Explaining "cloud" (in case you need it)

If you've been embarrassed to ask because you waited too long, I got you (and am keeping it simple)

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I’ve been working in technical training for many years now. I’ve been surprised at the number of students I’ve taught, often from very technical backgrounds and with very technical job titles, who actually couldn’t have told you what “cloud” truly was, or what its benefits were.

At minimum, most folks can tell you that their personal photos and docs are saved somewhere that isn’t the physical phone or laptop’s storage, but they couldn’t go beyond that to articulate cloud in enterprise business and tech terms. But I think this cloud clarity is a skill everyone now needs.

A lot of things to come in the next few years around technology and regulation are going to be related to generative AI; much of generative AI necessarily happens in the cloud. And when it doesn’t, it’s so tremendously expensive for companies who don’t offer cloud services to keep up with what the cloud can offer, that it may well bankrupt them.

Gen AI is also going to factor into many new and existing regulatory/compliance things - this is already true with cloud in general, but like, it will be true in a more hardcore way with gen AI. This will impact a lot of jobs in new ways. All told, it pays right now to get what we mean when we say “cloud,” so we can better understand these important conversations determining much of our collective future.

So, let’s get into it! …What, exactly, is the “cloud?”