Cloud Computing Simplified: Where Does Your Business Data Actually Live?

## Your Business Has a Digital Address (And You Need to Know Where It Is)

When you access a website or system, the data is somewhere physical — a powerful computer called a "server." The question is: **where is that server and who maintains it?**

### The Analogy That Solves Everything

- **Own server** = Having a power generator at your company. You buy, install, maintain, and fix it when it breaks
- **Shared hosting** = Living in a condo. Cheap, but sharing resources with noisy neighbors
- **Cloud** = Electric utility. Pay for what you use, never runs out, and they handle everything

## The 3 Models Explained

### 1. Own Server (On-Premise)
- **Cost**: $3,000+ equipment + $100-400/mo maintenance
- **Risk**: If it burns, your data goes with it
- **Best for**: Almost nobody in 2026

### 2. Shared Hosting
- **Cost**: $3-10/mo
- **Risk**: Neighbor's heavy site takes yours down. Zero security
- **Best for**: Personal blogs, simple portfolios

### 3. Cloud Computing
- **Cost**: $10-100/mo (pay only for usage)
- **Risk**: Virtually zero — data replicated across 3+ locations
- **Best for**: Any business that depends on its system for revenue

## Terms You'll Hear

| Term | What It Means | Analogy |
|---|---|---|
| **IaaS** | Infrastructure as a Service | Renting land and building |
| **PaaS** | Platform as a Service | Renting a ready warehouse |
| **SaaS** | Software as a Service | Subscribing to Spotify |
| **CDN** | Content Delivery Network | Having stores in every city |
| **Backup** | Data safety copy | Bank vault |

## Why Your Business NEEDS Cloud in 2026

1. **Disaster protection** — Fire, flood, or theft don't affect cloud data
2. **Access from anywhere** — Team works from phone, tablet, or laptop
3. **Instant scalability** — Black Friday? System handles the spike without crashing
4. **Regulatory compliance** — Serious clouds offer encryption and audit required by law
5. **Real savings** — No hardware investment, no full-time IT technician

> **If your data only lives on the office computer, you're one power outage away from losing everything.**