Now quite often you hear me ranting about the benefits of cloud computing, and although I’m still a firm believer it will continue to transform the way business is done, I know something that sounds too good to be true typically is.
I did a little research, and I found a couple common cloud computing concerns and a way to talk you out of your doubt.
Top Cloud Computing Concerns and How to Deal
Sensitive Data and Security
Much to your dismay, there’s a security benefit to putting your information in the cloud. The traditional security hole fixes take weeks, with costly downtime and more often than not issues just start to pile up. Especially if you’re a global company, you’ve probably got more than one to fix. However, with the cloud you it’s one band-aid for everybody.
We’ve all heard about the high profile break-ins, but you weren’t the only one. More and more service providers are taking this very seriously and putting in procedures to prevent this from happening to you. Make sure when you finally find a provider you like, they talk to you about not only the virtual security they have, but also the physical security in their data centers. Also ensure they back up every transaction almost instantly.
Outages
Again, we’ve all seen the headlines of outages, like Amazon’s 49 minute downtime costing them an estimated $4 million in lost sales. I’m not going to lie to you and say this doesn’t happen because with a quick Google search you could see I’m lying.
If your entire server, including your operating system, apps, and data, are all there together it can be backed up to an offsite data center in a matter of minutes. All from the push of a button. Make sure you have a backup plan, always. Technology is getting so smart there are ways to do this automatically do you can worry about the important stuff in life.
Also, if you’re going with a public cloud make sure you estimate the cost per minute of downtime and include that into the contract with your service provider.
What are some other cloud computing issues you’ve heard voiced? Do you have any tips on how to deal with them? Let me know by commenting on this article or letting me know on Twitter @LindseyNNelson.