IT Strategy

Choosing a cloud service provider is without question more involved than choosing the first result from a Google search. Each business has different requirements, customizations, and financial responsibilities.

It is crucial for the perfect service to meet and exceed businesses expectations.

That said; what does a business need to look for when searching for a cloud service?

The use of cloud and cloud services differ from one client to the next. Finding the right vendor will always vary though there are similar categories to narrow down what your business requires.

Below is a handy guide to help you navigate the plethora of options available to you and your business within the cloud server hosting industry.

Is the Cloud Server User Interface Actually Usable?

The user interface does not often receive the attention it should. An efficient and user-friendly interface goes a long way to allow more people to work on server-based tasks.

In the past, these seemingly trivial actions could require a full IT department to manage.

Amazon Direct Connect (AWS), for example, uses a somewhat cumbersome user interface. This could make it difficult for a business to perform medial tasks without a dedicated IT team. The point of a simple and effective UI is that you as a company need to access your data at all times.

A business needs to be able to access its internal and client data from anywhere; that is the beauty of the cloud. Having a simple UI allows for access from virtually anywhere, at all times, from varying devices just by logging in through the service provider’s client portal. Since it is web-based, using a smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet should not pose a problem.

How Does a Service Level Agreement (SLA) Work?

Cloud service agreements can often appear complicated and aren’t helped by a lack of industry standards for how they are constructed or defined. For SLAs in particular, many providers turn what could be a simple or straightforward agreement into an unnecessarily complicated, or worse, deliberately misleading language.

Having the technical proficiency and knowledge of terms can help decipher much of the complicated information, though it is often more reasonable to partner with a provider that offers transparency.

Most SLAs are split into two groups. The first is a conventional set of terms and conditions. This is a standard document provided to every applicant with the service provider. These types of forms are usually available online and agreed upon digitally.

The next part of the agreement is a customized contract between the client and vendor. Willingness to offer specific customization depends on each provider and should be part of the decision-making process of choosing the ideal solution.

The majority of these customizable SLA’s are for large, enterprise contracts. There are times when a smaller business may attempt to negotiate exclusive agreements and built-in provisions within their contract.

Regularly challenge service providers that appear prepared to offer flexible terms. Ask them to provide details on how they plan to support any requested customization, who is responsible for this modification and what are the steps in place used to administer this variation. Always remember your main components to cover in an SLA; service level objectives, remediation policies and penalties/incentives related to these objectives, and any exclusions or caveats.

Documentation, Provisioning and Account Set-Up

Service level agreement best practices and other contracts are often broken down into four different points of interest (with additional sub-sections as needed for customization). These four points of interest are legal protections, service delivery, business terms, and data assurance.

The legal protections portion of the SLA should cover Limitation of liability, Warranties, Indemnification, and Intellectual property rights. Customers are often wary of offering up too much information to avoid any potential for exposure if there were ever a breach, while the vendor would want to limit their liability if there were ever a claim.

Service delivery often varies depending on the size of the cloud computing service provider. The rule of thumb is to always look for a precise definition of all services and deliverables. Make sure you are crystal clear on all of the service company’s responsibilities relating to their offered services (service management, provisioning, delivery, monitoring, support, escalations, etc.).

The business terms will include points around publicity, insurance policies, specific business policies, operational reviews, fees, and commercial terms.

Within the business terms, specifics with regards to the contract need to include how, or to what extent, the service provider can unilaterally change the terms of the service or contract.

To prevent abrupt increases in billing, it is crucial that the SLA be adhered to, without changes during the course of an agreed upon terms.

The last point of emphasis is data policies and protection. The data assurance portion of an SLA will include detailed information covering data management, data conversion, data security, and ownership and use rights. It is essential to think long-term with any cloud storage provider and review data conversion policies to understand how transferable data may be if you decide to leave.

Reliability and Performance Metrics To Look For

There are numerous techniques for measuring the reliability of cloud server solutions.

