Introduction:

The growing role of technology in small business nowadays cannot be ignored because of the benefits they provide. Although, there are certain drawbacks but still the benefits provided by new technology such as cloud computing over weighs the drawbacks. For a business such as food delivery, implementation of cloud computing is more than necessary. This report will point out the basic characteristics of cloud computing and also pros and cons. The report will take special care in analyzing the method of implementation in the small business. There is a need to know what exactly cloud computing is. Whenever there is access to the internet; an individual can access data irrespective of the place they are. The business climate in today’s time keeps o changing and therefore it is critical that the small business owners get whatever they need and wherever they are. This is the main advantage that cloud computing provides.  

There are various types of cloud services under the umbrella term ‘cloud computing’. The first one is cloud storage. This service backs up files and stores data for regular access. Sharing and syncing is also enabled for devices. The next service that cloud computing provides is Cloud backup. This is pretty much similar to cloud storage however there is a twist. This service is specially used in the case of crash, data loss and cyber attack. The next service that cloud computing provides is SaaS service (Software as a service). This service uses the web to provide wide range of service such as Office 365, QuickBooks online, sales force and Google apps. Additionally, there is one more service that cloud computing provides. It is known as Cloud hosting (Botta et al., 2014). The main service that this branch provides is that it facilitates information sharing such as application hosting, email services, data storage and web based phone systems.

Main Cloud computing characteristics.

1. The first one is Broad network access. Over the network capabilities are available and those can be accessed by standard mechanisms that promote use by thick client platforms such as tablets, mobile phones, workstations and laptops (“5 Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing”, 2018).  
2. The next characteristic is on-demand self service. Computing capabilities can be unilaterally provisioned by a consumer such as network storage and server time. This is done automatically without the requirement of human interaction for every service provider.
3. The third characteristic is rapid elasticity. This is one of the most important characteristics that cloud computing provides. Here, capabilities are elastically provisioned and released which means as required in few cases capabilities are scaled rapidly outward and inward to satisfy demand. For a consumer, this (provisioning) appears to be unlimited and this can be appropriated in any quantity at a given time.
4. Resource pooling is another characteristics of cloud computing. Using a multi-tenant model, computing resources are pooled for serving several consumers. According to consumer demand, virtual and physical resources are reassigned and assigned in accordance with the consumer demand.  Additionally, there is an overwhelming feeling of location independence. Customer will have no knowledge or control over the location of resources provide. They might be able to pinpoint location at a higher level of abstraction such as state, datacenter or country. Processing, network bandwidth, memory and storage are the examples of resources (Avram, 2014).
5. The final characteristic is measured service. Resources are automatically controlled and optimized by using a metering capability at certain level of abstraction which corresponds to the type of service that is processing, storage and bandwidth.  The final characteristic also provides transparency since resource usage can be reported, controlled and monitored.

Reasons why the business should migrate.

The first point is lower cost. This is the most important benefit that a local business can get. Implementing cloud computing for a business provides significant savings. Full utilization of hardware is done by cloud computing. Virtualization in this technology means the value of physical server is increased considerably (Oliveira, Thomas & Espadanal, 2014). The business is able to do more with much less. This will result in lowering of power requirements, decrease in rack space and IT requirements. This will further result in cutting the cost of installation and maintenance, hardware and support and upgrade costs (Lavoie, 2018). The next point will talk about better collaboration. Collaboration is very easy in the cloud. Employees are able to work from the same master document because they are able to access and save various files. Google drive is a cloud tool for collaboration that helps users to edit, comment and upload documents. This helps in better workplace collaboration. The third point will talk about increased flexibility. This is one of the most important benefits that cloud computing provides which is location independence. This feature mainly enables users to access files on devices from any corner of the world. This is the only way by which the business can cater to remote workers without the requiring to actually setting up a workspace there. The final point should talk about greater integration.  A small business have unlimited options of integrating with numerous cloud based providers. The local business chosen here can take advantage of services which integrate human resource, back office operations and marketing. This will in fact let the business owner to focus on a critical area of business.

Certain drawbacks are there which includes additional cost for the organization since implementing any new technology will require training to be provided to employees and there must be a troubleshooting system after the launch. Security risk is another big concern about cloud computing (Almorsy, Grundy & Müller, 2016). In this online world there is no business that is safe from the ravages on cyber warfare (“Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing | LevelCloud”, 2018). Sensitive data is stored in the cloud and protection of data is of utmost concern.

To implement cloud for the business there must be a significant investment on servers, switches and routers. This paragraph will list some vendors that provide cloud solutions. Egnyte, IDrive, Zoolz, Carbonite, Backblaze , Acronis, dropbox, Crashplan, Box and JustCloud (2018, 2018).

Conclusion: 

From, the above report it can be concluded that the business whose main area is delivering food to customers must invest heavily in cloud computing technology. In the long term, it will bring numerous benefits and ultimately will lead to cost reduction. There are so many benefits such as integration, increased flexibility and cost reduction. Penetration of this technology will mean big changes for the business in terms of management, customer satisfaction and cost reduction. Additionally, the business owner can focus on critical areas of business since cloud computing will help in managing other areas of business.

References: 

2018, B. (2018). Best Cloud Storage Solutions for Small Business 2018. Business News Daily. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5851-cloud-storage-solutions.html

5 Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing. (2018). Inforisktoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.inforisktoday.com/5-essential-characteristics-cloud-computing-a-4189

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing | LevelCloud. (2018). LevelCloud. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.levelcloud.net/why-levelcloud/cloud-education-center/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cloud-computing/

Almorsy, M., Grundy, J., & Müller, I. (2016). An analysis of the cloud computing security problem. arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01107.

Avram, M. G. (2014). Advantages and challenges of adopting cloud computing from an enterprise perspective. Procedia Technology, 12, 529-534.

Botta, A., De Donato, W., Persico, V., & Pescapé, A. (2014, August). On the integration of cloud computing and internet of things. In Future internet of things and cloud (FiCloud), 2014 international conference on (pp. 23-30). IEEE.

Guide, C. (2018). Cloud Computing: A Small Business Guide. Business News Daily. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4427-cloud-computing-small-business.html

Lavoie, A. (2018). 4 Reasons Small Businesses Should Migrate to the Cloud. Entrepreneur. Retrieved 30 April 2018, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245784

Oliveira, T., Thomas, M., & Espadanal, M. (2014). Assessing the determinants of cloud computing adoption: An analysis of the manufacturing and services sectors. Information & Management, 51(5), 497-510.