Cloud computing continues to be not just a valuable tool for many businesses, but an essential part of doing business. With greater processing power than most local servers, cloud computing While organizations are seeing huge benefits from cloud computing, there is a related technology that can increasingly enable businesses: fog computing.
What is fog computing?
According to Network World, fog computing is defined as, “the concept of a network fabric that stretches from the outer edges of where data is created to where it will eventually be stored, whether that’s in the cloud or in a customer’s data center. Fog is another layer of a distributed network environment and is closely associated with cloud computing and the internet of things (IoT). Public infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud vendors can be thought of as a high-level, global endpoint for data; the edge of the network is where data from IoT devices is created.”
Essentially, fog computing is a local, direct data point connection between a device and a cloud server. As a localized form of cloud computing, the processing points are closer to where the data is produced instead of a centralized server. The network is spread out and decentralized, leading to better communication between devices and data centers. It also allows for data to first be analyzed and sent for collection, whereas cloud computing collects data and then analyzes. The business that has direct access to data can process it faster.
How does fog computing help a business?
Sam Solutions, an IT and software service vendor, notes, “nodes are physically much closer to devices if compared to centralized data centers, which is why they are able to provide instant connections. The considerable processing power of edge nodes allows them to perform the computation of a great amount of data on their own, without sending it to distant servers…Fog computing is a mediator between hardware and remote servers. It regulates which information should be sent to the server and which can be processed locally. In this way, fog is an intelligent gateway that offloads clouds enabling more efficient data storage, processing, and analysis.”
How fog computing can increase your HR efficiencies?
Fog computing has helped to combine the speed of local servers with the processing, storage, and analytical capacity of cloud computing. The benefits of cloud computing in HR are well-established and since so much of the value of fog computing seems to be derived from its application in the IoT sphere, it’s hard for people to make the immediate connection between fog computing and HR. Here are some of the ways that human resource teams can utilize the technology.
#Security
The cloud is safe, but for some things, fogging (using fog computing) is safer. Because fog nodes are being employed closer to the use source, they can be protected under the same controls, procedures, and policies that are used in other areas of your IT. This is particularly important to business HR departments, as they manage, store, and analyze a good bit of sensitive and confidential employee data. Fog computing is especially useful where privacy is concerned.
#Cost-effectiveness
Not everything requires the computing power of the cloud. Fog computing can save network bandwidth by processing selected data locally, instead of sending it to be analyzed in the cloud. While a business will initially take on additional cost setting up fog computing hardware and software, the business can ultimately save money over time by utilizing less cloud bandwidth. This is especially true if businesses will ultimately be utilizing the fog computing processes for other applications, such as surveillance or controlling smart building features.
#Employee and office monitoring
Since fog computing works so well with IoT products, put it to use to keep your employees and your building safe. Fog computing makes it easier to monitor all the parts of your physical business, from key cards to fire sensors to parking garage spots. In a large company, this kind of data can be incredibly valuable for both HR and operations teams.
#Faster access
Fog computing gives even faster access to data and analysis that cloud computing. This can be useful for the fast pace of the many large organization’s HR departments that require a lot of information gathered and processed in a short amount of time. The hiring landscape continues to remain competitive, and businesses need to utilize every advantage in order the source and hire the right talent – in some cases, this means processing candidates faster to get a job offer to the candidate before your competitor does.
HR automation remains a top priority for businesses who want to make the most of their resources and empower their workforce. Fog computing helps to make automation easier for some businesses through faster access to data and analysis, as well as safer storage and transmission of personal HR information. If your organization is already thinking about investing in this technology for other parts of your business, make sure to see how it can benefit your HR team too.
