The Google Cloud Platform can be a difficult concept to get to grips with. This is especially true within its target market of small to medium-sized businesses, which are already facing some stiff challenges in 2020.
Quick, ‘sound bite’ summaries like ‘Amazon Web Services plus’ do not explain the concept entirely and do not include the wide scope of services that Google Cloud Platform (or GPC) operates. For this reason, Google cloud training could be key to understanding and correctly implementing this cloud platform.
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What is Google Cloud Platform?
Google Cloud Platform is a provider of a range of computing resources for building and operating applications online. It offers many of the services usually associated with Amazon Web Services (AWS), like hosting virtual machines, but also has many other functions.
These include Google App Engine, which provides tools for developers, Google cloud storage, BigQuery for data warehousing, Cloud Bigtable and Cloud SQL. The complete list runs to over a dozen main services which can be used to create a range of applications to be used within a small or medium-sized business.
Each of these services will use a certain amount of processor power, memory, data storage, and connectivity. Like other services such as AWS, Google charges for the consumed resources, with the customer only paying for what they use. These rates will vary according to how much of the service is used to encourage greater use of the platform.
Google Cloud Training
Using these services, as well as any applications created within GCP, can be beneficial to many small or medium-sized businesses. However, a large number of people within those businesses will have no background or experience in cloud computing.
Business owners and managers are faced with the decision to either to hire external people with the appropriate cloud skills or to train current employees. With the movement to what is often referred to as a ‘cloud-based world’ for modern businesses, there is a risk of skills shortage.
For that reason, the decision is usually to implement Google cloud training to upskill existing employees, which has the additional benefit of a long term cost saving over hiring outside professionals.
GCP Training Courses
Because of the number of services that make up GCP, there are also a large number of courses available. Once the fundamentals of cloud computing have been covered, employees can then diversify into more specific learning.
This could be cloud security, data engineering or training related to a single service like Google Kubernetes Engine or Google Compute Engine.
The uses and functions of a cloud services platform such as GCP can mean small and medium-sized businesses do not necessarily have to be faced with any IT constraints. It makes the ability to store, move and apply data to any number of purposes practically without limit.
At least half of the top ten companies in communications, media and entertainment, retail, financial services, and logistics already use Google Cloud. A logical conclusion then, is that both using GCP and implementing Google cloud training is a significant factor in business development in 2020 and beyond.