How to serve your customers through the cloud

/ 天行者YANG

skywalkerai.com

Why are you writing this?

Recently, I’ve been providing some systematic output of technical descriptions to my company’s marketing students. When I was choosing the topic, I thought about it again and again, and suddenly I thought of the popularity of such words as “AI” and “cloud computing”, but I think most people have a half-understanding of the so-called technological netroots, and it seems to be out of the box if we don’t mention it anyway. Because we are a SaaS service provider, so from the perspective of cloud computing to write, do some cloud computing popularization seems to be a good output direction.

What is Cloud Computing

define

Cloud computing is a technology that provides computing resources (e.g., servers, storage, databases, networks, software, etc.) over the Internet, which allows users to access and utilize these resources on demand without the need to purchase and maintain hardware and software locally. The core concept of cloud computing is to centralize computing resources and provide these resources as a service to users over the network.

Service model

Cloud computing encompasses 3 service models, in order from the bottom to the top, IaaS → PaaS → SaaS

Deployment method

There are 3 common deployment methods for cloud computing, which are: public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud

[Our current deployment method] Public Cloud (Public Cloud)

Provided by cloud service providers (e.g., AliCloud, Huawei Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure)

  • Benefits: cost-effective, scalable, flexible, good high availability, and good security (network security and data security)
  • Cons: Relies on third-party cloud providers; may not be the best choice for sensitive information (e.g., national security information, etc.)

Private Cloud

Cloud environments that are purpose-built for individual organizations and can be hosted either on-premises or in third-party data centers, providing a higher level of security (Once organizations and products have reached a certain stage of development, this type of deployment is usually used by KA customers with high security requirements）

  • Benefits: Enhanced data security and privacy protection
  • Cons: Somewhat sacrifices the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud; high costs (server costs and O&M staff costs)

Hybrid Cloud

If one wishes to utilize the scaling capabilities and security of a public cloud while keeping data local to comply with data residency laws, or to support computing needs closer to the customer, a hybrid cloud approach would be more appropriate.

  • Benefits: Combines most of the benefits of both public and private clouds, making it easy to scale compute resources and storage when needed, while still having local access to data and applications
  • Disadvantages: complex management, requires a dedicated VPN or private line to connect public and private clouds, high network transmission speed and stability requirements

Our Cloud Computing Schematic

IaaS层

We mainly utilize the network and storage infrastructure provided by AliCloud to build our SaaS foundation.

PaaS层

non-application

Mainly utilize the development platform and environment provided by AliCloud to build and deploy our application services, such as: container services, serverless computing, etc.

application class

  • Videoconferencing capability
  • Documentation Collaboration Capabilities
  • Live-streaming capabilities
  • AIGC
  • ……

SaaS层

Providing services to our users through the SaaS layer

Benefits of SaaS

  • Cost-effective: users don’t need to buy expensive hardware or software licenses, just pay-as-you-go
  • Rapid deployment: users simply register for an account to get started, reducing the time required to install and configure traditional software
  • Easily extensible: users can increase or decrease the number of functional modules in use according to their needs
  • Automatic Updates and Maintenance: The SaaS provider takes care of updating and maintaining the software, so users are always on the latest version and don’t have to worry about upgrades and security patches.
  • Convenient access: Users can access SaaS services through any Internet-connected device, supporting remote work and mobile office, which improves work flexibility
  • Security: SaaS providers place great emphasis on security measures, including data encryption, backups and disaster recovery, which are often more reliable than those managed by SMBs themselves