Is your Washington or Baltimore business looking at moving to the cloud? We hope our article on the 3 secrets of cloud computing will help you. Remember, your cloud computing experts at Integris are here to help you.
One of our favorite sources of business information and cloud coverage is CIO.COM. CIO.COM regularly offers a different perspective than what we are used to reading and following in the IT community circles.
In a recent CIO.COM article they spoke about the 3 Deep, Dark Secrets of Cloud Computing. This piece discusses the risks of when end-users drive IT decisions and especially decisions that involve cloud solutions. The main speaking points of the article focuses on how those without a full grasp of managing a cloud solution can fall into many common traps, many will stop a business’ ability to take advantage of all the benefits of cloud technologies.
We are not against end-users driving IT decisions however there are many additional moving parts that must be addressed as part of a business’ complete IT strategy. Businesses without any management of the cloud services will often pay later. Remember that the cloud service isn’t the most important part, your business data is.
What did the CIO article talk about?
Did I delete that file?
The first deep dark secret of the cloud focuses on file deletion. If your business faces a legal discovery process or a compliance regulation that requires deletion of files, you may think you are deleting the file on your system but it may not be deleted in the cloud. There is always a chance that another copy exists somewhere. This is something to think about if your business requires permanently destroying private data or personal files.
Who is your cloud steward?
Many cloud service providers will claim that your business is no longer required to invest in any on premise servers, backup disks or even worry about another software upgrade. Many of these promises are true to a certain degree and there are multi-million dollar organizations without a single server closet. This doesn’t mean that your business data is maintenance free, only the hardware.
We recommend business assigning a steward to oversee cloud services. This person could be an internal IT director, office administrator or even a company like ours to make sure you are getting the right cloud technologies. A combination of business acumen and technical knowledge is a proven winning combination.
Is the cloud an easy replacement for traditional IT?
Can the cloud be an easy replacement for traditional IT infrastructure? The cloud offers lower CapEx, which is very attractive for many businesses who are looking at lowering CapEx investments and moving business expenses to the OpEx category. However, business must still have a trusted IT advisor who will ensure the cloud services you have invested in work just like traditional IT investments.
Who is your trusted cloud service provider serving the needs of your business? Our cloud consulting professionals will sit down with you and ensure you are making the right decisions regarding cloud technologies.
Call today to book a no obligation assessment of your cloud needs.
