For a long time, it seemed like the cloud was just another phrase tech circles were throwing around. The cloud is no longer just a meaningless buzzword though. Recent estimates claim that cloud adoption rate is now as high as 81% amongst businesses in the U.S.A., Australia, the U.K., and parts of Asia. Though the majority of many businesses may be using the power of the cloud in some way, that doesn’t mean they’re utilizing it to its full potential. Here’s what you need to know when planning your own cloud network strategy.
Understanding What Cloud Computing Is
At its simplest, cloud computing refers to the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data. By accessing many servers at once from all across the world, your computing power is increased significantly. This has created a number of new opportunities for business, such as software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), or infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
What Kinds of Services Are Available
There are three types of cloud services that business owners have to choose from. All of them store your data and provide you with certain services, but they each do it in a different way. Public cloud services are built on an external platform that’s run by a third-party provider. This often provides everything that a small business needs, but since it’s managed by an outside company there are limitations compared to a private cloud service. Since a private cloud is managed by your own internal team, it’s ideal for businesses who want more control. Finally, there’s a hybrid system that combines elements of both approaches.
Understanding the Risks Involved
At this point, most of us are aware of how cloud computing can benefit our workplace. At the same time, it’s of equal benefits to understand the risks involved in the process. The biggest concern surrounding cloud-based networks is by far security. When any business chooses to store their data on the public cloud, it loses its ability to have physical access to the servers hosting its information. This means that this sensitive data is at risk from insider attacks. According to a recent report from the Cloud Security Alliance, insider attacks are the third biggest threat in cloud computing.
While the benefits of this technology are vast, you shouldn’t let this obscure your judgment when planning your cloud network. A better understanding of each building block that makes up the process will only benefit you in the long-run.
