Provides companies with a virtual environment on which to run services and products on a pro rata basis. Clients of cloud computing only pay for resources consumed. Cloud computing has the following benefits:

1. Significant start-up cost reduction to companies. As the software is hosted by a provider in “the Cloud”, the client only pays a monthly fee for the resources used. No major hardware investment necessary. Clients will always have access to the latest software as the service provider upgrades their services.
2. Clients can work from any location as long as there is an internet connection.
3. Cloud providers have multiple sites, this reduces the risk factor associated with disasters as data can be accessed from any of the sites in case of failure.
4. Systems can scale in line with company growth a much lower cost.