How Cloud Computing Solutions Stand Tall in the Face of a Pandemic

April 15, 2020

Whether you’re reading a newspaper, watching television or browsing the internet, you cannot get away from headlines talking about COVID-19 and what it’s done to the countries, economies and people it has affected. While we’ve tried our best to stay away from the fear mongering and ambulance chasing that has been widely publicized, it would be negligent of us to ignore the affect this pandemic has caused on IT infrastructure and the businesses they support. In this blog we’ll take a look how the big names in cloud are helping fight back and discuss some positives around cloud computing during a pandemic.

The Big Names in Cloud Computing

When speaking about some of the big names in cloud computing, we generally default to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google Cloud and IBM Cloud. These four companies make up part of the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium that is focusing the power of artificial intelligence to help fight against the coronavirus outbreak. Organized by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and IBM, the consortium has received a variety of resources from each of the major companies to help in the fight. Microsoft has offered grants through its AI for Health program which will provide additional access to Azure Cloud and their high-performance computing capabilities. AWS has provided technical support and credits for AWS services in the use of advanced research on diagnosis, treatment and vaccine studies. Lastly, both Google and IBM have granted similar access for researchers to their wide variety of high-performance computing resources. Additionally, IBM has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to focus IBM’s Summit supercomputer on COVID-19 by crunching numbers to analyze numerous chemical compounds that can help top the virus.

Cloud Computing, Coronavirus and the Effects on Business

It goes without saying that cloud technology is heavily engrained in our everyday lives — the instant availability of pictures, information, directions etc. has had an impact on how we connect with family, friends, businesses and more. With the increased restrictions COVID-19 has created, the cloud’s stock continues to rise. We are able to connect with loved ones during quarantine, are undoubtedly glued to streaming services during times of boredom and in some cases, are still able to attend school and work. Let’s dive deeper into 3 business functions where cloud computing continues to play a positive role during this pandemic.

• Data Sharing
• While a majority of the country continues to take classes and work from home, real-time data sharing has never been more important. Media companies, schools, organizations, research institutions and more, operate applications and artificial intelligence, while collecting and sharing large data sets to power much of their day-to-day operations. Cloud computing helps to connect these endpoints and networks so that such tasks are performed seamlessly from user to user.
• Applications
• Cloud computing has released data from the confines of a hard drive on a single user’s computer or an organization’s internal network. While some business applications would be deemed useless in the pandemic we are experiencing today, cloud computing allows for rapid experience and access of data from all of our most mission critical applications.
• Analytics
• Businesses rely on data analytics to determine what might attract new customers, to examine existing patterns in data to better serve current customers, and also to find cost effective business solutions. Without cloud computing, businesses could not store, interpret and process their big data to meet their client’s needs and personal goals.

Conclusion

As we all continue to make changes to our personal life and business operations, it’s safe to say that cloud computing will be part of the journey and long after it. While we at KeyInfo continue to take precautions to ensure the safety of our customers and employees, we are available 24/7 for all business needs. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time. Stay safe and healthy.

Brandon Apelian
Marketing Coordinator
Key Information Systems