Blog, Cloud
The cloud is more than an interesting way to minimize IT costs. Today, it is about advancing businesses, achieving an extreme competitive advantage, communicating directly with customers in real time, and various other game-changing possibilities. Whether you are beginning with a clean slate as a startup or already are an established outsourcer, you’re likely to have multiple problems to solve as you work through how cloud computing figures into your future.
Challenges to cloud adoption come various forms, sizes, and severities, as per an organization’s culture. If not considered show-stoppers then it doesn’t mean they are any less real. There is no definitive list of cloud computing challenges; if there were it would require updating as soon as it was put to paper. However, in conversing with customers, attending various tradeshows and working with clients on their cloud roadmaps, there are recurring topics
The following are the standard challenges businesses face most.
1. SECURITY AND PRIVACY
The principal challenge to cloud computing is the security and privacy issues of companies planning on adopting it. The fact that confidential data will reside outside the corporate firewall leads to serious concerns. Hacking and other cyber attacks on cloud infrastructure affect multiple clients even if one site is hacked.
Businesses can mitigate security risks using security applications, data loss software, encrypted file systems, and investing in security hardware to monitor peculiar behavior across servers.
It is hard to assess the costs involved due to the on-demand nature of the services. Budgeting and evaluation of the cost will be difficult unless the service provider has some comparable benchmarks to provide. If the service-level agreements (SLAs) of the provider are not up to mark to ensure the availability and scalability, then organizations will be reluctant to migrate to the cloud without a committed service quality guarantee.
2. RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY
Cloud providers are not able to round-the-clock service; this results in instant outages. It is important to track the service being provided using third-party tools. It is necessary to know to supervise usage, SLAs, performance, quality, and business dependency on these services.
3. PERFORMANCE
When a business switches to the cloud it starts relying on the service providers. This partnership often provides businesses with leveraging technologies they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. Furthermore, the performance of the organization’s BI and other cloud-based systems is also linked to the performance of the cloud provider when it fluctuates. Simply, when your provider is down, you are likely to get down.
This can not be overlooked, over the past few years, most of the cloud service provider have experienced outages. You should ensure your provider has the right processes in place to alert you if there is ever an issue.
Data-driven organizations depend on real-time data. Companies may run into real-time monitoring issues with an inherent lack of control that comes with cloud computing. Businesses should ask SaaS providers if they have monitoring policies in place to mitigate these issues.
4. SEGMENTED USAGE AND ADOPTION
Most enterprises did not have an effective cloud adoption strategy in place during their migration to the cloud, and several components fuel ad-hoc strategies. One of them was the cloud adoption speed. Another one was the expiration of data centre equipment, which led to incomplete cloud migration.
Finally, there also were individual development teams using the public cloud for particular applications or projects. These bootstrap environments have increased full integration and maturation issues including:
- Unique cloud projects lacking shared standards
- Security configurations
- Absence of cross-team shared resources and learnings
As per a recent survey by IDC of 6,159 executives, just 3% of respondents explain their cloud strategies as “optimised.” Fortunately, centralized IT, right governance and control policies, and some heavy lifting can help to attain usage, adoption, and cloud computing strategies inline.
5. ACCESS TO DATA
Cloud-based servers do not always have the appropriate customer service support systems. CIOs express their concerns about data ownership and losing data control when migrating to the cloud, but this shouldn’t be a problem. Choosing where and how your data is stored is an important element within the decision-making process. Integration is also a problem for many organizations. Businesses need to ensure that all of the applications are able to integrate seamlessly with one another is also a challenge.
Some questions you need to ask a cloud provider;
- Do I have my data and server?
- How much time will it take to backup my data to the cloud?
- Where does my data store?
- How do you ensure to secure my data?
- What happens during the event of data corruption?
- How will I get my data if I need to move elsewhere?
6. MIGRATION TO THE CLOUD
Various cloud adoption challenges are not known because cloud technology is still budding. CIOs are being challenged deciding on the right way to transition to the cloud and finding a cloud solution that caters the business goals while improving efficiencies.
Although migrating to the cloud is a complex and strategic process, there is more than one route to success. CIOs must affirm that the proposed solution goes with their business model. There are various ways organizations can move to the cloud. Whether it’s through private, public or hybrid technologies, finding the right service model for your business is an essential step.
Questions that your cloud provider should ask you;
- What are your business goals?
- When do you get the highest influx of data?
- How much will your data grow?
- Do you want control over the region where your data is stored?
- How much SLA do you expect?
Data migration poses various risks for organizations if not dealt correctly. Crafting a data migration strategy that integrates consistently with the current IT infrastructure is an essential ingredient to overall success.