Why Organizations Need to Embrace, Rather Than Fear, the Cloud
Nowadays, we all know at least one person who is a major proponent of the cloud. In fact, maybe it’s your technology partner and they’re pushing you to consider it. But many organizational leaders are cautious. They don’t know if the cloud will work for them if it’ll save them money, and ultimately, they have a bit of fear. Where does this fear come from? It’s typically a fear of the unknown.
Back in the 90s, when an organization needed to make changes, they had access to their server room and the on-premises tools they needed to make changes. There was no such thing as having your technology “out there on the cloud.” Instead, if you wanted to add encryption at rest, you simply did so. If you wanted to add another specific security measure, you simply did so.
There was no unknown.
Now, as more technology moves to the cloud, there are changes you can’t simply make or have your internal resource make on their own. And of course, we’re seeing breaches all over the news – in the headlines, throughout articles on the internet, they’re happening every day. It’s easy to conclude that having control of your own technology is the safest route.
But is it really?
Is on-premises technology more secure than the cloud? Or is ALL technology at risk and it’s up to the person running that technology to keep it secure? The truth is closer to the latter. Therefore, the cloud simply makes sense for organizations that don’t want to worry too much about protecting their sensitive data. A cloud provider or Managed IT partner that provides the cloud, typically has far more resources, budget, and expertise when it comes to safeguarding their data center.
Let’s Take a Look at Some of the Biggest “Unknowns” Regarding Cloud Computing…
Let’s look at some of the biggest fears or “unknowns” regarding cloud computing and break it down so it’s a bit less scary and intimidating:
Security
In short, many organizations believe they can secure their data better on a physical server because they have more control. This MAY be true, but it’ll come with a lot of additional expenses and complexities. Here’s the thing… A cloud provider has access to more resources, budget, and expertise when it comes to safeguarding their data center than the average organization does.
Typically, their security is at the highest level, video, alarm systems, and documented entry history all overseeing their data centers on a physical level to ensure an optimal level of security. This is simply an unsurpassed level of protection compared to the average organization. But what about all the data breaches involving cloud providers? Often, data breaches involve users themselves not taking basic security precautions, such as using weak passwords or losing laptops.
Accessibility
If you’re moving part or all your infrastructure to the cloud, you may have concerns about your ability to access what you need. Essentially, you’re left feeling like your entire organization hinges on a single cloud provider – a single solution – and whether that solution is up when you need it to be. Naturally, technology isn’t foolproof. But again, we must go back to the expertise levels here.
The average organization will experience downtime at some point or another, but on-premises technology is more risk. Why? Because you likely don’t have redundancy built into each system you’re using. Cloud providers, on the other hand, do. They know that accessibility is important to you, so they always make sure you’re able to access your systems with:
- High-quality hardware in the data center
- Regular maintenance and updates to keep systems running
- Across the board redundancy built-in
- Comprehensive cybersecurity measures
- And much more
Technology Debt
Nobody wants to be in debt of any kind. But many organizations fear that embracing the cloud on a “pay-as-you-go” model puts them into a sort of technology debt wherein they never actually own their technology. This is essentially true, but here’s the thing… Many organizations overestimate what they need. They get caught up in embracing new technology or “stocking up” on storage space instead of paying for only what they need.
The cloud lets you do exactly that. You pay for what you need and nothing more. If you don’t need the storage, performance, etc. then you don’t have to pay for it. You simply customize your cloud experience the way you need to so you’re never spending money on anything unnecessary. This is key because technology changes fast. Nowadays, it’s not worth investing heavily in ANY system given how quickly technology becomes obsolete.
Control
Lastly, control is a major fear for many leaders. It’s easy to feel like you’re losing control over your data when it’s moved to an offsite data center, but that’s simply not the case. The only difference is the physical location of the servers. Your data is still yours – meaning you’re still the only one who devices how often to access it, who will have access to it, and how it’ll be secured against threats.
If you’re not certain about your cloud provider’s stipulations around control and/or ownership, simply ask them. You’ll likely be surprised to hear that your data always remains yours and there is no question as to who controls it. Instead, you’re eliminating the physical handling of the technology that stores your data, such as a designated space, climate control, backup generators, maintenance, monitoring, security, etc.
What Should You Look for in a Cloud Solution to Help You Have Peace of Mind About Migrating Over?
GO Concepts has its own on-premises data center – allowing us to offer private cloud solutions that take away your fears and uneasiness around migrating over to the cloud. Our on-premises data center remains live 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. It’s been carefully constructed to offer a high level of availability, security, and redundancy as our infrastructure is housed in a facility that is:
- Self-contained
- Climate-controlled
- Real-time monitored
- Air-gap Backup
- Disaster Recovery
- Always Up to Date Server Versions
- Generator Backup
Our servers, virtual private servers, network equipment, and diversely routed internet fiber backbone connectivity are stored, monitored, and managed in a way that exceeds legislative and industry standards.
Click here to get started or call us at (513) 934-8235.
