Chapter 2: Benefits of Cloud Computing

In Chapter 1, Introduction to Cloud Computing, you gained the skills needed to define cloud computing, describe the delivery and service models, and compare characteristics and use case scenarios.

This chapter will outline the benefits and value of cloud computing and its positioning as a digital transformation enabler, and we'll look at the audience of cloud computing and the cloud mindset that should be adopted compared to the traditional computing mindset. We will also cover the computing concept of a hierarchy of needs and look at cloud computing's operations model. The chapter closes with the economics of cloud computing and the foundational change of moving from a CapEx to an OpEx cost expenditure model.

The objectives for this chapter continue the coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area, Describe Cloud Concepts.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

• Identify the benefits...

Why cloud computing?

Cloud computing adoption is often driven more by the advantages and benefits of its business and operational model than its technology model or location factors.

Cloud computing doesn't have to be a binary decision between a fully public cloud and no public cloud. The benefit of the cloud computing model is that it gives you a choice in how computing resources can be provided and consumed by a business to suit its operating model in the most appropriate way.

Cloud computing-based resources can be in the service provider's facilities or the customer facilities in the case of the Azure Stack portfolio (Edge, HCI, Hub), being a private cloud. Therefore, you can have on-premises cloud computing resources; it doesn't always have to mean resources in a provider's facility that are shared with others and accessible over a network, but that is the most typical deployment model, that is, the public cloud.

The core benefits of the cloud computing...

Cloud computing as a digital transformation enabler

Digital transformation is disruptive, a growth catalyst, and foundational in changing how an organization will deliver time to value.

The following figure outlines the value that a digital transformation enabler can realize for an organization:

Figure 2.2 – Cloud computing as a digital transformation enabler

Cloud computing can be seen as a vital part of any digital transformation journey. Still, the reality is that it's less about the technology model and more about the business model, the people, and the process. It's a fact: people don't like change and are generally only forced to move direction when they have to; as in the analogy of placing a frog in a pot of boiling water, there must be a trigger to induce the action. The following section looks at those digital transformation triggers.

Digital transformation triggers

The reason to adopt any disruptive technology, especially...

Cloud computing's target audience

Cloud computing can be different things to different people depending on their perspective and their role or function. A business leader will have one idea of what cloud computing needs to deliver, which will be very different from the technology leader and very different from a developer, a database admin, or a data scientist. They all have other wants and needs, and so cloud computing as a model almost has to be all things to all people.

Azure provides the following high-level categorization of services to a business:

• Hosted infrastructure platform
• Application development platform
• Data and analytics platform
• Monitoring and management platform
• Hybrid and multi-cloud control plane platform
• Security operations platform
• Identity and compliance platform

With regard to Azure, as Microsoft's cloud computing platform, these different functions are very well catered for, making it relevant from all perspectives...

Cloud computing hierarchy of needs

The IT services delivery model can draw parallels to Maslow's hierarchy of needs; this comes from a psychology theory, often represented in a hierarchical pyramid. In this model, the lower-level needs add no value or benefit, but each lower-level need must be met before the next-level needs can be met, leading to dependencies on the lower levels. The challenge is a very delicate balance in that any change in the lower levels affects the chances of success or failure of the required outcome; in this theory, the outcome to be achieved is self-actualization.

This idea can be applied to the IT services delivery model. In this model, the typical technology stack provides the outcome that needs to be met, such as an app, function, or code…:

• …this must exist on a lower layer of software…
• …which needs to live on a lower layer of compute…
• …which needs to exist on a lower layer of hardware…...

Cloud computing operations model

Elastic, scalable, agile, fault-tolerant, highly available, and disaster recovery are all terminology associated with cloud computing, adding value, and benefiting an organization's operational model.

These inherent and defining characteristics allow a workload deployed into a cloud computing environment to become highly available and scale in and out (both vertically and horizontally), which maps closely to demand. This ability to be elastic in nature allows the agility to provide a highly effective operations and economics model to flex with the changing demands of a business.

