Unit 6.6

Cloud Computing in Business

IT 233: Business Information Systems

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

✅ Define cloud computing and explain its core characteristics.
✅ Differentiate between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS service models.
✅ Describe public, private, and hybrid cloud deployment models.
✅ Identify key benefits and challenges of cloud adoption.
✅ Provide examples of cloud computing in business.

What is Cloud Computing? ☁️

Definition: Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics—over the internet ("the cloud").

Instead of this...

❌ Buying expensive servers

❌ Maintaining data centers

❌ Hiring IT staff to manage hardware

You get this...

✅ Access technology on-demand

✅ Pay only for what you use

✅ Scale instantly based on needs

The Big Three Cloud Providers 🏢

Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Market leader (~32%)
Microsoft Azure - Enterprise favorite (~22%)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Growing fast (~10%)

Other notable providers:

IBM Cloud
Oracle Cloud
Alibaba Cloud

Five Essential Characteristics (NIST)

On-Demand Self-Service - Provision resources automatically, anytime
Broad Network Access - Access from any device, anywhere
Resource Pooling - Multiple customers share resources (multi-tenant)
Rapid Elasticity - Scale up or down instantly based on demand
Measured Service - Pay only for what you use (metered billing)

Cloud Service Models

IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS

The "Pizza as a Service" Analogy 🍕

The Pizza Analogy 🍕

On-Premises (Traditional)

Make pizza at home from scratch

You manage: Ingredients, oven, dining table, everything!

Cloud

IaaS: Take-and-bake pizza (you get raw pizza, bake at home)
PaaS: Pizza delivery (ready pizza, you serve it)
SaaS: Dine-in restaurant (everything is done for you)

Service Models: The Responsibility Stack

Layer	On-Premises	IaaS	PaaS	SaaS
Applications	You	You	You	Provider
Data	You	You	You	You
Runtime/Middleware	You	You	Provider	Provider
Operating System	You	You	Provider	Provider
Virtualization	You	Provider	Provider	Provider
Servers/Storage/Network	You	Provider	Provider	Provider

As you move right → Less control, but less management effort!

Service Models: Quick Reference 📊

IaaS - Infrastructure

🏗️ "Rent raw computing power"

👤 For: IT Admins

📌 AWS EC2, Azure VMs

PaaS - Platform

🛠️ "Just deploy your code"

👤 For: Developers

📌 Heroku, Google App Engine

SaaS - Software

💻 "Use it in your browser" | 👤 For: Everyone | 📌 Gmail, Zoom, Salesforce

Cloud Deployment Models

Where does your cloud live?

Deployment Models Comparison 📊

Model	Best For	Key Benefit	Main Challenge
Public ☁️	Startups, web apps	Cost-effective, scalable	Less control, security concerns
Private 🔒	Banks, healthcare, govt	Full control, compliance	Higher cost, needs IT expertise
Hybrid 🔀	Variable workloads	Flexibility, cost optimization	Complex to manage

💡 Cloud Bursting: Run normal workloads on private cloud, "burst" to public cloud during peak demand

Benefits & Challenges

Why Cloud? Why Not?

Business Benefits of Cloud Computing 💼

💰 Cost Reduction - No upfront hardware costs, pay-as-you-go
📈 Scalability - Scale up/down instantly based on demand
⚡ Speed & Agility - Deploy in minutes, not months
🌍 Global Reach - Deploy worldwide with a few clicks
🛡️ Disaster Recovery - Built-in backup across multiple locations
🔄 Automatic Updates - Always on the latest version
🤝 Enhanced Collaboration - Work together from anywhere

Challenges of Cloud Computing ⚠️

🔐 Security Concerns - Data on external servers
⏸️ Downtime Risk - Internet dependency
🔗 Vendor Lock-In - Hard to switch providers
📋 Compliance Issues - Meeting regulatory requirements
🎛️ Limited Control - Less customization than on-premises
💸 Hidden Costs - Data transfer, premium support fees

Real-World Business Applications 🌐

Netflix: 250M+ subscribers, 15M concurrent streams on AWS
Zoom: 10M → 300M daily users in 4 months (2020) - cloud elasticity!
Airbnb: 150M+ users globally, zero data centers built
Spotify: Analyzes 500M+ user patterns daily on Google Cloud

💡 None of these companies could have scaled this fast with traditional infrastructure

Emerging Cloud Trends 🚀

Serverless Computing

Run code without managing servers
Pay per millisecond of execution
AWS Lambda, Azure Functions

Multi-Cloud Strategy

Use multiple providers
Avoid vendor lock-in
Best service for each workload

Edge Computing

Process data closer to source (IoT, self-driving cars) → lower latency

Cloud Computing in Nepal 🇳🇵

Success Stories ✅

NIC Asia, Kumari Bank (cloud banking)
Daraz: 10x traffic during 11.11 sales
eSewa/Khalti: millions of transactions
TU: 500K+ students on Microsoft 365

Challenges ⚠️

35% internet penetration outside KTM
No local AWS/Azure data centers
Data sovereignty concerns
Cloud skills gap

Quick Quiz! 🧠

Q1: A company wants to run its own servers but have someone else manage the hardware. Which service model?

→ IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

Q2: Gmail is an example of which service model?

→ SaaS (Software as a Service)

Q3: A bank wants full control over its data but also wants to use public cloud for its customer-facing website. Which deployment model?

→ Hybrid Cloud

Key Takeaways 📝

☁️ Cloud = renting computing power instead of buying (CapEx → OpEx)
📊 Service models: IaaS (IT admins), PaaS (developers), SaaS (everyone)
🏗️ Deployment: Public (cheap), Private (secure), Hybrid (flexible)
🚀 Emerging: Serverless, Multi-cloud, Edge computing
🇳🇵 Nepal: Growing adoption, but infrastructure & data sovereignty challenges remain

Discussion Questions 💬

How would you advise a Nepali SME on choosing between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS?
Why might NRB require banks to use private cloud for certain data?
How can businesses mitigate vendor lock-in using multi-cloud strategies?
What opportunities does serverless computing create for Nepali developers?

Thank You! 🙏

Questions?

IT 233: Business Information Systems

Unit 6.6: Cloud Computing in Business