It’s undeniable that cloud computing is becoming the IT way of the future for various industries. The easy accessibility of data makes a cloud strategy advantageous to many companies, and since cloud services are kept up-to-date by the provider, switching from location-based operations to cloud-based applications gives businesses the benefit of always working from the newest software.
Cloud technology has its share of growing pains, though, and when these pains occur, they generally pass from the host to the customers relying on the cloud services. For many small business owners, concerns about cloud hosting don’t supersede the benefits of doing business in the cloud. For every concern, there’s an advantage that makes it worth relying on cloud services. Here we’ll address some of the main concerns surrounding public cloud strategies and clarify the advantages they provide.
Concern 1: The Public Cloud Limits My Control Over My Business.
When business owner Gene Marks moved all of his business operations, from word-processing to accounting to customer management, over to cloud services, he came to a realization that would frighten many business owners. The operations of his entire business depend upon his cloud hosting provider to keep things running smoothly. Since everything is on the cloud, if his provider went down, he wouldn’t be able to operate his business at all. The potential for his entire business to falter at any time is a constant worry, he admits in an article he wrote for Forbes.
Yet Marks also discusses his enthusiasm for the cloud services his company uses, specifically mentioning the one thing that turns his concerns into a major advantage: With public cloud services, tech support is built in, so there’s no need for IT, providing a big cost savings for new businesses.
Concern 2: The Public Cloud isn’t Safe.
For many business owners, the notion of putting data on a server that’s shared with others is already an uncomfortable one, and after several high-profile cloud storage breaches, that concern is growing throughout the business world.
Although the public cloud has its security concerns, no storage is 100 percent safe, not even on your own computer. As a business owner, you can also increase the safety of your cloud storage through simply creating better passwords, adding security and keeping your tech devices secure, suggests Rosa Golijan of NBC News.
Depending upon the type of information you keep at your company, the increased resources and lowered cost of the public cloud may outweigh any potential dangers of data loss.
Concern 3: The Public Cloud can’t Manage My System.
For small businesses that can make it on well-known programs, the public cloud keeps costs and fuss low. However, companies that rely on custom applications are not always satisfied with the results of operating those applications in the cloud. Yet instead of ditching the public cloud entirely, companies have begun adopting hybrid systems that let them hold onto those public cloud services while moving custom applications to a private cloud to improve operations.
As more and more companies move their services to the cloud, the need for on-site storage and applications decreases. This provides a major advantage for start-ups looking to cut costs in the early days of operation, allowing them to save on equipment, upfront software expenses and IT staff. Although the cloud isn’t for everyone, for a lot of small businesses, the public cloud can provide more benefits than worries.
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