Lately, cloud computing has become the trending topic in Information Technology (IT). Almost every day there’s always news about this issue, both in technology as well as from the aspect of actual business. What’s Cloud Computing? Is it something real? And what is the usage for humankind? When we talk about Cloud Computing, in fact we are talking about the same thing. Many people give the definition of cloud computing with differences here and there.

Gartner defines it as “a way of computing as the IT-based services are easily developed and supple provided as a service to customers using Internet technologies.”

Forester defines it as “standard IT capabilities, such as software, application platform, or infrastructure, which is provided using the Internet by way of self-service technology and pay-per-use.”

Simply put, Cloud computing can we imagine such a power grid. If we need electricity, should we have its own power plant? Of course it is not. We live call your service provider, connect our homes with electricity networks, and we just enjoy the service. We do monthly payments according to usage.

If electricity could be like that, why computing services can’t? For example, if a company requires the application of CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Why do companies have to buy a CRM application, buy server hardware, and then must have a dedicated IT team to maintain the servers and applications? This is where cloud computing comes into play. Cloud computing service providers, has been providing CRM applications that can be used directly by the company. Check cloud storage providers. They call your service provider, “connect” with the service company (in this case, via the Internet), and live use. What about Payment? Simply pay per month (or per year, depending on contract) in accordance with usage. No more investment in the beginning to be done.