Cloud computing
Also known as: the cloud, cloud services, cloud platform
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources, such as servers, storage, databases, networking, and software, over the internet, usually on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Instead of buying and running their own servers, organizations rent them from providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Everyday services like Gmail, Netflix, and Microsoft 365 run in the cloud. While the cloud offers flexibility and removes hardware headaches, costs can surprise people, and outages at a major provider can disrupt thousands of businesses at once.
Cloud computing, explained at three levels
At home
Cloud computing is like renting an apartment instead of building a house. Someone else handles the plumbing and repairs, and you pay monthly for the space you use.
At work
The cloud lets businesses get computing power and software without buying servers, scaling up or down as needed.
At home
When you store photos in iCloud or Google Photos, or stream a show, you're using cloud computing. Your files live on servers in data centres.
At work
Cloud services come in models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and deployment types such as public, private, and hybrid cloud. Providers operate regions and availability zones for resilience.
At home
If a cloud service shuts down or locks your account, you could lose your files. In my opinion, keep a local copy of anything irreplaceable.
At work
Understand the shared responsibility model, monitor and optimize costs, plan for provider outages, choose regions to meet data residency needs, and avoid unnecessary lock-in where portability matters.
Real-world examples
At home
Sophie's laptop died, but her documents and photos were safe in cloud storage. She signed in on a new laptop and everything was back.
At work
Thomas manages IT for a Gatineau accounting firm. Moving from an aging office server to Canadian cloud regions improved reliability and kept client data in Canada.
How it compares
| feature | Cloud computing | On-premises |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Provider owns it | You own it |
| Costs | Ongoing, usage-based | Large upfront, then maintenance |
| Scaling | Fast | Requires buying hardware |
| Control | Shared | Full |
The cloud trades ownership and control for flexibility.
For analysts
In cloud migration business cases, I'd include ongoing costs, staff skills, and exit plans, not just hardware savings. Unplanned cloud bills undermine many migrations.
History & origin
The idea of computing as a utility dates back to the 1960s, when computer scientist John McCarthy suggested computing might one day be sold like electricity. Salesforce, founded in 1999, popularized software delivered over the web. Amazon launched S3 storage and EC2 virtual servers in 2006, creating the modern cloud market, followed by Google App Engine in 2008 and Microsoft Azure in 2010. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology published a widely used cloud definition in 2011. Major providers opened Canadian regions, including Microsoft in Toronto and Quebec City and AWS in Montreal in 2016, and AWS in Calgary in 2023. A large AWS outage in October 2025 disrupted apps and websites worldwide. In my view, the cloud is someone else's computer, and choosing whose matters.