What Small Business Owners Need to Know About AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is not just for megacorporations. This may seem so, with companies like Netflix, Comcast, PG & E and other large entities hosting their data on Amazon.

But much of what AWS offers can also be used by small businesses looking for a way to offload the complexity of managing software or their own infrastructure. The benefits that such cloud offerings offer to large enterprises can also be used by small shops: cheap IT resources, the ability to scale quickly, and a platform-independent approach.

Everything is in the building blocks

For those who, like me, spend more time in college learning the basics of civilization rather than software, it's useful to think of AWS in terms of what you can build. Browse a few videos and you'll hear a consistent theme: You can use AWS building blocks to create software or other solutions for a business.

Instead of having to buy local storage or manage the infrastructure, you can rent space on Amazon's servers. Because all the work is done online, you can use Amazon's capabilities in various sectors: financial services, digital marketing, media, business, healthcare and various other industries.

Although this is a widely used term, extensibility is really important here. Increasing the speed and efficiency of a project is a difficult task if you are a small team. With a service like AWS, such efforts are more enjoyable with development tools and the ability to outsource all the infrastructure and computing power to Amazon's cloud.
The machine always learns

The other major attraction of cloud computing providers is the work they do with artificial intelligence (AI). AWS, with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, is developing artificial intelligence APIs that companies can use to better understand their products.

AWS offers APIs for machine learning for your own development purposes. Amazon SageMaker is a more robust tool for developers and data scientists who want to use machine learning with their software. Even though this type of development work is higher than your payment level, it's very important to be aware of trends in cloud usage, as the world is moving more towards AI and automation.

Companies will increasingly use the Internet of Things to better understand customer behavior. Such computational possibilities will mean that more industries will engage in how software and analytics will make a tangible difference in their business efforts.

If your business is new in the cloud, AWS may seem like a confusing starting point because Amazon has unveiled products at breakneck speed. Start with this visit if you are interested in a basic overview of the type of services offered. Amazon is also working in the productivity space with Amazon WorkDocs and Amazon Chime, a Skype competitor.

Just like the number of people who can not live without prime, Amazon wants to be as essential as a source of business. The software empire that builds it certainly makes it difficult to ignore.