CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ (CLO-002)Cloud ConceptsEasy
A small business is evaluating cloud service models for their new customer relationship management (CRM) application. They want to minimize upfront costs and ongoing maintenance of the underlying infrastructure and operating system, while still having some configuration options for the application itself. Which cloud service model best fits their requirements?
- AInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- BFunction as a Service (FaaS)
- CPlatform as a Service (PaaS)
- DSoftware as a Service (SaaS)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS provides a complete, ready-to-use application, minimizing infrastructure and OS management for the customer. This allows the business to focus on using the CRM rather than managing its underlying components.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. IaaS requires the customer to manage operating systems, applications, and data, which is more than they want to handle.
- B. FaaS is a subset of serverless computing, primarily for event-driven functions, not a full CRM application.
- C. PaaS provides a platform for development and deployment but still requires the customer to manage the application itself, which is not as hands-off as desired.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
A cloud service model where the cloud provider hosts and manages the entire application stack, and users access the software over the internet without managing any underlying infrastructure.
- Provider manages infrastructure, OS, and application.
- Users access via web browser or API.
- Subscription-based pricing; pay-as-you-go.
Memory trick: IAP-S: Imagine A Plate of Spaghetti – it's all ready for you!