Which benefit is associated with cloud computing?

The association of reduced need for hardware maintenance with cloud computing stems from the fundamental characteristics of cloud services. When organizations migrate to the cloud, they often rely on third-party service providers to manage the underlying infrastructure, which includes servers, storage, and networking equipment. This shift alleviates the burden of physical hardware management that typically falls on IT departments in traditional on-premises setups.

In a cloud computing environment, tasks such as hardware upgrades, repairs, and maintenance are generally handled by the cloud provider. This not only simplifies the IT workload for organizations but can also lead to cost savings, as it reduces the need for dedicated personnel to maintain hardware and allows companies to focus their resources on other strategic initiatives.

The other options do not align with the primary benefits of cloud computing; limited access to resources contradicts the scalability often provided by cloud services, increased software licensing fees are usually not a benefit associated with cloud models, and cloud computing generally offers more straightforward infrastructure setups compared to managing on-premises solutions.