUD SOURCING

Here are some reasons why cloud sourcing is important:

3. TYPES OF CLOUD SOURCING

 The cloud computing environment consists of multiple types of clouds- Private cloud, Public Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.

1) Private Cloud

This type of cloud stays within the boundary of an organization. It is more secure as it is managed by the organization. There is no need to rely on the outside party. But its main disadvantage is that it is costly because organizations have to heavily invest in buying, building the clouds.

2) Public Cloud

This cloud is provisioned for open use by the public. It may be owned or managed by the business, government organizations etc. or a combination of them. they are highly scalable, less secure, affordable, highly available. There is no need for establishing separate infrastructure for setting up and maintaining this type of cloud.

3) Hybrid Cloud

This cloud is a combination of both private and public cloud. They are partially secure, highly scalable, provides better security than the public cloud.

4. CLOUD SOURCING SERVICE MODELS

There are three main service models of cloud sourcing – Infrastructure as a service, Platform as a service and Software as a service.

1) Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

A hardware-level service enables IT users to access infrastructure resources over the internet. It has centralized management, shared infrastructure, allows metered services. It is a fully outsourced pay for use service. This allows users to maximize the utilization of computing capacities without having to own and manage their own resources.

2) Platform as a service (PaaS)

PaaS provides users to develop and deploy an application on the platform provided by the service provider. PaaS providers provide programming languages, database and testing tools apart from built-in tools.

3) Software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS provides the users to access an application over the internet which is hosted and managed by the service provider. It changes the way software is delivered over the internet. It is managed from a central location. These are amongst the most popular and visible cloud services.

5. EXAMPLES OF CLOUD SOURCING

There are some real-world examples of cloud sourcing:

1) Dropbox, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Google

2) If you are using Google drive’s applications, it is a form of cloud computing.

3) Salesforce is a good example as their entire suit of CRM applications are offered via the cloud.

4) The best example is google apps where everything can be accessed using a browser.

5) Amazon web services, Go daddy cloud hosting services, Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud.

6. TOOLS USED FOR CLOUD SOURCING

There are many cloud infrastructure tools available to help speed the cloud computing process. Some of these tools are as follows:

1) Puppet

It is an automatic IT software that automates repetitive tasks, faster deployment of applications. It is a longtime leader in the market. It manages more complex workflows in a simple way.

2) SaltStack

Also known as salt, a python based open-source software. It is highly modular.

3) Chef

It is configuration management technology used in provisioning, configuring and integrating cloud resources. It is Ruby-based.

4) Ansible

It uses YAML(Yet Another Markup Language) to manage the configurations. it provides simple application deployment, task execution, configuration management.

5) AWS Cloud Formation

It manages the third party and private resources, integrates with other AWS services, helps in scaling the infrastructure worldwide.

6) AppDynamics

CONCLUSION

Cloud Sourcing provides the ability to access shared resources and services on demand over the network to perform the operations. Companies can have massive capacities without having to invest in new infrastructure, train personnel. It is beneficial to every organization either small, big or medium who wish to completely outsource their data infrastructure to third parties without having to incur the cost internally. Most the organizations are switching over to the cloud due to its numerous benefits with emerging technology.

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