The world of technology has always had fast-paced developments – and the times we live in now are no different. To keep up with your competition, you need to stay abreast of technological innovations either in the market you work in, or how your company operates.
Moving towards a cloud-based business is becoming a must for employees and employers. You’ve been weighing up the options, but is it a viable move for you? Before you decide for certain, make sure you’ve considered all the possible risk factors – some of which are listed below.
- 1. Data security
This is one of the most important things you need to consider when you think about moving to a cloud solution for your business. Some organizations are wary of doing this because of the threat of their data security being breached and hacked.
To reduce the likelihood of information on your company’s cloud being compromised, you may wish to buy VMware. Such solutions offer businesses the chance to move to a secure cloud option that includes additional control to who can access applications and security while improving efficiency and reducing costs.
- 2. Security policies
Does your brand have a security policy? If not, you may want to consider implementing one for when you do move over to working on a cloud system. One report said 25.5% of respondents said they didn’t have security policies or procedures in place for data security in the cloud, with 6.4% unsure if they did or not.
- 3. Solution options
There are different types of cloud computing, so make sure you know which is the best for you and your business before making your final decision. The three cloud types are:
- Public – online access
- Private – through an insourced or outsourced data centre
- Hybrid – flexibility of choice for users
There are also three primary service delivery models to choose from for cloud computing. These are:
- Software as a Service (SaaS): The user runs the app from a cloud infrastructure and, using an interface such as a web browser, can access it from a number of devices. This is the more integrated – and highest level of security – of these three options.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): The user builds an application, which the provider runs on its own infrastructure. Higher levels of service can then be built
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Storage and computing capabilities are often standardized and include storage, processing, networks and other resources that can run/deploy software
- 4. Visibility and control
Organizations can lose some visibility and control over assets and options when moving these to a cloud. The responsibilities for some policies and infrastructure can move to the cloud service provider (CSP), if you decide to choose an external cloud service.
The change in responsibility will depend on the cloud service model or models used. This means that organizations need to monitor and analyze information on apps, data, services and users – but without using network-based monitoring and logging.