Cloud computing allows companies to rent computing resources like storage, processing power and bandwidth from large cloud providers instead of owning their own infrastructure. This pay-as-you-go model reduces costs by 70% compared to owning resources and saves on electricity, maintenance and other expenses. By 2021, 50% of companies are predicted to migrate some of their services to the cloud, fueling startup growth, job creation and easier implementation of technologies like data science and machine learning. Major cloud providers include companies like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, and cloud-related careers like cloud engineers and cloud solutions architects are growing rapidly.