By optimizing running hours and right-sizing resources in line with demand and changing requirements, the switch to an OpEx system of paying as you use things (also known as a consumption-based system) allows controlled and monitored spending of computing resources without the overcommit of a traditional CapEx computing cost model of deploying hardware in on-premises...

The economics of cloud computing

We'll look at the consumption-based model, one of the two economic characteristics of cloud computing compared to traditional computing economics; the second economic characteristic that cloud computing is based upon is the cost expenditure model of OpEx.

Consumption-based model?

In a nutshell, a consumption model means paying only for what you use, for the time you use the resource; this can be likened to leasing/renting something instead of outright purchasing and owning the asset. Some resources such as virtual machines can be stopped and started to reduce costs, so you only pay while running them; this is one of the key business benefits of the cloud computing cost model over a traditional computing cost model.

This section introduced the consumption-based model of cloud computing. The following section takes a closer look at the cost expenditure models.

Defining the expenditure models

It is essential to define some finance...

Thought exercise

This section allows you to reflect on all the information presented in this chapter and apply it in a customer requirements scenario.

Migration assessment discovery output

The following inventory was discovered from an organization assessment. What approach should you take for each of the inventory items listed?:

• Active Directory and DNS – Windows Server 2008 R2
• Email – Exchange Server 2010
• Intranet – SharePoint Foundation 2010
• User shares – Windows Server 2008 R2
• Company shares – Windows Server 2008 R2
• Line of Business Apps (App Servers) – Linux
• Line of Business Apps (Database Servers) – MySQL
• Remote Desktop Services – Windows Server 2008 R2
• Backup – Systems Center Data Protection Manager 2010
• Fax Server – Windows Server 2008 R2
• VPN – Firewall
• NAS – QNAP

Now that you have identified an approach to take for each of the...

Summary

This chapter included complete coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area, Describe Cloud Concepts.

We described the benefits and value of cloud computing, its positioning as a digital transformation enabler, and the audience of cloud computing. We saw that cloud computing is often more of a mindset, and we contrasted it to a traditional computing mindset. We then looked into how computing has a hierarchy of needs, how this evolves with the adoption of cloud computing, and we continued to look at cloud computing as an operations model.

The final exam topics skills covered were the economics of the cloud and the fundamental change of moving from a capital expenditure model to an operational expenditure model, closing with the idea that cloud computing is as much about the people, processes, and business stakeholders as it is about the technology.

Further knowledge beyond exam content was provided to prepare for a real-world, day-to-day, Azure-focused...

Further reading

This section provides links to additional exam information and study references:

• Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure fundamentals: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-900
• Exam AZ-900: skills outline: https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE3VwUY
• Discuss Azure fundamental concepts: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/fundamental-azure-concepts
• Learn the business value of Microsoft Azure: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/learn-business-value-of-azure
• Describe high availability and disaster recovery strategies: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/describe-high-availability-disaster-recovery-strategies
• Microsoft Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/tco/calculator/
• Microsoft Service Level Agreements: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/

Skills check

Challenge yourself with what you have learned in this chapter:

1. List six benefits of cloud computing platforms.
2. List three core audiences of cloud computing platforms.
3. List a minimum of two other audiences of cloud computing platforms.
4. Explain what digital transformation is and its value.
5. List a minimum of two business-led triggers.
6. List a minimum of two technical led triggers.
7. List the six Rs of the digital transformation approach.
8. List a minimum of three of the mindsets for the traditional computing model.
9. List a minimum of three of the mindsets for the cloud computing model.
10. Explain the cloud computing hierarchy of needs.
11. Explain scalability, elasticity, agility, high availability, and geo-distribution.
12. Explain disaster recovery.
13. Explain the consumption model.
14. Explain the CapEx versus OpEx model.
15. Explain the benefits of the OpEx model.