Cloud Computing in E-commerce Industry

Within 10 years, 80% of all computing, storage, and e-commerce done worldwide may take place in the cloud predict analysts, in what’s been termed the third phase of Internet computing in the modern era.

The first phase of computing combined software and operating systems into one terminal allowing basic communication through devices such as email.

The second phase allowed the user to connect to the World Wide Web containing millions of websites, which in the mid-1990s saw Internet usage increase 100-fold in just two years.

In the present third phase, everything will live in the cloud – including your data and software. Further, by 2020, there could be in excess of 100 billion devices and sensors accessing these remote data centers in the cloud. Only a small amount, approximately 1.4 billion, will be personal computers.

The progression away from the mainframe to personal computers is now being superseded by the dual arrival of the Smartphone and cloud computing.

In each step the underlying structure of computing has become more distributed.

This has profound implications for how consumers, vendors and suppliers will interact inside the e-commerce channel over the next decade.

Defining a cloud service

The term “cloud computing” has been hotly contested, drawing both derision and praise from different sectors of the I.T. community. At its core, the term refers to the outsourcing of data centers and application services to a remote provider under a pay-as-you-go contract.

 This ‘metered’ approach lowers costs and reduces complexity, simultaneously allowing the business to consume additional services “on-demand”.

Hybrid models are also possible whereby a business may build its own private cloud and temporarily access additional public cloud services if it so requires.

An example of this could include an e-commerce site, which leverages further cloud services to deal with the effects of a successful social media campaign without having to upgrade its infrastructure.

However, the term cloud computing does have further meanings in addition to those defined above.  

These include Software as a Service (Saas), Platform as a Service (Paas), and Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas).

In simple terms, SaaS refers to an end user accessing a remote product or e-commerce service over the Internet.   These could include a remote CRM such as Salesforce or a data center offered by Amazon Web Services.

PaaS is geared towards developers who wish to deploy applications in the cloud and don’t want to get involved with the server infrastructure. The Google apps store is an example of this.

The final version, IaaS, allows developers maximum interaction with the underlying server infrastructure including, but not limited to, deploying back-office applications on that remote environment. 

As of 2010 the SaaS model is the most dominant and widespread cloud variant in the marketplace.

  

Benefits to e-commerce

Trust

One of biggest challenges facing e-commerce pioneers in the early days of the web turned out not to be a technical problem, but a human one.

It took time to build trust into their networks and establish a set of online credentials that made buyers feel comfortable initiating an online purchase.

With the advent of cloud computing, existing businesses and startups can immediately leverage the trust built into established cloud systems such as Google, Amazon and Salesforce.  A business can now point out to its customer base that their technical platform is managed and secured by the best cloud engineers in the world.

Cost Savings

Cost is generally one of the primary reasons for moving a business application or data center to the cloud.   While there may be a low cost associated with developing and deploying an e-commerce application, the parallel need for hardware and bandwidth may turn out to be expensive.

Generally, a cloud-based initiative on a virtualized server may save a company 80% of the costs normally associated with a traditional e-commerce roll out.

Speed

A company may be able to roll out an e-commerce application five times faster than before and begin selling immediately on the remote platform.

Scalability

Often referred to as “elastic”, these cloud services allow a business to scale quickly and support seasonal spikes in demand or those triggered by special promotions.

Security

Securing applications, physical facilities and networks is a critical consideration. 

 Many cloud vendors complete third-party certification, including ISO 27001 and SysTrust audits. Further security measures are implemented at the application, facility and network levels including data encryption, biometric screening of personnel and certification through third-party vulnerability assessment programs.

Interoperability

The explosive growth in cloud ecommerce offerings in the next few years will also see an increase in the ability to share information between clouds and communities of clouds. 

Leading-edge cloud vendors will offer a standards-based framework, which allows programmatic access for users, partners and others who want to leverage additional functionality from within the cloud.

Conclusion

The term cloud computing is no longer an industry buzzword and signals a transformational shift in how business data and e-commerce applications will be stored, accessed, shared, and transacted online.  

In tandem, mobile applications and services will be provisioned from the cloud offering a myriad of ways for the end user to engage e-commerce operations.

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Prevention of Cyber Attack with the help of IT Security

Cyber attacks pose potential threats to the existence of even large and established enterprises. Many IT executives are underestimate the possible damages caused by cyber criminals and need to take action to protect enterprise resources.

