Introduction to Community Cloud
Community Cloud can be defined as the multiparty communication enterprise where the contents are pooled amongst various associations in cloud space and that falls under a common community. The contents can be of any type like distress in the application functionality, policy analysis, security motives, etc., which can be hosted and accessed either internally or externally. The access control for the community cloud-based applications is provided in groups or individuals depending on the organizations’ policies and needs but has similar reasons. Though it’s a cloud-based method, this costs more than typical cloud access, as it can cost based on the organization type and the number/ type of users.
Community Cloud Architecture
Community Clouds can be classified as a Distributed Architecture, where each unit is formed by incorporating the other services from similar or different clouds under the same domain, so as to fulfill the precise requirements provided by the clients, their communities, and related segments of the client.
Below are the components involved in implementing a community cloud for any organization,
- Infrastructure
- Development Platform
- Application Services
- Public/ Private/ Third –Party Clouds
The infrastructure here is a common entity that is frequently used by the organizations in the cloud, in order to provide necessary sustenance for the smooth functioning of the cloud system. The Development Platform aids in manipulating the non –standard properties of the community cloud, and few such platforms are Salesforce, SAP, and any organization-specific platforms. Application services are the middleware services based out of the production systems designed and functioning specific to the application’s motives.
Once the fully functional working product is created from the development platform, it is delivered to the individual cloud units. The type of cloud may vary in accordance with the needs of the organization. Private Clouds are accessible only internal to the organization, public clouds can be accessed by anyone with a login credential for the cloud, and third-party clouds are created & maintained by a third party while being accessed by the client’s users.
Uses of Community Cloud
Below are the several areas where the Community Cloud is used on a daily basis,
- Community Cloud is used for sharing information amongst other users in the common cloud.
- It helps in the team activities and group efforts, as the users can add, edit or update the information at any time in a simultaneous manner.
- Cloud applications can be habituated and altered whenever required, as the users’ need can be changing from time to time.
- It provides a one –spot place for user’s various activities, which can be enabled in the form of single sign –on ability.
- The applications built under the cloud are typically responsive, in the sense, the interface can be adapted to any form and shape of the devices. And so, it can be accessed from a computer system or a tablet or even a mobile interface.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Like any other enterprise element, Community Cloud also has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the below are some of them,
Advantages
Below are the advantages mentioned:
- Community Cloud provides contents be available for the users, in accordance with the access privilege, at any time and any place.
- The system is reliable in terms of security and long-lasting.
- It helps in maintaining the solitude of the organization’s contents in the cloud.
- It provides greater flexibility and convenience for the users, to manage and work on their data.
- Cloud systems come with the ability to expand when and as required, which can be seen as scalability of the system.
- It lets the users to communicate and collaborate with other users/ team members that are operating under one cloud.
- If the application is built on the cloud, with the help of the development platforms that support cloud processing, the quality of the application will be exceptional, in comparison to other methods.
Disadvantages
Below are the disadvantages mentioned:
- Cloud systems take a lot to maintain, in terms of technical efforts and cost as well.
- Internally, it becomes a complex system to manage.
- Any change requests or upgrades can be implemented slowly, as it is important to maintain the cloud’s stability.
- The first-time implementation costs way higher than any other normal application.
- It depends on the organization’s motive and method for handling their data.
- It has a higher dependency on the infrastructure involved in the architecture.
- For any organization to maintain the already built cloud application, they need to have a team of IT professionals focused and dedicated for cloud maintenance activities.
Application of Community Cloud in various fields
Below are the different applications and fields where the Community Cloud is being used by the organizations,
- Technical Forums: Technical Forums are a common space where the technical professionals can ask questions, discuss a problem, take others’ suggestions, gather solutions for the issues that they are facing in their area of work, etc. It allows the users to post something commonly, which can show the date & time of the post. Any other user from the same application/ cloud can respond to the post, and their posts will also be recorded with date & time. As these elements are placed in the cloud, it can be viewed back at any point of time in the future.
- Mobile Applications: For many mobile users, it is not an easy task to maintain the phone memory to accommodate the data gathered from all the applications in the device. Hence the solution came up to be using the cloud memory instead of the phone memory. It aids in helping the data be accessible at any time as the user desires.
- Social Media: The main purpose of Social Media is to keep an individual connected with the other individuals in the same or different community. It will help for the social media entities to be handy and accessible from a variety of devices so that the users can retrieve their data at any time from any device available at the time.
Conclusion
Community Cloud is a kind of cloud computing method that can be set it up in the cloud, for sharing the information with different users inside a community or an organization. It is usually implemented on the applications used for people management based organizations, like academic, banking, finance, social media platforms, etc.
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This is a guide to Community Cloud. Here we discuss an introduction to Community Cloud, architecture, advantages, disadvantages with uses, and application. You can also go through our other related articles to learn more –
