Cloud computing and its related shared-computing models — software as a service (SaaS) presents a welcome opportunity for insurance software users. Companies are slowly opening up to this new technology opportunity that can relieve their IT department of system maintenance and boost their overall operational effectiveness.
JDi Data’s Senior Software Engineer Joe Collins gives readers insight into the benefits of a cloud-hosted platform and the efficiency possibilities it offers. These days, “cloud computing” is becoming as ubiquitous as the “worldwide web” was in the ’90s. So where is this “cloud” that everyone is talking about? Thankfully, you don’t really need to worry about that but rest assured, it isn’t in the sky. At its simplest, a “cloud computer” is a computer (or group of computers) located somewhere in the world that has storage space and/or processing time allocated for your use.
Cloud Computing
“So what’s the point of cloud computing?”, you may ask, “We have our own data center on-site.” You’re right, but your data center can’t leverage the many benefits of cloud computing:
* Virtually unlimited scalability. Cloud systems can scale processing and storage resources up or down to meet your needs – often without downtime
* Redundancy. What happens when the hard drive in one of your servers fails? You have to remove the disk from the server, purchase a new one, install it and restore the data. When a hardware failure occurs in a cloud system, you often won’t even notice because the cloud vendor handles everything. Additionally, many cloud systems replicate to different geographical locations – just in case there’s a problem localized to a particular data center.
* Reduced cost. The median salary of a Systems Administrator is $72,000 per year (source: Salary.com). Since you won’t be buying or maintaining computer hardware, you can allocate those funds toward the growth of your business.
With statistics showing the rise of cloud computing up 19% this year, companies are now paying more attention to the benefits cloud computing offers. JDi Data‘s keeps our clients up to date with several technology options including a cloud-hosted platform for our Claims Manager®’s insurance software solution.
Embracing new technology can generate security concerns, and JDi Data maintains a unified objective of providing each client with 21st-century thinking skills that work with your risk tolerance and providing the most ideal software options that work for you.
