Benefits & Challenges

More and more companies out there are discovering the benefits of the cloud and migrating or developing their systems to take advantage of them. The most important reason is, of course, taking from their shoulders the weight of having to maintain expensive and critical server infrastructure in-house, and instead leaving it to a specialized company.

Still, adapting to the cloud is not exactly simple. If you already use an in-house system and have been using it for years, it means transferring gigabytes or terabytes of data and making it work over the internet (if it was designed to work in an intranet). And lots of things can go wrong in the transition process.

And if you are just starting to implement a system and want it in the cloud, you also need someone with experience in it to oversee implementation, choose the best cloud plans and maintain contact with the cloud provider in order to solve problems, do maintenance and keep track of server status.

And the people responsible for these kinds of jobs are normally referred to as cloud engineers. Still, as using the cloud brings its own set of challenges, cloud engineers tend to specialize in one specific side of it, meaning there are many types of cloud engineers out there. Here are some of them: Jailbreaking VS Rooting 

Cloud architect

The cloud architect is the one in charge of infrastructure. That is, they are the ones in charge of figuring out which is the best cloud plan and cloud company to pick for the application you have in mind, as well as figuring out how best to take advantage of the cloud, designing the applications that will be hosted in it, how other applications will interact with, among others.

That is, they are the others in charge of figuring out how things are going to work.

Software engineer

The cloud software engineer is the one in charge of actually developing those applications. They need to master programming languages that specialize in creating server software, such as programming languages designed for web development, and also need to have experience with these kinds of server software development, as cloud servers can be much more complex than web servers.

The software engineer mainly needs to lead the software development team and choose the languages, tools, techniques, philosophy and methodology that will be used to develop all the software involved with the cloud, as well as figuring out how the cloud software will connect with the local software or apps that it needs to be connected to.

Network engineer

As the cloud servers have to connect to local computers, tablets and phones over the internet, it is also critical to keep the internet infrastructure up and running to ensure everything goes smoothly. While there isn’t much that can be done about the cloud servers themselves, you’ll need to ensure that you have a good enough internet plan, that the network infrastructure in the company is able to handle all the traffic it needs to, and that all computers remain connected to the internet.

There may also be other upgrades which can be considered if needed, such as local caching servers, creating an intranet, controlling internet access, among others, which can also be done by network engineers if they feel it may be necessary in order to increase network speed and reduce internet traffic.

Security engineer

And, of course, as you have to connect to the cloud over the internet, it means it is also less safe than a hidden, local intranet. So, you need someone that ensures the cloud servers are secure, in order to prevent hacks and database breaches. The security engineer also has to ensure that connections to the cloud are secure whenever possible, such as by use of encryption and VPNs, in order to prevent traffic from being intercepted too.

The cloud is very powerful and can bring you many benefits. But to reap all these benefits, it is also important to have the right professionals by your side.