Cloud has become an integral part of most businesses with up to 95 per cent of businesses and ordinary internet users making use of it daily.
Cloud computing is storing and accessing data and programmes over the internet instead of on your computer’s hard drive.
Online storage and file sharing:
Cloud storage is like using the internet instead of memory stick. The cloud lets you upload your files directly to the internet. You can then access these files – be they documents, photos or music – from any device, anywhere.
Social media: Most social media sites act as a repository of information on the internet, gathered every time you or your network share content.
Online shopping:
Many online retailers use the cloud to store important information about their customers to enhance the buying experience. “Recently viewed” and “purchase recommendations” and other features that make online shopping easier are all because of the cloud, observes Sebuh Haileleul, country general manager, Microsoft
East and Southern Africa.
Web-based email services:
Whether you log onto the internet to access your email or have an app installed on your phone, you are relying on the cloud to receive, send and store your email communications.
Entertainment services:
Streaming services for movies, TV series and music provide fast and easy on-demand entertainment.
With 98.7 million Netflix users an average of a billion hours of video every week worldwide, there is a lot of data involved to ensure you can access whichever content you want whenever you want. This is why the cloud is such an important tool for services like this to provide instant, high quality content directly to your device.
The world of gaming has also begun transitioning to the cloud.
Instant messaging and video calls:
Tools like have made it possible to continue communicating with your family on the other side of the world very fast.
These services are cloud-based, allowing you to access all your chats and shared images on any device, meaning you can continue to communicate from anywhere.