Cloud Computing (Computing in the Cloud)

Everyone talks about “the cloud”. It is something that you hear often and that you are probably using although you may not know very well what it consists of. We will tell you.

“Sharing is good, and with digital technology, sharing is easy.”

Continuing with our goal of immersing yourself in the digital transformation through some of its main concepts, this month it is the turn of Cloud Computing.

You have almost certainly used Dropbox to save your personal or work files, photos, etc. It is quite simple and gives you the assurance that you will not lose them if your equipment or device suddenly crashes or fails, right? Well, that is an example of working in the cloud or cloud computing and also one of the most used.

Specifically, Cloud Computing is access to computer systems, data and applications, which are in the cloud (and the cloud, of course, is the Internet or a part of it).

Other examples of Cloud Computing are Google Drive, Microsoft 365 or Apple iCloud Drive. The user who works according to this new model does not have to install anything on their computer, or at most an App that accesses the cloud, and yet they can have access to multiple services and utilities. The hard disk is already a thing of the past, now almost everything is stored on remote servers: your work files, your contacts, etc.

This way of working solves the problem of storage or space on devices and guarantees security against the loss of information (since the files are permanently available to the user on the Internet and have backup servers in different parts of the world). It also eliminates investment in licenses and compatibility issues due to different software versions.

Another important aspect of Cloud Computing is the flexibility that it allows the user since he can work from multiple devices and in different places, with the only requirement of having an Internet connection and ensuring absolute synchronization.

Thus, working in the cloud is comfortable, efficient, safe and cheaper, it is normal that it has been a success, right?

Faced with so much personal data housed outside of our computers, it is obvious to think, what about privacy? Here we enter into swampy terrain because the regulations on personal data are diverse depending on the countries. In Europe, we have one of the strictest, but when we accept the privacy conditions of some companies (which, let’s face it, we don’t usually read) we are accepting the conditions of entities that often have their servers in countries outside the Union European, so they do not adhere to our regulations.

In general, it would be advisable to make sure that your servers are hosted in the European Union and that they allow a complete erasure of files if you cancel the service. It is usual that we attach great importance to security and safeguard against the loss of information, but we must not forget that privacy is an equally important aspect. Our personal information on the Internet is who we are and our main asset in this virtual world