First, validate the performance of the cloud infrastructure provider to their SLA’s for the last 6-12 months. Often, a service provider will publish this information publicly, but others should supply it if asked.

Here’s the thing though: don’t expect complete perfection. Server downtime is to be expected, and no solution will have a perfect record.

For more information on acceptable levels of downtime, research details on differentiating Data Center Tiers 1, 2, 3 & 4. What’s valuable about these reports is how the company responded to the downtown. Also, verify that all of the monitoring and reporting tools work with your existing management and reporting systems.

Accurate and detailed reporting on the reliability of the network provides a valuable window into what to expect when working with the service providers.

Confirm with the provider that they have an established, documented, and proven process for handling any planned and unplanned downtime. They should have documentation and procedures in place on their communication practices with customers during an outage. It is best that these processes include timelines, threat level assessments, and overall prioritization.

Ensure to have all documentation covered for all remedies and liability limitations offered when issues arise.

Is Disaster Recovery Important?

Beyond network reliability, a client needs to consider the cloud disaster recovery services protocols with individual vendors.

These days, data centers work to build their facilities in as disaster-free locations as possible, mitigating the risk of natural catastrophes at all possibilities. However, problems can still arise, and expectations have to be set in case something goes wrong. These expectations can include backup and redundancy protocols, restoration, data sources scheduling, and integrity checks (to name a few).

The disaster recovery protocol also needs to include what roles both client and service provider are responsible for. All roles and responsibilities for any escalation process must be documented as your company may be the ones to implement some of these processes.

Additional risk insurance is always a smart idea to help cover the potential costs associated with data recovery (when aspects of recovery fall under the jurisdiction of the client).

What Should I Know About Data Security?

Protecting data preserves a business and its clients from data theft. Securing data in the cloud affects both the direct client and those the client conducts business with.

Validate the cloud vendor’s different levels of systems and data security measures. Also, look into the capabilities of the security operations and security governance processes. The provider’s security controls should support your policies and procedures for security.

It is always a smart option to ask for the provider’s internal security audit reports, as well as incident reports and evidence of remedial actions for any issues that may have occurred.

Network Infrastructure and Data Center Location

The location of a data center for a service provider is crucial as it will dramatically affect many factors.

As mentioned previously, having a location where natural disasters are rare is always desirable. These areas are often remote enough that the cost of services can be lower than in a robust urban area.

Location of the data center also affects network latency. The closer a business location to the data center, the lower the latency and the faster data reaches the client. Therefore, a company based in Los Angeles will receive its data from a Phoenix-based data center faster than a data center located in Amsterdam.

For businesses that require more of a global presence, utilizing data centers around the world for distribution and redundancy is always an option. When looking for your ideal provider, it is worth inquiring how many locations globally they offer.

What If I Need Tech Support?

Tech support can be the bane of existence and the cause for insurmountable levels of frustration if not cohesive with the provider. Making sure that the provider you are looking for has reliable, actionable, and efficient support is essential.

If an issue arises, the longer a problem festers, the higher the risk of security threats or worse: a damaged reputation. Clients may become frustrated with a business if they are unable to access their accounts or contact the company. This could wreak havoc on many levels if issues are not resolved quickly.

Some data centers and service providers offer tailored resources to technical problems that could go as far to include 24/7 on-call service.

Tech support is a vital part of the selection process for a CSP. You want to feel at ease with your data and services, and a reliable support system is critical.

Business Health of Service Provider

Technical, logistical, and securities aside, it is essential to take a look at the operational capabilities of cloud service providers
. It is crucial to research your final CSP options’ financial health, reputation, and overall profile.

It is necessary to perform due diligence to validate that the service provider is in a healthy financial position and responsible enough to maintain business through the agreed-upon service term. If the provider were to run into financial troubles during your term, it could cause unrecoverable damage to your company.

