Introduction

The last couple of years have dramatically changed the face of the IT industry, and cloud computing may be the single most powerful among them. This, therefore, poses a challenge to professionals in the area: of traditional IT or moving to cloud computing. We shall delve into what makes a difference between cloud computing and traditional IT, with industry-changing implications of each, to help you understand why this shift is important.

The Rise of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has indeed changed the way organizations do IT today. It helps business organizations scale incredibly, reduces costs, and adds agility with on-demand delivery in a shared pool of computing resources. The cloud is now the default platform for many companies, and there has been an increased rate of firms using cloud technologies. 

The cloud gives businesses agility to rapidly stand up and tear down IT capabilities that underpin their operations and workflows. There is no longer a need to order servers, which could take weeks or months; it is now necessary to have IT administrators rack, install, and provision new resources. Compute resources can now be provisioned via software tools in mere hours or days through the cloud management console.

IT is no longer a fixed cost; it becomes "temporary," shut off when the task is done. Cloud software development and "DevOps" bring speed and automation to building and deploying new code, thereby increasing developer productivity. This makes for a new culture and an organizational approach that enables more rapid software release cycles and rapid product development.

The Decline of Traditional IT

Traditional IT is in decline. Conventional management and deployment of the in-house computer systems, networks, and applications are no longer feasible. This model needed to be more expensive to maintain on-premises infrastructures, along with constraints on scalability and inflexibility in their operations.

Game-Changing Differences

What then are some things that will change in the industry with the shift from traditional information technology to cloud computing? Some of the points that describe this change have been provided below.

Scalability: Probably one of the biggest features of cloud computing is the feature whereby the scaling pretty much happens instantaneously in whichever direction you want to scale. This gets done in the traditional IT scenario, but it would be done only by making huge new investments in hardware and infrastructure.

Innovation: Indeed, cloud computing is giving a push to innovation in the IT industry. New technologies and services are coming out every day. Traditional IT typically spends most of its time on keeping existing systems going rather than focusing on innovation.

Security: Cloud computing has increased security standards with cloud providers making huge investments in robust security. Traditional IT usually lags in following through with contemporary security risks and vulnerabilities.

Implications for IT Professionals

What does all this mean for an IT professional? This sea change to cloud computing is profoundly affecting the profession, in that it's rendering a broad swath of traditional IT roles irrelevant. Yet, it can equally well bring in opportunities for IT professionals to reskill themselves and be part of the rising demand for professionals with competence in cloud computing.

Future of IT

There is absolutely no doubt about the future of IT. Cloud computing is the way forward for everybody, companies, agencies, and individuals. Factually, as more and more users come up to rely on and trust cloud technologies, the demand for expertise in cloud computing is simply poised to grow explosively. An inability to adapt to the move of conventional IT expenditure into the cloud might leave professional IT workers behind, whereas a quick embrace of cloud computing will give them success.

Conclusion

The difference between cloud computing and traditional IT is not one of technology; it's one of industry-changing implications. Cloud computing is changing how organizations approach IT, and it's what IT pros must change to remain relevant. IT pros who understand the industry-shifting differences between cloud computing and traditional IT set themselves up for success in an evolving industry at breakneck speeds.

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