Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing resources, such as servers, storage, databases, networking, analytics and AI, over the internet, with pay-as-you-go pricing. Instead of buying and running hardware in your own building, you rent capacity from a provider such as Google Cloud and use it through a web console, a command-line tool or an API. The provider owns the data centers; you decide what to run and how much of it.
The widely used definition from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) lists five characteristics. On-demand self-service means you can create resources yourself in minutes without asking anyone. Broad network access means you reach them over the network from many kinds of device. Resource pooling means the provider shares large pools of hardware across many customers. Rapid elasticity means capacity can grow and shrink quickly with demand. Measured service means usage is metered, so you pay for what you use.
Digital transformation is a broader idea. It means an organization uses new digital technology to change how it works, how it serves customers and how it creates value. Moving servers to someone else's data center is not transformation by itself. Transformation is when a bank launches a new mobile feature in weeks instead of a year, a retailer personalizes offers from real-time data, or a hospital uses AI to reduce paperwork for nurses.
The cloud drives this change because it removes many of the old limits. Teams no longer wait months for hardware, so they can experiment cheaply and drop ideas that fail. Managed services for data, AI and security give small teams capabilities that used to need large specialist groups. Global infrastructure lets a company reach customers in new countries without building data centers there. Google describes this combination of infrastructure, data, AI and collaboration tools as helping organizations become more agile and data-driven.
For the Cloud Digital Leader exam, keep the business view in mind. Questions are usually framed around an organization's goal, such as speed, cost, innovation or reliability, and ask which cloud idea or product helps. Be ready to explain the difference between simply using cloud technology and actually transforming how the business operates.
Key terms
- Cloud computing
- On-demand access to shared computing resources over a network, paid for by use.
- Digital transformation
- Using digital technology to change how an organization operates, serves customers and creates value.
- On-demand self-service
- Users provision resources themselves, when needed, without human interaction with the provider.
- Measured service
- Resource use is metered and reported, which enables pay-as-you-go billing.
A regional insurer used to wait three months for new servers before starting any project. After moving to Google Cloud it builds a claims-photo analysis prototype in two weeks using managed storage and a pre-trained image API, shows it to customers, and only then decides to invest further.
Check yourself
Name the five NIST characteristics of cloud computing.
On-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured service.
Why is moving servers to the cloud not the same as digital transformation?
Transformation changes how the organization works and creates value; a move with no change to processes, culture or products only changes the location of the servers.