Research if the provider has any past or current legal problems by researching and requesting data from the company. Asking about potential changes within the corporate structure (such as acquisitions or mergers) is another point of helpful info. Remember, this does not have to be a doom and gloom conversation. An acquisition could benefit the services and support you are offered down the line.

The background of major decision-makers within the cloud computing providers can be a useful roadmap for identifying trends and future potential issues.

Certifications and Standards

When searching for a cloud service provider, it’s always wise to validate the current best practices and technological understanding that they represent.

One way to do this is to see what certifications a provider has earned and how often they renew. This shows not only how up-to-date they are, how detail oriented a provider is, but also how in tune with industry standards they are. While these criteria may not determine which service provider you choose, they can be beneficial in shortlisting potential suppliers.

There are many different standards and certifications that a service provider can acquire. It depends entirely on the organization, the levels of security, the other clientele that a vendor works with, and numerous other conditions. Some standards to become familiar with in your search are DMTF, ETSI, ISO, Open Grid Forum, GICTV, SNIA, Open Cloud Consortium, Cloud Standards Customer Council, NLST, OASIS, IEEE, and IETF.

More than just a lengthy repertoire of certifications, you want to keep an eye out for structured processes, strong knowledge management, effective data control, and service status visibility. It is also worth researching how the service intends on staying current with new certifications and technology expansion.

Cloud security standards exist on a separate facet and certifications are awarded by different organizations. The primary criteria for security include the CSA (CS-A, SSAE, PCI, IEC, ICO, COBIT, HIPAA, Cyber Essentials, ISAE 3402, COBIT and GDPR.

Operational standards are a third category to consider and to seek out certification. These certifications include ISO, ITIL, IFPUG, CIF, DMTV, COBIT, TOGAF 9, MOF, TM Forum and FitSM.

Cloud and secure data storage solutions should be proud of their earned certifications and display them on their website. If certification badges are not present, inquiring about current certifications is easy enough.

Service Dependencies and Partnerships

Service providers often rely on different vendors for hardware and services. It is necessary to consider the various vendors and how each impacts a company’s cloud and data server experience.

Validating the provider’s relationships with vendors is essential. Also keeping an eye on their accreditation levels and technical capabilities are useful practices.

Think about whether the services of these vendors fit into a broader ecosystem of other services that might complement or support it. Some of the vendors may connect easier with IaaS, SaaS or PaaS cloud services. There could be some overlap or pre-configured in services that your business could see as a benefit.

Knowing the partnerships a provider has and whether it uses one, or several of the three cloud service models is helpful. It illustrates whether the service partner is the best fit for the ultimate goals of the business.

IT Cloud Services Migration Support and Exit Planning

When searching for your ideal partner, take care to look at the long-term strategy.

In the event you ever decide to move your services or grow too large for the service capabilities of a provider. The last thing you want to run into is a scenario called Vendor Lock-In. This is a situation in which you, as a potential customer, using a product or service cannot easily transition to a competitor. This circumstance often arises when proprietary technologies are used by a provider that end up being incompatible with other providers.

There are specific terms to keep an eye out for when comparing build apps and data centers. Some examples of CSPs using vendor lock-in technology includes:

• • CSP compatible application architecture
  • Proprietary secure cloud management tools
  • Customized geographic diversity
  • Proprietary cloud API’s
  • Personalized cloud Web services (e.g., Database)
  • Premium configurations
  • Custom configurations
  • Data controls and applications access
  • Secure data formats (not standardized)
  • Service density with one provider

Choosing a provider with standard services without relying on tailor crafted systems will reduce long-term pain points and help to avoid vendor lock-in.

Always remember to have a clear cloud migration strategy planned out even before the beginning of your relationship. Transitioning to a new provider is not always a smooth or seamless transition, so it is worth finding out about their processes before signing a contract.

Furthermore, consider how you will access your data, what state it will be in, and for how long the provider will keep it after you have moved on.

