Cloud services
Sarah has a new job. She will work from home.
Sarah asks: I need documents for work.
They are stored at the company. How can I use these documents from home?
I will work on some documents at the same time as my colleagues.
How will that work?
Don’t worry, Sarah! That’s possible with cloud services.
Cloud services allow the processing of information online.
For example: They save data.
You can access the data from anywhere and from any device.
In the past, data was stored on your computer.
Programmes were installed on a computer.
Today it’s often different. Users use cloud services.
You can save data there. You can use programmes online there.
You don’t need software or any storage on your computer, smartphone or tablet.
Cloud services are flexible and cheap.
With cloud services you have access from everywhere.
The most used cloud service is data storage.
You can also use apps or programmes with a cloud.
Many things that you do every day use clouds, for example:
Watching movies, playing games, writing e-mails
What else can you do with clouds? Host a website, use software,
develop new apps, save data, make data back-up.
Back-up means: to make a security copy of your data.
Data is saved on the cloud. You can restore data with the cloud.
What are the advantages?
Teams can easily work together with cloud services.
People can exchange information on a shared server.
Good online access:
With a good internet connection, you have easy access to data on the cloud.
No matter where you are.
Organisations work better and faster. Everyone always has access to data.
Low costs:
A company that uses cloud services needs to pay less for hardware and software.
Mobility: What are mobile devices?
For example: a smartphone, a laptop or a tablet.
You have easy access to data on the cloud.
Unlimited storage space:
That’s an advantage of cloud services.
Examples of cloud services: Online Storage.
If you are connected to the internet, you have access to your data.
Examples are: Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, iCloud
Microsoft Office 365, Google Docs: You can use online programmes.
For example: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
E-Mail, calendar, Skype, WhatsApp,... The data is saved on a cloud.
With an internet connection you can always access data.
Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa,... This technology is called bots.
They are an example of artificial intelligence. You give an order, the bot carries out the instruction.
Therefore bots support people.
Social Media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
There communities can stay in touch. People can communicate with each other.
Sarah is excited. You can do a lot with cloud services.
For example: she can work from home and access her company’s files.