Cloud Computing Service Providers To Consider For Your Business

Cloud computing has taken off hugely in recent years, and most businesses these days store at least some, if not all, their data in the cloud. There are many benefits to doing so, such as scalability, flexibility, time and cost savings, data centralization, security, data backup, and more. 

However, to get the best results from cloud computing, it's vital to choose the right service provider for your needs. With so many options on the market these days, it helps to know some of the most trusted names worth checking out.

Microsoft Azure

Being one of the biggest tech firms globally, it's no surprise that Microsoft has a quality cloud offering. Microsoft Azure is one of the top cloud vendors and is particularly popular with large enterprises that already utilize other Microsoft products. Many companies turned to Microsoft Teams for remote work meetings and collaboration once the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions hit, which helped move the Azure platform even further afield. 

Microsoft Azure is a hybrid platform that incorporates the three fundamental categories of cloud services: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Azure is an open-source platform that boasts substantial flexibility and scalability offerings, with applications available on the Azure marketplace, too. 

With Azure container instances, IT professionals can easily run containers directly on the Microsoft Azure public cloud, while the platform's architecture makes it convenient for people to manage and deploy their services and applications. Microsoft's data center features many services, with each having a hypervisor to run multiple virtual machines. 

Google Cloud

Google is another tech giant with its cloud platform. It's a leading service and runs on the same infrastructure that the company utilizes for its end-user products. The service has numerous pay-as-you-go (PAYG) payment plans that are flexible to suit varying business needs, plus there are free trials so you can test out the offering before committing. Google Cloud provides not only data storage but also machine learning and data analysis, meaning you can take care of multiple organizational needs. 

With Google Cloud, you get access to strategy consulting, roadmap support, opportunities for learning and collaboration with experts, and individual and digital education options. There's certification, too, along with speech detection language translation. Most users see Google Cloud as easy to use. Plus, because of Google's strong commitment to security, businesses can feel confident in the privacy and security of their information. The cloud platform is very stable, too. 

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services is arguably the largest cloud platform in the world right now. Offered by the tech behemoth known for selling goods online, AWS, as it's known, is the leader in infrastructure as a service but quickly branching out. Amazon Web Services began offering cloud computing services over ten years ago and was the first to focus on this area. Since then, it has become known as a reliable, flexible, and scalable choice that's one of the fastest and most trusted offerings. 

AWS is at the top of its game when it comes to artificial intelligence, data, machine learning, and serverless deployments. It provides many functions beyond storage, such as analytics and consulting. Like Google, Amazon is committed to security. Many entrepreneurs appreciate Amazon's pricing structure in the cloud sphere. The company only charges for the individual services used as long as they're required and doesn't get customers to sign long-term contracts or involve complex licenses. 

IBM

Another big player in the cloud space is IBM. Its cloud services platform is a layered hybrid network that's thought to have the broadest scope. It's both public and private and offers excellent value for money. The provider rises to the top for cognitive computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, plus it's on hand for analytics, mobile application creation, replication, virtual process automation, chatbots, and more. 

This multi-cloud platform has significant enterprise expertise across 20 industries and boasts more than 170 products and services covering data, containers, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. Clients can also use their existing infrastructure or other public clouds with IBM services. The company has 60 data centers globally across six continents to ensure resiliency and redundancy, and 8,000 security experts help keep IBM cloud services safe from cybercriminals. 

These are just some of the key players to research for your cloud computing needs. Consider your specific requirements as you compare options and carefully read contracts and pricing details before signing up.

If you don’t have cloud-based expertise in-house, you may explore consulting services from cloud automation and transformation providers like Machines and Cloud, a cloud-native solution firm that helps Global 2000 organizations to turn innovative technologies into products with a sustainable competitive advantage.