Takeaways On Cloud-Based Computing Vendors

Deciding between business cloud server providers seems like a daunting task.

With the right strategy and talking points, a business can find the right solution for a service provider in no time.

Remember to think long-term to avoid any potential for data center lock-in. Avoid the use of proprietary technologies and a build a defined exit strategy to prevent any possible headaches down the line.

Spend the time necessary to build workable and executable SLAs with contractual terms. A detailed SLA is the primary form of assurance you have that the services will be delivered and supported as agreed.

With the right research and remaining vigilant for what your business requires, finding the perfect solution is possible for everyone.

Congratulations on choosing the hybrid cloud. Are you ready to address the challenges that go with it?  

Many IT admins have valid concerns about handing production applications to a third party or the possibility of investing in expensive on-premises infrastructure.

This is why you choose a hybrid solution to begin with. Allowing you to build a flexible environment, it is the most widely used cloud deployment model.

There are many benefits you can capitalize on by combining public and private cloud. However, there are also some challenges you should be aware of.

Compliance and security of cloud storage

One of the most significant challenges you will face with a hybrid cloud deployment is meeting compliance and security requirements. Depending on your industry, you may find specific security requirements challenging to implement across multiple cloud instances.  

Often the number one security challenge is the lack of redundancy, which can be a severe security risk to hybrid cloud deployment. If redundancy is not present, you will not have backup copies of data distributed across your infrastructure.

Backup and failover are vital to any cloud infrastructure. You need to achieve redundancy across the entire data center to eliminate the possibility of data loss and ensure your data stays available even during an outage. If your server goes down, another one is automatically switched on to minimize downtime.

In addition to achieving redundancy, another challenge is demonstrating compliance with industry standards and regulations. You must ensure not only that your public cloud provider complies with relevant standards, but also that coordination efforts between the cloud and on-premises servers are compliant.

For example, if your data includes customer bank and financial data, you will have to demonstrate your infrastructure is compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Use our PCI Checklist to ensure you are protected.

Consumers are already skeptical about data breaches, especially incidents such as the Equifax data breach.

When a single attack compromises personal information of over 143 million people, and all the public hears about it, cybersecurity awareness rates grow significantly.

Another critical challenge with a hybrid cloud model is establishing clear identity and access management policies. When you entrust a third-party with access to your critical data, you need to establish new rules for both your and your vendor’s employees. Clearly outlined processes related to who can view, alter, and move files goes a long way in keeping your data safe.

For organizations looking to circumvent the public Internet and have their data transferred via private networks, solutions such as AWS Direct Connect can help achieve compliance. AWS Direct Connect lets you link any cloud application you need directly to Amazon S3 or other Amazon web services.

Vaguely Written SLAs

When you sign an SLA with your cloud or infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider, make sure you read the fine print. Your SLA defines many of your critical business processes, so you need to ensure it is fully tailored to your needs.

Ask yourself if you can hold your cloud provider to their SLA. While you already have standards set for your on-premises infrastructure, make sure the cloud provider agrees to the same terms and documents it in the SLA.

You can test this out by sampling data on your on-premises servers under typical workloads and simulate issues that could disrupt service. If one of the primary drivers for your business is keeping sensitive data on your on-premises servers, service level agreement best practices should mirror the security requirements for hosting your data on a private cloud.

Data integration in a cross-cloud deployment

You may choose to keep sensitive data on-premises and other workloads in the cloud. Over a third of cloud users experience errors and downtime with a hybrid cloud. These errors can cost a significant amount of lost revenue and downtime to recover.

Data integration is another issue associated with hybrid cloud deployment models. The accurate data and file versions must be exchanged between the on-premises and cloud servers, which is not always straightforward to achieve. Continuous software updates and patches can contribute to errors in data transport across the data center. Part of this challenge includes real-time access to data that can be impacted due to errors.

