As the concept of cloud computing evolves, it may be a good time to begin looking into the competitive advantages it can offer your organization. With any new technology there are also some common concerns to be aware of.
The “cloud” is a general term used to describe technology and services hosted elsewhere and are delivered on-demand over an internet connection. Traditionally, these services have been provided through the use of expensive hardware like servers, data centers, and also via licensed software applications.
A few technology services typically hosted in-house that have moved effectively to the cloud are traditional email, Exchange, data storage, and disaster recovery solutions.
Major vendors like Microsoft and Google are already offering cloud solutions. Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) is a comprehensive set of business solutions hosted in the cloud which include Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, and Live Meeting. Microsoft has also announced that it will offer its entire Office suite free in the cloud. Google Apps for business has also long offered their application suite including Google Docs, Calendar, and Gmail this way.
Below are a few of key advantages of cloud computing.
- Lower Costs
- Cloud computing can eliminate the need for much of the expensive IT infrastructure most businesses require today like servers, software, and maintenance.
- Most applications are paid for incrementally offering consistent predictable costs.
- Reliability
- Many of the cloud services inherently provide a suitable business continuity/disaster recovery solution through the use of multiple redundant sites.
- If your building floods or burns down for example, all of your data is still available in the cloud
- Location and Device Independence
- Cloud computing allows users to access all of their business applications from anywhere in the world and on any computer.
- Unlimited Storage
- Most cloud applications offer either unlimited storage or nearly unlimited. This means that everything and anything you want to store in the cloud, you can.
No new technology is without its disadvantages that need to be overcome. Below are a few common growing pains to consider when thinking about moving to the cloud.
- Vendor Dependence
- Once you decided on a vendor you become dependent on their platform and it could be difficult to make the move to another provider.
- Internet Dependence
- As you might expect you can’t access the cloud without an internet connection. Clearly, being able to rely on a consistent connection is paramount.
- NOTE – Developers are designing applications that can function when not connected. Expect this to be a disadvantage that developers work to overcome.
- Outages and Customer Service
- Cloud computing is not without its potential downtime. Though not common, and probably less common than when using your own technology, outages happen and can make it impossible to access important business data.
- Being reliant on cloud services means you’re reliant on their customer service group. Some are better than others.
- Security and Privacy
- All of your business data is located offsite in the cloud raising questions about who has access to it. This is another area where providers are scrambling to ease concerns about your data privacy and security.
Cloud computing seems to be the next logical step in IT and it can work wonders for businesses. Getting on board early might help businesses reduce costs, improve productivity, and agility. When adopting any new technology however, there are important advantages and drawbacks that need to be considered.
CommTech is your partner when making strategic IT decisions, and we would be happy to help your business evaluate the switch to the cloud. Call today for a free consultation.
