Submitted by MSPAlliance Member Kat McClure, Global Marketing Director, StratoGen Hosting–
In spite of the stratospheric rates of both early and late adoption by thousands of enterprises around the world, fears about cloud hosting still persist. Are they founded? Should you as a decision-maker continue to sit on the fence? Let us find out.
Every technology has its own dissenters and skeptics along with its ardent admirers. Cloud hosting is no exception. I have chosen the top 5 stated as well as perceived challenges to enterprise cloud adoption and attempted to provide a fresh perspective. Although worthy of consideration, these causes for anxiety should not stop you from wetting your toes in cloud technology. As they say, the benefits outweigh the minimal risks ten to one.
Data Security
A licensed and accredited cloud hosting solutions provider with a positive industry reputation will be able to afford the highest quality of data security resources when compared to any IT department within an organization. Therefore it is safe to assume that as long as your IT managers and system administrators are willing to partner and cooperate with a hosting solutions company to implement each and every security protection heuristic and augment potential vulnerabilities, your data will remain more secure in the cloud than at your on-ground corporate data center.
Uptime and Performance
CIOs an IT managers have often expressed their concerns about their bread-and-butter enterprise websites going down and not being able to come back quickly in the event of a system wide failure situation. This concern may not be as significant today as it was five years ago. Disaster recovery strategies, technologies and solutions have been able to remain in stride with advances in cloud hosting to the extent that many cloud solution providers are now able to provide guaranteed 0% down time and redundancy.
Data Hijacking
The breach of 2 million CRM data records at Vodafone and the infamous Edward Snowden breach may have certainly put a damper in cloud hosting adoption rates in the past. Ironically however, both were insider acts of compromise and had to do more with mindset than with cloud hosting security. Steps taken by hosting solution providers to further minimize the risks of data compromise have included enhanced levels of data encryption, multiple permissions in which more than one set of login credentials are required to gain access much like two signatures on a check, and other proprietary measures. These methods have undoubtedly made a difference. No system can ever be 100% fail proof and invincible when it comes to insider threats and privileged user access as long as there is a human element involved.
The Big Brother Factor
Orwell’s fears may have finally seen the light of day, according to some. Instances of data monitoring and surveillance by the state are real considerations. According to Scott Hazdra, principal security consultant for Neohapsis, a security and risk management firm, these concerns are genuine. Thanks to the recent moves made by cloud hosting companies to house enterprise data in segments at high security data centers located around the world at far flung destinations, getting to cloud data for reasons other than the legitimate ones is no longer as easy as it may seem.
Standardization and Uniformity
Historically, cutting-edge technologies have taken a few years to set standards and benchmarks that govern critical issues such as protection, compatibility and quality. The cloud hosting industry is well past the teething stage. For instance, with data protections standards such as ISO-9001 and the Data Protection Act in the UK which Mandates that personal data not be relocated to any country outside the European Union, enterprises considering the cloud have a few lesser things to be worried about today.
Concluding Thoughts
A recent survey conducted by Research in Action found that 43.5% of global IT managers were concerned about revenue loss owing to cloud service problems. Although this group may be in a minority, there is, however, an option for safe passage. Just about every cloud hosting company with an industry standing provides a no-risk trial option to enterprises looking to the cloud. Those who don’t explicitly state the free trial option will hand it to you for the asking because it simply makes good business sense. Cloud transitions are seamless and are orchestrated by skilled industry professionals who do so for a living which is why it is a move worthy of consideration.
Still concerned about the cloud and what it can do for you? Have an experience you wish to share? Why not take a moment to share it with us in the comments section below? We would love to hear from you.