How much downtime can your business afford? The question is straightforward, and you should factor it into your deployment and include it in the SLA.  A certain amount of downtime per any given point in time or throughout the year should be acceptable. If your business peaks at specific aspects of the year, your affordable downtime will vary.

Just calculate the amounts of data you can lose if you experience downtime. Besides having it specified in your SLA, you should also consider what kind of disaster recovery solutions your provider offers. If you can eliminate downtime, you will not have to worry about possible business disruptions. This is why it would be smart to think about cloud disaster recovery options at this point.

Rigorous readiness

Business leaders often need rigor in plans and readiness. The more departments participate in making decisions, the more control is required.

For instance, decisions for purchases might prove a strong business case. Some line of business decisions could lack proper analysis without considering the data integration required.

To address this challenge, you must ensure to curb any extraneous decisions that involve expenditures of your infrastructure. Your IT leadership should not be able to arbitrarily decide on how, when, or where data is moved in a hybrid cloud deployment.

They need to have a detailed plan on what workloads should reside in public and private environments. They should ensure critical data such as developer tools, active directory information, and user data are stored in the private cloud. Testing environments, public documents, and less sensitive business information can be outsourced to public cloud providers.

Getting ready for a new infrastructure model also involves new cost management strategies. You need to be confident that your IT, security, business planning, and accounting departments are on the same page regarding costs necessary for hybrid cloud deployment options.

Skill gaps in a hybrid cloud environment

One of the most overlooked challenges in a hybrid cloud strategy is training. Does your IT staff have adequate knowledge about how hybrid cloud storage? Do they understand the responsibilities of your data center provider versus their requirements?  

Too often, IT administrators in a multi-cloud infrastructure rely too heavily on the provider to handle everything. When asked how to fill knowledge gaps in such environments, company leaders considered four fundamental data points. They include application architecture design, business processes, application development, and integration development, as well as cloud monitoring and governing.

To fill these gaps, business leaders will have to work with the cloud service provider who already knows the ins and outs of their cloud limits and capabilities. They will also need to train their staff on hybrid cloud computing and develop new cloud management strategies. They should also bring new talent who has past work experience with similar cloud architectures. When in doubt, hire someone who has been around the block a few times in a hybrid environment. They are very likely to be able to offer a new perspective and increased efficiency of daily operations.

Use cases for hybrid cloud architecture

You should learn from others’ past mistakes, so you do not follow down the same path.  Statistically speaking, the total cost of ownership among those who adopted a cloud-based environment was 40% in 2017.

Cloud Technology Partners reported methods for making a business case for cloud deployments. The report also explored the ways a company can quantify cloud benefits.  Regardless of the industry, an organization can expect a total cost of ownership savings of about 40%.

In the Bain Brief last year, 21% of companies reported that they are “safety-conscious” about their cloud environment. This means those who are safety-conscious are more willing to adopt a cloud environment.  Many may prefer a private cloud due to regulations and compliance rules based on the industry.

Right Scale reported that hybrid cloud adoption is up and private cloud adoption is down.  The percentage jumped 3% between 2017 and 2018 and will most likely grow a few more percentage points this year.

Hybrid cloud network elements

The network is a critical component when working in a hybrid cloud environment. The assumption by most application developers is that all application components reside close to each other.

In a hybrid cloud environment, this is not the case. While physically and virtually separated, the two settings must be linked correctly. Correct mapping of network topology can help in overcoming the problem. This process will involve security and latency among multiple layers between the internal and external resources.  

Trusted data centers already have an answer to the connectivity issue and deploy hybrid cloud solutions to respond to the challenge. Your applications must be able to run seamlessly within the environment. To do this, you may need to host specific applications with network dependencies in one place or the other (on-premises or in the cloud).

Depending on the application’s size, you will have to run it on its own stack in one environment or the other. Hybrid management should be viewed operationally to find a solution on the infrastructure.

