What are the main reasons for not moving to the Cloud?
Not moving to the cloud because…
- Your concerned about the security of your data?
- You have no budget for new IT equipment?
- You do not have a full understanding of what Cloud Computing is?
- Your concerned that you cannot access your data if the internet goes down?
I answer these questions below and remove some of the fears of moving to the cloud for your business IT requirements.
Are you concerned about the security of your data?
All the businesses I meet on a day to day basis this is their primary concern. Not alone are they concerned about their data but also their customers or clients data. I then ask them about the security of their office, is it flood proof or fire proof and generally they answer “no”. With a look to the Server in the corner I make it very obvious that this option is far less secure than a server in the cloud. Who does the back ups?, are they done regularly? Is the external hard drive taken out of the office each night? And again the answer to all of these questions is generally “no” This just re-emphasises my point on the security (or lack of) of an on site IT solution. With any good Cloud Computing solution all of these security concerns should be eliminated. A Hosted server option gives you the peace of mind that your server and data are hosted in a enterprise level encrypted environment that only your business has access to. With daily back ups done “off site” again you have the peace of mind that you never have to worry about back ups being done or taking the drive of site each night, this is all
done automatically for you.
Most good Cloud Computing providers will have multiple data centres that are replicas of each other, so that even if one data centre goes down the other one’s kick in and allow to continue working. Imagine if your server goes down! How much downtime would you have and how much would that cost your company?
Have you no budget for new IT equipment?
Normally around this time of the year companies are preparing budgets for the coming year and IT is always high up on the list. How many new PC’s do we think we will need? Is the Server due an upgrade or do we need a second one? Is all my software licensed and up to date? like my Antivirus, Spam filtering, Microsoft, Firewall software & Content filtering software! Chances are they are not and will need to be updated. How about electricity costs? Nobody thinks about the ~€600-1000 a year to run your server in the corner.
Most Cloud Computing providers are on a subscription based model which allows you to accurately predict your IT costs for the year. A fixed cost based on a pay per user model gives you the assurance that everything is included in the cost from server to hosted desktops to all software related costs (excluding vendor licence fees) and the maintenance allow you to accurately budget for the forth coming year. Your current equipment will be used to access the Cloud and this removes any need for Capital Expenditure. Also if you have hardware failure (like a PC dies) you simply replace it with a dumb terminal at a significantly reduced cost to replacing the PC.
Do you not have a full understanding of what Cloud Computing is?
Most companies, whether they realise it or not, already have used Cloud Computing in one form or another. If they use Gmail, for example, they are going into the cloud to let Google’s computers handle their e-mail. Most Social media uses Cloud Computing, allowing you to upload data or pictures to be viewed from another location, similar to Cloud Computing.
In fact, most of us have been tying into Internet/Cloud-based services for more than a decade. But now, more and more business-oriented tools are becoming available on-line, including many that can be critical to running a business.
In it’s simplest form Cloud Computing is accessing your data or programs over the Internet. The “how?” shouldn’t be your concern but your Cloud providers. You just need it to work.
Concerned that you cannot access your data if the internet goes down?
Many small businesses run on consumer-grade (home or personal) Internet services that don’t meet the requirements of a cloud-enabled company. It is recommended that small businesses upgrade to a commercial offering (eFibre for example) with high-speed Internet to meet their data transmission needs and give them increased data storage. If you have multiple offices it is always recommended that each office or location upgrades. While upgrading to a commercial Internet connection can sometimes add additional cost, it’s worth the investment. Additionally, we recommend using a 3G or 4G network as a backup plan in case the Internet connection is temporarily unavailable. With so many flavours of Internet connection like wired, wireless and cellular there is always a cheap and reliable back up option if one of the internet connections you have goes down.