Cloud computing

Before the advent of cloud computing, companies looking to sell digital services (operating an online store, a social media company etc) would have to buy computing hardware. This hardware would require a great deal of expertise to setup, maintain, and troubleshoot. Cloud Computing is the name for the paradigm shift that we have seen in the computing industry over the last few decades, wherein cloud computing providers, usually spun off from large IT-focused companies which built substantial experience operating computing hardware themselves, began to rent access to this hardware over the network. With cloud computing services, users can pay by the day for virtual machines (VMs) with various capabilities, pay by the Gigabyte for storage, or access many other services on-demand.  (see on-prem).