Finding the proper cloud technology balance

A hybrid cloud deployment involves finding common ground for flexibility between the two environments within the same infrastructure. This flexibility may include the use of public cloud resources for testing and staging.

The basics of components in both environments should include how each is operated and how the application programming looks. One of the main challenges with this is that business and technology solutions seek the lowest common denominator to offer a seamless experience for users.

Your employees should be able to perform their daily work without noticing in which part of the environment they are working. As long as they experience the same speed, security, and bandwidth, they will not even know the difference.

Advantages of hybrid cloud storage

Another thing to keep in mind is the stability you will require in your computing environment. Do you plan to grow your business over the next few years?  Will you be splitting up your departments?  

These are all important considerations of the scalability of your hybrid cloud. With scalability comes scaling costs. What will happen if you need to increase cloud usage and storage?  This may be included in the SLA so check with your cloud provider. If you need the flexibility to scale up or down or place some of your business capabilities behind a firewall, what flexibility will your hybrid cloud have to do this and in what capacity can this be accomplished?

In other words, if you need to add or delete users to the environment, will they be using both on-premises and cloud resources? As previously mentioned, your SaaS applications may require more capacity in the future than they did when you first deployed them over the network. Think of it like this, the more data you add, the more storage you will need.  You may also wish to consider the age of the data and performing a periodic cleanup. Why waste storage space by holding onto old data you will never need to use again?

Compatibility challenges

Cross-compatibility is another challenge you may face in a hybrid cloud. With two levels of infrastructure – on-premise and the public cloud – the odds are that both will operate on different stacks. 

Will your IT administrators be responsible for managing both with the same tools or will they have to learn how to use new ones based on what your cloud provider uses? Will the cloud provider offer the flexibility for your administrators to use whichever tools they need to for continuity across the entire environment?

Governance in hybrid environments

Another challenge to overcome is to develop a list of best practices when governing your hybrid cloud. The five critical elements of cloud computing include broad access to network resources, resource pooling, measured service, on-demand self-service, and elasticity.

Additionally, you may want to develop best practices that focus on evolving automation. Do not forget to communicate this to your users.  It is always a best practice to inform your users about any network changes, so they are aware of what is happening behind the scenes. They can also help by acting as your watchdogs to report any errors or anomalies they incur daily.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution

Every business requires a unique solution to address a variety of business challenges. The computing environment adapts to the business needs and meets multiple efficiency criteria.

Consider different factors such as cost, scalability, reliability, security, and compatibility. Of course, data safety is a significant challenge, but you need to find a hybrid cloud that meets all your needs. You should consider what your business needs are now and what they may be in the future. Only then you can find a cloud provider capable and willing to meet those needs.  Whether your needs change six months from now or six years from now, you need to go with a cloud solution that will be able to support your business long term.

Discuss your security, performance, and SLA needs with the cloud service provider. Make sure you tackle these common issues before they grow into a serious challenge. Make sure you understand what your cloud infrastructure should deliver and how you can achieve consistency across the entire environment. The sooner you address this, the sooner your business will be on its way to boosted efficiency.

When it comes to cloud computing, the benefits are too significant to ignore.

According to the 2018 Cloud Security Report, 9 of 10 security professionals report they are concerned about cloud security, an increase of 11% from 2017.

While most of those myths have been debunked, certain misconceptions exist even today. The general understanding of technology has improved significantly. However, many businesses still hesitate to embrace it. They fear the change and fail to leverage cloud computing’s potential.

To combat these misperceptions and clear up some of the common myths, we created the below infographic. Take a look at these findings to understand the cloud better!

Cloud Computing Myths Debunked

Ever since the cloud started entering business ecosystems, data security has been a prevalent concern for CIOs. In a recent 2018 Cloud Security Issues Spotlight Report, the majority of respondents said that they doubt the cloud’s security.

Their top three concerns include:

• Protecting against data loss (57%)
• Threats to data privacy (49%)
• Breaches of confidentiality (47%)

Although justified to a certain extent, these concerns are largely inflated.

