Small Fishes, Big Ponds
Why Cloud Computing is the Small Business’ Tech Messiah
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Rehan Fauzi
The Need...
Business systems and their services, over the last decade, had been under a gradual but steady
change in the ways they interacted with and provided value to their clients. The brick-andmortar, on-site focused way of conducting operations had been driven by a business management
mentality that has long since become outdated, especially in light of the game-changing
technology driving a wave of current change – it goes by the term Cloud Computing.
In all honesty, you’ve probably heard this term thrown around multiple times, seemingly
everything now is “cloud based”, and its the marketing department’s favourite new buzzword.
But in order to move forward in a market that has been drastically overhauled, especially in the
role technology plays between businesses and clients, it is important to understand the enabling
technology that businesses and individuals alike are turning towards in order to make the most of
as well as find new opportunities.
Let's analyze a traditionally operated business and the obvious problem of product & services
disruption it would have faced in the pandemic. The business would have its supply chain
disrupted, its operations management upturned and worst of all the services and products they
offer would be rendered practically worthless as in a remote and online economy, the traditional
model holds no ground and cannot generate sustainable revenue. These businesses would need a
rapid and elastic (in terms of load management) new way of reaching out to their customer base
again but this time through the internet. However, not all businesses can invest into the hardware
and skilled-labour costs that go into transferring an entire business online, from service delivery
to marketing campaigns. The upfront costs are huge; there needs to be a more convenient
solution to this problem and this is where The Cloud comes to the rescue with its conglomeration
of remote networking, computing, architectural and software services on a single Cloud Service
Provider’s platform.
...The Business...
The Cloud is a remote and online environment, with systems and tools, that provides users ondemand access to a shared pool of computing resources that allow them to ‘create more and
manage less’. It is marked by on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling
with multiple tenants (majorly hardware), rapid scalability of the services under use and a
subscription/pay-per-usage based payment system. In cloud computing, all the hardware and
physical computing resources are housed in large Data Centers under the sole ownership of the
cloud service provider, however, the computing power and resources are configured to be
accessed online by users, allowing them to gain all the benefits of an actual computer without
having to maintain and manage the hardware. In this market, the large business rents out its
unused/empty servers at configurable prices (subscription based, costs vary depending on
services procured) to these clients that get access to world class physical resources after just a
little initial online setup, meanwhile the Cloud Service Provider is able to generate revenue from
otherwise would-be unproductive assets.
This is very beneficial economically as the initial investment in IT and computing hardware can
be astronomical and well out of reach for most small businesses. Cloud Computing solves this
disparity by virtualizing state-of-the art computing prowess, allowing businesses to side-step the
Cap-Ex model and adopt an Op-Ex model where the costs incurred are only for the resources
used instead of establishment, operational and management costs. It is a revolution in the
consumption model of technology as a service.
...The Tech...
It’s necessary to mention that the cloud in itself isn't a technology but rather a mixture of various
interlinked technologies conjoined with commercial processes that allow this conglomeration of
abstract technologies to morph into an economically viable service. The service of Cloud
Computing is enabled by the process of Virtualization and as the name suggests, it’s the remote,
online based construction and enabling of simulacra for conventionally physical systems like
computing, networking, storage etc.
In virtualized technologies, virtual replicas of computing resources are configured on top of
physical servers with various different models configurable on the same server or machine. In
computing, an example would be Virtual Machines (VMs) or instances which are basically
computer replicas with RAMs, storage and processors along with their own OS (can be common
commercially available OS or the client’s custom OS) where multiple VMs are configured on the
same server and this is how multiple tenants are able to use the same hardware.
The servers are configured for VM installation through the use of hypervisors, which are
essentially light layers of hardcoded software, essential for the logistic separation between VMs,
ensuring that CPU, memory and storage resources are allocated independent and isolated of other
VMs, preventing any interference between the separate data streams which would otherwise be
catastrophic. They are the basic enablers of virtualization, ensuring that the concept of ‘one
machine-many systems’ can be a practical outcome. Hypervisors can be either bare-metal in
nature, meaning they are installed on bare-metal (empty, untouched in terms of any software)
servers or hosted, meaning there exists a layer of host OS between the physical machine and the
hypervisor. In both instances, the VM and its image (end-user OS) is installed on top of the
hypervisor.
…The Service...
Now, let's shine a light on how this technology is commercialized as there are three consistent
Service models – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS – which are designed to cater to separate kinds of niches
in the cloud service market.
In the IaaS or Infrastructure-as-a-Service model, the offering comprises basic structural and
hardware components required for computing use. This mainly means allocation of CPU,
memory, storage, installed hypervisors and basic VMs with some level of virtualized networking
resources. Basically, the cloud provider is in sole charge of managing and maintaining the
hardware from its end, there is no operational or management support of the processes being run
on the computing environment by the user. In essence, the user is responsible for what the
environment is used for, the service provider simply provides the hardware access remotely. This
is mainly used as a testing environment for new products and is very ‘bare-bones’ in nature.
PaaS or Platform-as-a-Service, on the other hand goes a step further and provides a well set up
VM instance or set of instances, complete with installed kernels, maintenance of the VMs,
networking support and maintenance, and in some cases even the installation of the client's
software and API configuration between separate instances. In essence, the client is simply
responsible for maintaining the app code, prized by developers as it allows them the freedom to
‘push & run’, testing new code quickly, making changes and realizing their brainstormed ideas.
The client end IT skills needed are considerably lesser than in case of IaaS but the trade-off is
lesser detailed control over the services being provided.
Lastly, but most conveniently, is the SaaS model where the end user is provided with completely
ready to use software that is configured, installed and managed by the service provider on terms
and specifications decided by the client. The software and apps reside on the cloud, configured
for remote network access, and made hassle free for businesses through the service provider’s
pledge to manage, maintain services across the board and oversee security & compliance too.
Obviously, the on-site IT team for the business procuring SaaS is almost non-existent and is thus
the most convenient – but also least user-configurable – service model.
...And the small fish wins...
All three service models have varying levels of complexity in terms of deployment and control
over resource allocation, catering to different niches for different purposes and there really isn't
such a thing as the best service model. Businesses often let their teams procure these services in a
mixture, depending on each department’s needs as the R & D dept will need a different set of
services than the marketing dept. All in all, driven by innovation and ingenuity, the cloud is
enabling a revolution that we are at the forefront – in some ways even the torchbearers – of,
ensuring that ideas come to the limelight and products and services offered by the smallest and
most remote of companies are able to have a stand against the capital heavy companies.