Top 10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Top 10 Benefits of Cloud Computing

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A recent Gartner survey reported that cloud computing will become a $300 billion business by 2021. In the simplest terms, cloud computing is computing over the internet.

Up until recently, users would run applications or programs downloaded on a physical computer or server at the workplace; cloud computing allows access to the same kinds of applications through the internet.

Updating your Facebook status or posting a story on Instagram? You are using cloud computing. Checking your bank balance using a mobile app? You are in the cloud, again. In short, cloud computing is now the new normal.

So, the question arises—why is there a greater inclination towards cloud computing? It is because cloud computing improves cash flow, increases efficiency, and provides many other benefits. Here are ten of the best reasons to embrace cloud computing:

1. Automatic Software Updates
Because the cloud is off-site and managed by an external software supplier, there is nothing that a company has to worry about. All software updates are taken care of by the software supplier, including security updates. So, no time is wasted on maintaining and managing the system. This gives you time to focus on more important things, like growing the business.

2. Superior Disaster Recovery
A robust disaster recovery system is critical for all businesses, but for smaller operations that are short on funds and expertise, this level of protection may never become a reality. Software suppliers are already backing up your cloud data—so there is generally no need to perform a local backup. However, for backing up local data, there are software backup solutions that can backup your local data to the cloud, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and other providers without having to purchase additional data backup hardware. As reported by the Aberdeen Group, it is twice as likely that small businesses will have cloud-based backup and recovery solutions than larger organizations. Clearly, companies that take advantage of these options can save time, avoid large up-front investments and reap the benefits of third-party expertise.

3. More Flexibility
The beauty of cloud computing is that it provides operational resilience and significantly more flexibility to the organization. Flexibility is critical to growing businesses, and for those businesses that have fluctuating usage, using cloud services simply makes sense. If transaction volumes or any other aspect of business operations change or are scaled up or down, it’s easy to increase or decrease cloud computing capacity accordingly. Flexibility is simply built into the service.

4. Improved Collaboration
If you run a global business, moving to the cloud makes sense on multiple level and is, quite simply, the ideal thing to do. Data and virtually all company resources can be accessed through the cloud, providing unlimited opportunities for collaboration in real-time. And, when your team can access, edit and share documents anytime, from anywhere, productivity is enhanced.

5. Document Control
Cloud computing improves transparency and accountability. The more teams collaborate, the greater the need to have in place the highest levels of document control. Sending files back and forth as email attachments is a flawed and inefficient system that leads to conflicting file content.

With cloud computing, files are saved in a central location and the most recent version of a working document is accessible. Collaborative projects are produced more efficiently and with greater transparency, which ultimately means higher work quality and a healthier bottom line.

6. Lower Capital Expenditure
Once you are utilizing cloud computing and storage, you will have easier access to data, which will save time and money. Cloud computing gives you the freedom to pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model that help cash flow. Expenditures on hardware are simply eliminated. Combined with ease of setup and worry-free maintenance, there are no longer scary IT projects to worry about.

7. Competitive Edge
Moving to the cloud means access to enterprise-grade technology, and that includes every individual in the company. This gives small organizations a tremendous edge as they can often react faster than big competitors. Cloud business applications and pay-as-you-go service mean small companies can compete with big organizations, and even disrupt the market, while staying lean and nimble.

8. Higher Level of Security
One of the responsibilities of a cloud service provider is to monitor security 24-7, which translates to a significantly more robust level of oversight than what can be provided with conventional on-site IT infrastructure. IT concerns loom large in a business setting and security is one of them. Although most companies don’t openly consider the possibility of internal data theft, the truth is that this happens quite frequently. Don’t mess with the statistics! It is much safer to keep sensitive data stored in the cloud. Cloud computing not only gives you the ability to remotely access data from any device, and from any geographic location, but it also allows you to remotely wipe data in order to prevent data theft.

9. More Insight
As the world moves further into the digital age, the old saying “Knowledge is power” takes on a modern translation: “Data is money”. Most cloud service providers now offer integrated cloud analytics tools and services for a more detailed view of data. You can easily implement tracking mechanisms and generate customized reports to analyze organization-wide information. With these tools, you can enhance efficiency and develop better plans to meet company goals.

