The who, what, when, where, why, and how of the Cloud!
“What is the cloud?” is one of the most common questions in IT. Many people have misconceptions about what the cloud is and how it works. This guide sets the record straight so Tampa Bay businesses can make informed decisions about their IT needs.
Cloud computing is no longer a future trend — it is the dominant model for business IT. According to the Flexera 2026 State of the Cloud Report, over 90% of organizations now use cloud services, with hybrid cloud — a mix of public and private cloud — being the most common architecture. Among small and medium-sized businesses, 69% operate a hybrid cloud model, rising to 78% for larger enterprises. Monthly cloud spending has grown substantially: 69% of SMBs spend up to $50,000 per month on public cloud, while 76% of large enterprises spend over $5 million monthly.
Get expert cloud guidance for your Tampa Bay business. Call IGTech365 at (866) 365-7798 for a free consultation.
What is the Cloud?
When someone says your data is in the cloud, it has nothing to do with white fluffy things in the sky. The cloud refers to software and services that run on the Internet, instead of locally on your computer. The data has a terrestrial home stored on networks of servers that find what you need and deliver it. Most cloud services can be accessed through a web browser or mobile app.
Some common examples of cloud services include Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Netflix, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive. For Tampa Bay businesses, cloud services now encompass everything from email and file storage to complex enterprise applications like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
When is the cloud practical for business?
The cloud is a great place to store files that need to be accessed outside of your network, shared, or protected. The cloud offers some of the best disaster recovery protection from events such as hurricanes, fire, and theft — especially relevant for Tampa Bay businesses facing Florida’s hurricane season.
Cloud resources are scalable, or elastic, so you can tap resources or increase capacity to support growth and handle busy periods. Rather than having to predict your needs, you can react to needs as they arise and use just what is required to manage your growth. This is especially valuable for Tampa Bay businesses in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services where demand fluctuates seasonally.
Cloud-based services can help you save money on server maintenance, power and cooling costs, and software licensing expenses. Instead of spending money to maintain hardware that often goes unused, subscribing to software and services for a low monthly fee helps small and medium businesses stretch their budgets further.
Edge Computing and Hybrid Cloud: The Modern Extension
While public cloud remains the foundation for most businesses, two important trends have emerged: edge computing and hybrid cloud. Edge computing processes data closer to where it’s generated — think IoT sensors in a Tampa warehouse or real-time security camera analysis — rather than sending everything to a centralized cloud data center. This reduces latency and bandwidth costs for time-sensitive applications.
Hybrid cloud combines public cloud services (like AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud) with private cloud infrastructure, giving Tampa Bay businesses the flexibility to keep sensitive workloads on-premises while leveraging the scalability of public cloud for less critical applications. The Flexera report shows multi-cloud adoption has risen 2 percentage points year over year, though only 14% of organizations operate exclusively in a multi-cloud environment without a private cloud.
For Tampa Bay businesses, this means you don’t have to choose between cloud and on-premises. A well-designed hybrid strategy gives you the best of both worlds: the security and control of local infrastructure for sensitive data, plus the scalability and disaster recovery benefits of public cloud. IGTech365’s cloud migration services can help design the right hybrid strategy for your business.
Why store your data in the cloud?
The technology industry has been steadily moving away from local storage to remote, server-based storage and processing. Look at music and movies: We used to play them from local media, but now they’re streamed from servers worldwide. The same advantages apply to your business data: anywhere-access, real-time collaboration, reduced local storage requirements, and enterprise-grade security that most small businesses couldn’t afford to implement on their own.
How to get your data into the cloud?
Contact an IT professional. These professionals have the specialized tools required to migrate your data quickly, efficiently, and without corruption. While this seems simple, it can be a time-consuming and very technical process best assigned to an experienced IT services provider like IGTech365.
Who created the cloud?
1960s – Cloud computing is believed to have been invented by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider with his work on ARPANET to connect people and data from anywhere at any time.
1983 – CompuServe offered consumer users a small amount of disk space to store uploaded files.
1994 – AT&T launched PersonaLink Services, an online platform for personal and business communication and entrepreneurship — one of the first all web-based storage platforms.
2006 – Amazon Web Services introduced AWS S3 cloud storage, which gained widespread adoption as the storage supplier for services like Dropbox, Smugmug, and Pinterest.
Ready to move your business to the cloud? Contact IGTech365 at (866) 365-7798 today.
Protect your Tampa Bay business with IGTech365. Call (866) 365-7798 or request a consultation today.