The public cloud platform does have some flaws that make it inconvenient for sensitive data. As a shared multi-tenant environment, it gives businesses little control over their data and application security. However, this does not mean third-parties can easily access them.

On the other hand, advents of security technologies made a significant difference in how data is protected in the cloud. Today’s vendors have a greater variety of systems and resources at their disposal to secure their clients’ data. Even the public cloud is better protected than most traditional in-house data centers.

Also, data security is not only the vendor’s responsibility. Clients themselves also need to do their part in protecting their workloads. As recently reported by Gartner, customers will account for 95% of cloud security failures through 2020.

This figure may indicate the roots of the myth of cloud security. While it is true that security breaches will continue to happen in the future, they are not always the provider’s fault. Businesses themselves need to take responsibility for their IT choices.

Both service providers and clients need to take steps toward greater security. If both sides follow cloud security best practices, there is no need to fear cyber attacks.

Understanding security and security responsibilities

The latest analyst reports predict that the cloud is becoming growingly secure. Gartner suggests that the number of security incidents on public cloud IaaS platforms will be 60% lower than those in traditional data centers through 2020. As more businesses start implementing advanced security tools, the number of breaches will gradually decrease.

The same report also predicts that enterprises following cloud security best practices will experience fewer security failures. About 60% of companies are expected to benefit that way next year.

Apparently, the sky is clearing out for a lot of businesses. Companies are becoming more knowledgeable about the cloud. They are also savvier about its security. This trend is helping shape a better future for cloud implementations in business.

Data Migration Challenge

The cloud has long been considered a form of disruptive innovation. As an emerging technology, it is both exciting and frightening. In addition to security concerns, businesses also often fear the cloud migration process.

Depending on the volume of workloads that you want to move, cloud migration can be quite challenging. However, it does not have to be complicated or risky. Today’s cloud systems can efficiently estimate workloads and set up new environments in a matter of hours.

Of course, once the workloads are transferred, companies need to implement new data management policies. They need to rework their security and access control guidelines to reflect the changes. Even for companies with large IT teams, this often means some shifts in duties.

If properly planned, the migration does not have to take too long. It can be very efficient, and some of the benefits are immediate. These include improved bandwidth, data availability, and 24/7/365 support. Long-term benefits are advanced protection, availability of backup and disaster recovery resources, and scalability.

Cost-effectiveness of Cloud Implementations

Another major misconception is related to the expected ROI of using cloud services. Depending on the type of service, the prices of cloud resources can vary. Businesses can opt for different storage, backup, networking or computing plans. Some of these may appear pricey, especially if designed for enterprise.

However, the cloud eliminates the need to invest in hardware equipment or IT teams. That already makes it more affordable than traditional platforms. In fact, the ability to outsource these resources on a pay-per-use basis accelerated the cloud’s adoption. Even small businesses can leverage cloud technologies as they are available at a fraction of the price of an in-house environment.

The cloud also makes advanced cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions easier to access. Businesses no longer have to invest in expensive one-off solutions. Even security services are more affordable. Almost any type of enterprise-grade technology can be commoditized through the cloud.

The overall savings are much higher than it may appear at first. Just consider the recent statistics – 47% of respondents in CompTIA’s report said that cost-cutting was the top benefit of moving to the cloud.

By being able to scale resources according to your needs, you have greater control over your infrastructure costs. This advantage enables businesses to plan their IT budgets better while ensuring they always use the most appropriate solutions and resources.

Conclusion: Cloud computing myths and realities

Cloud implementations may take a wide variety of forms. To leverage the cloud’s potential, businesses need to understand its true power and how it can serve their specific needs. Only that way can they plan its deployment correctly.

By falling prey to the common cloud myths and misconceptions about the cloud, businesses can miss out on some significant advantages. The facts listed on our infographic should help you ensure this is not so!