10. Environment Friendly
Taking advantage of the cloud is good for the environment too. Whether a business is scaling up or down, the carbon footprint is diminished. Businesses only use the energy that is required to make the change and nothing more.

Conclusion
Moving to the cloud makes sense on multiple levels and is sure to streamline a company’s workflows and lead to a more profitable bottom line. Even one of the above benefits are sufficient reason to migrate to the cloud. But, if you consider all ten benefits, it is simply a no brainer that cloud computing is a must for businesses in the 21st century. What are your thoughts?

AngularJS vs. React: Our Verdict

AngularJS vs. React: Our Verdict

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The web is full of articles debating which is better – AngularJS or React (also known as React.js or ReactJS). Both frameworks are very good, but choosing a framework is not always easy, especially when you have so many experts voicing disparate views.

This article explains the shared concepts and differences between AngularJS and React, along with insights based upon our experience.

AngularJS & React Shared Concepts
It is true that you can be successful with AngularJS and/or React and learning one framework makes it easier to learn another. Picking a framework is important for the long term success and scalability of the project, but it is far more important to learn the concepts shared between the two frameworks.

By learning a given framework, you won’t just learn about that particular framework, but you’ll also learn about the following shared concepts:

  • Single-Page Applications (SPAs) Architecture – SPA is a web app that loads a single HTML page, and then dynamically updates that page as per the user’s interactions with the web application. It eliminates the traditional request-response model upon which the classic web was built. Instead, it requires only that a single page be retrieved from the server.
  • Data Flow through an Application – defines the flow pattern of the data in a Model, View and Controller (MVC) architecture.
  • Templating – a process of creating templates. The templates take simple web applications to the next level, keeping your application logic separate from your presentation.
  • State Management – state is all the information retained by a program, and state management is the technique to manage the states. States can be a difficult part of web application development, especially when there are multiple user interactions to manage. The inherent ability of DOM to manage states helps, but for a complex application, keeping everything organized can become difficult.
  • Design and Development of Components – the concept of components is to make reusable pieces of code, for example Date Pickers, Sliders, etc. Components are important in building larger web applications as they make web application development simple and quick.
  • Client-Side Routing – a client-side routing occurs when the route is handled internally by the JavaScript which is loaded on the page. Clicking a link will change the URL, but a request to the server is prevented. Changes in the URL will result in a change in application state, which will ultimately result in a different view of the webpage.
  • Testing Methodologies – used to test a web application or a webpage.
  • Data Binding – a technique of defining communication between a component and the DOM. The technique makes building interactive web applications easier as the developer does not need to worry about pushing and pulling data.
  • Language Abstractions such as SASS and TypeScript – in programming, abstraction is one of the four fundamental principles. It hides certain details and only shows the features that are essential to the object. SASS is a CSS extension, and TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript. They both reduce and factor-out code details and improve understandability and maintainability of the code.

Difference between AngularJS vs. React
AngularJS and React are two titans in a cutthroat industry with significant differences. AngularJS is a full-fledged framework developed and maintained by Google, whereas React is developed by Facebook and a library that deals with views. However, developers can add a few libraries in React and turn it into a complete framework. Then again, the resulting workflow is still very different from AngularJS.

React uses old-school JavaScript and builds HTML around it, which makes it seem easier at the initial phase. However, the use of additional tools makes it ultimately more difficult. On the other hand, AngularJS uses syntax and questions, which makes it challenging for programmers in the beginning, but the features it brings to the table tend to benefit the programmer more than those of React.

The main difference is state management. AngularJS has two-way data flow, whereas React uses one-way data flow. AngularJS has a built-in data binding, whereas React uses Redux to provide unidirectional data flow. Redux is a state management library based on Flux but has lower complexities. It is often used as a solution in React, however, it is not always required in AngularJS.

Also, AngularJS has less dependency on additional tools, utilities, and libraries in order to build applications, whereas in React, the dependency is high. Another key differentiator between AngularJS and React is the methodologies used to handle debugging. AngularJS uses runtime debugging which tends to provide less information than the information provided by React’s compile time debugging. Here’s a quick side-to-side comparison between AngularJS and React.

