Identify benefits or cloud solutions

- [Instructor] Next, we cover the importance of being able to identify the benefits or solutions of utilizing cloud services. A cloud provider allows you to leverage new tech, and since most any service you need is available with your cloud provider, this can transform your business digitally. In doing this, you delegate responsibilities to a cloud provider and reduce technical ownership. For this domain, another major concept to know is IAM or identity access management. Cloud providers like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and others offer IAM services that allow users to manage access to resources in the cloud. IAM allows you to assign roles to users and groups so that users can use cloud services based on permission or role. How this works takes many forms. However, multi-factor authentication or MFA is often provided for more security and SSO or single sign-on for more usability. Single sign-on allows you to sign on once and be able to access all available services your user, group, or role has permission to without having to continue to sign in again and again. Next, multi-factor authentication or MFA is a level up from dual-factor authentication, which provides another layer of security. It always uses two or more factors and is mainly used with OTP or one-time passwords. Remember, it's something you have paired with something you know and something that you are. Another method of access control and security authentication is federation. This is used with other directory services providing organizations with a primary method of user access to systems. You can use it to keep directories in sync and is commonly used in a cloud environment. Another major benefit in the cloud is to take advantage of cloud native applications. These include leveraging microservices and containers. This allows you to decouple software from underlying hardware. Microservices allow for the breakdown of traditional monolithic software development practices, which were slow and clunky at best. Beyond decoupling, another benefit is that it allows for small-batch work, agility, and efficiency. Containers are used to decouple applications from servers. They do not host a traditional operating system like Windows or Linux. Another commonly used solution found in the cloud is the use of data analytics services and tools. This comes in the form of using machine learning or ML, artificial intelligence or AI, and big data. Machine learning or ML is the use of algorithms and mathematical manipulations that, once trained on usable data, can be used for modeling and predictive analysis. Artificial intelligence or AI works by scouring the data for patterns to make predictions. Big data is the use of large data sets for data mining and manipulation for analysis. The challenge is that it's expensive to store all this data, and you also need tools, so it's really expensive for an organization to host it themselves, but with the cloud, an organization has infinite and elastic storage space. Also, the benefits of marketing cannot be understated. Digital marketing is easier when using cloud-based services and tools. This can help an organization gain global reach. You can leverage services like email, social media, and other collaboration cloud-based services to assist in your marketing efforts. Email campaigns especially are easily conducted through cloud providers because of the ability to quickly bring up the service and have mobile device availability directly from the cloud platform. Another major benefit to moving to the cloud is the ability to leverage IoT or the internet of things. This means it is network or internet connected and has an address that allows it to interface with the internet. This is often done with an API or application programming interface. Another benefit of cloud is leveraging blockchain, which is used with workflows such as tracking produce at a grocery store from its origin to store shelves. Blockchain allows workflows like this to securely share trusted data by using an immutable ledger that is accessible only by those allowed permission. Another benefit, which may seem obvious to you, but it's innocuous with your day-to-day life is collaboration services. Without the cloud these days, many social platforms, email, and mobile providers would not be possible. VDI or virtual desktop interface is a very helpful tool provided by cloud providers that allow you to emulate desktop environment remotely from a cloud provider. These are often streamlined, consistent, and efficient. Finally, conducting self-service is a major benefit because a lot of previous requests for service were tied up in a lot of red tape and processes, but with the cloud, these steps are removed from the process where anyone can go in and spin up an environment and do what they need to do. Now, if developers want to spin up a PaaS environment, they can log into a self-service portal, make their request, launch this solution, and get to work. That's it. Those are all the benefits you want to be aware of for your exam. Be sure to focus the benefits of utilizing cloud services in your prep for the exam.