Cloud is the New Normal
Over the last few years, it has become evident to business leaders that the cloud, and all it has to offer, is not simply the latest fad, but a viable option for computing that will become a lasting asset within our industry. Despite the cloud’s rise in popularity in the business and computing world, some still have reservations about perceived shortcomings associated with cloud adoption.
One major concern is the notion that the cloud is inherently unsafe and could leave firms open to attacks or more susceptible to data leakage. While cyber security concerns are valid, the question is, how much less secure is the cloud when compared to your local environment? Is your in-house infrastructure managed by experienced teams with essential levels of IT compliance? Is your in-house data as secure as you think it is? Recent security breaches have highlighted the fact that just because systems reside inside a building with your name on it, does not make it impenetrable.
The cost of properly maintaining an in-house data center presents a large financial burden to many businesses. Thorough data and network management requires seasoned professionals to ensure that corporate and personal data is handled properly. This team includes enterprise engineers, network engineers, security specialists, systems administrators, and database administrators. For a small firm, affording a team that can effectively handle all of these responsibilities is impractical. Additionally, for larger firms the size of their networks and the amount of data they handle can pose even more of an expense as increased infrastructure is required on-site to accommodate those needs.
All of these increased costs around data security and infrastructure management can quickly affect a business’ bottom line. To combat these sky-rocketing costs, it is necessary to assess adopting cloud services such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon’s AWS. For many, a first glance at these offerings appears to mean an increased cost over their current budget. However, by calculating a total cost of ownership (TCO), the savings and benefits of cloud adoption are numerous and bottom-line friendly. Cloud adoption ROI can be immediately recognized and understood in the following areas:
• Reduction of costs associated with large teams of IT professionals, each specializing in their own niche areas.
• Disaster Recovery for local failures or scenarios involving individual component failure or power interruption.
• Periodic hardware purchases in order to refresh or increase capacity on employee workstations and server infrastructure.
• Considerations for operating a local data center in compliance with regulations and / or best practices: power, HVAC, physical security and space limitations.
• Local Datacenter requirements — Power, cooling, physical security, and
real estate.
• Industry Compliance — AWS and Azure hold a long list of compliance and
security regulations for many industries.
In addition, the security features that these online systems provide are intrinsically compliant with industry regulations, best practices and the many benefits associated with running anything at scale.
While, it is evident that the adoption of a cloud service such as AWS, or Azure provides businesses with upside potential in many different areas, implementing any solution incorrectly has the potential to put your business at risk. Some hesitations may still exist over cloud adoption simply over a lack of familiarity. Therefore, implementing and adopting a cloud architecture designed by specialist such as those at Signalbase, can not only improve your security, but increase your systems availability, disaster recovery and reduce your overall costs, making your business’ transition to the cloud financially and technically sound.