Learning Curve
At its core AngularJS is focused on building applications, while React is focused on building user interfaces. AngularJS is an easy, well-structured framework; if you have a good knowledge of JavaScript, CSS and HTML, it is quite easy to learn Angular. Besides, developers can refer to the official guide on building complete solutions using AngularJS, which will help in getting familiar with the framework. On the other hand, learning React itself is easy, but because you will never use React alone to build real-life applications, and you will need to learn additional tools, so the overall learning process gets harder. For a complete application development using React, you will need Redux, Axios or Fetch, Webpack or Grunt, etc., which might take some time to learn. Besides, the unidirectional data flow in React is complicated and can present a challenge.

In addition, React JSX is not really an HTML but is an extension to JavaScript. It is an XML and HTML like syntax that extends ECMAScript, so that the syntax, which is similar to XML/HTML can co-exist with React code. Developers who are not familiar with JSX will find difficulty in transitioning. Furthermore, lack of official documentation may steepen the learning curve for some developers.

Support for Tools
Both, AngularJS and React provide Command Line Interfaces (CLIs), which makes it easier to create new projects, support local deployment, and prepare apps for deployment. They also have great support within code editors like Atom and Visual Studio Code. You will need to install the appropriate editor extensions in order to get the best experience and maximize output.

Performance
Performance benchmarking is based on the time needed to complete specific tasks, such as rendering an items list. While performance benchmarks vary in some use cases, both frameworks offer similar performance overall. Therefore, this is not a significant differentiating factor for most developers.

Pros and Cons AngularJS
AngularJS is perfect for building applications and solutions. Its focus on application development—evidenced by the inclusion of features like form validation and routing—makes it popular among developers. AngularJS has a more capable CLI, which is used throughout the development of the app for creating new components, installing packages, and running migration and installation skills. It uses TypeScript, which offers developers with less JavaScript experience an easier transition to client-side development. And although it may take a bit to get used to the AngularJS binding syntax, being able to use the native HTML and CSS for templates and styles is a plus. AngularJS is best for creating cross-platform mobile apps, enterprise apps, and progressive web apps and hybrid mobile apps.

Pros

  • It is an all-inclusive framework
  • Provides guidance on how to build complete solutions
  • TypeScript
  • Capable CLI
  • DOM manipulation
  • Popular with organizations
  • Provides support for native HTML and CSS

Cons

  • Has a large API
  • JavaScript support mandatory
  • Offers limited routing resources

The large AngularJS API and the overall approach to build apps sometimes makes it a bit difficult to learn, but it is still easier to learn than other frameworks. AngularJS code, which consists of static types, decorators, and the use of a configuration-based approach, can feel complex and verbose at times.

React
 React is very popular, evident in the fact that there is a large community of developers supporting the framework. The availability of a wide variety of community-developed, open-source extensions for React gives the developer multiple options for building complete solutions. Outside of the pure React library, there are three distinctive versions of React, namely: React-devtools, React Native and React.Net. With React you can build anything; therefore, in cases where you have to build a custom solution, React will best address your needs. React is good for building computation-less or logic-less applications. This is particularly true if you are building dynamic applications, single page apps, and native mobile apps.

Pros

  • Easy component creation
  • Elegant API
  • Popular with startups
  • Large support community of developers
  • Fast rendering with Virtual-DOM
  • Hundreds of open-source extensions

Cons

  • Transitioning to JSX
  • Availability of options can overwhelm
  • Code might feel complex
  • Building complete solutions requires third party libraries

In React, component templates are written in JSX and not native HTML, so there is a bit of an adjustment period. Because React is generally used to build user interfaces, there is a need to extend React with third party libraries. Luckily, several great options exist for meeting all requirements. However, having too many choices can overwhelm or confuse developers—especially if they are beginners.

Our Verdict
Comparing JavaScript development platforms like AngularJS and React is like comparing which mobile platform is better: Android or iOS. Usually the use-case, framework stability, learning curve, and project requirements will determine the framework to choose. And, as per our experience, AngularJS has been faster to adopt and easier to learn, because you do not need to learn a bunch of new technologies. Also, because there is a very large community of active developers, AngularJS is much easier to maintain. What is your verdict?