Whether it’s an enterprise data center or cloud resources, without stringent IT security companies can run into catastrophic problems. Hundreds of thousands of new viruses, worms, and Trojans are created every day.

At the same time, the potential targets for attacks are increasing. The number of machines, systems, devices, and products with Internet access is rising fast, and the use of mobile devices continues to grow.

In the future, companies will have to do more to protect their data and networks. And not with standalone solutions but rather with comprehensive security concepts, which should in turn be a part of an IT strategy. This strategy should include network security as the basis, and should also include secure cloud-based services and secure mobilization of business processes.

Companies should consider security evaluations by strong partners, and put in place programs to create awareness of cyber threats among IT employees. This can be achieved with a clear IT security policy and corresponding training. Certifications and audits can help organizations achieve and maintain quality standards in IT security.

The Global IT Security Risk Survey by Kaspersky found that nine out of 10 companies surveyed have already been the target of a cyber attack. According to Computerworld, some of the largest U.S. retailers are now joining together to share information about cyber attacks to try to avoid the crippling data breach that Target faced last holiday season, which resulted in the loss of 40 million payment card details, plus theft of 70 million other personal records.

But many IT executives are under-estimating the possible damages that can be caused by cyber criminals. The classic risk assessments such as payment defaults and production downtimes are being supplemented by cyber attacks and industrial espionage with incalculable consequences for companies and management. 

Damages can range from business losses due to a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS attack) to a damaged reputation due to loss of customer data or even personal liability on the part of management.

The threat of cyber crime is constantly on the rise. Successfully confronting this threat is difficult, with attackers rapidly shifting their digital weapons and tactics. When companies move their business processes towards mobility, collaboration, or the cloud, enhancing IT security is a requirement. But enhancing security is not only a challenge; it can also be a business opportunity.

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Integration of Cloud Computing and Social Media

These days it seems nearly impossible to talk about the enterprise without mentioning the words “social” or “cloud.” At first glance, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and cloud computing services like Salesforce.com appear to be separate and distinct technologies from a business as well as technical standpoint. One thing that both technologies have in common is that their growing popularity is putting pressure on enterprises to join the bandwagon and adopt them.

On the social side of things, sites like Facebook and Twitter allow companies to communicate marketing messages to customers through direct channels while professional networking sites like LinkedIn streamline the process for recruiting talent.

Cloud computing vendors like Salesforce.com and Amazon Web Services, meanwhile, provide everything from CRM and ERP applications to platforms for deploying applications and infrastructure and storage. Because these services are delivered over the web, enterprises don’t need to buy, install, or manage any software or hardware, but can take advantage of the elasticity and scalability of the cloud.

With so much buzz around the social web and the cloud, it’s hard not to get caught up in these latest tech trends and be swayed by promises of increased productivity and reduced costs. Before “going social” or signing up for a Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), however, enterprises need to consider exactly how such technologies will add value to their businesses.

As standalone technologies, social networking sites and cloud computing services do have potential benefits for the enterprise. But adopting and implementing them without careful planning or a well-defined strategy only adds architectural complexity to the enterprise and creates silos of data and processes. A crucial factor that is often overlooked when deploying a social or cloud strategy is integration.

In order to take full advantage of the social web and cloud resources, enterprises need to integrate across the social web, cloud and enterprise. A sales team might be able to collaborate using social networking technologies, but they also need access to enterprise data residing in on-premise legacy systems and increasingly, the cloud. The key is to connect data and logic from different sources with social tools to facilitate, rather than impede, the collaborative productivity of users and the flow of business processes.

Salesforce.com’s Chatter and SAP’s Sales OnDemand are steps in the right direction. Both products are collaborative social platforms that provide access to enterprise data in traditional ERP systems.

The changing nature of enterprise architectures, however, demands a sophisticated platform that can go beyond point-to-point integrations and connect the enterprise with the cloud and social tools in complex patterns. At the end of the day, social software and cloud services might be attracting a great deal of attention, but enterprises need to get their heads out of the cloud and focus on integration.

QUANTUM Global Academy is famous for providing training in Cloud training, PMP, Six Sigma, ITIL, event management, retail management and logistics & supply chain in gurgaon, Delhi. We are here to help for improving company’s performance and productivity. For more information visit our website www.quantumglobal.org or can call us at 01244609530