One might think that after the COVID lockdowns everybody has moved to the cloud – but they haven’t. Certainly, cloud adoption has grown drastically since March of 2020, but despite the massive exodus, plenty of computing and data storage is still performed at the local, ‘on-premises’ level.
As a well-known and highly reputable member of the IT Support Los Angeles community, IT Support LA has been moving clients to the cloud for years before COVID struck. Whether a company uses a hybrid work model or maintains a largely remote workforce, cloud computing is much more productive and secure than a local network.
Still, the ‘Gold Rush’ to the cloud has slowed a bit, possibly because companies have gotten used to whatever their version of the ‘new normal’ is for their businesses. However, given the craziness of the last two and a half years, businesses worldwide are exercising caution. Mitigation of the challenges inherent in cloud adoption and migration are receiving extra scrutiny.
What are the challenges of cloud adoption?
There are a few individual issues that must be addressed in moving fully to the clouds, but the three major challenges are:
Security
Performance
Cost
Security
The common misconception is that once you move to the cloud, all of your data is safe. That is a myth. No cloud hosting service guarantees the safety of your data – that is up to you. Failure to properly configure and control cloud use in a public cloud like Amazon, Microsoft or Google will put your data at risk of theft.
Smart businesses use a hybrid cloud approach, with sensitive, highly confidential data relegated to a more expensive private cloud rather than a public cloud. A private cloud is just that – private, and security is more easily and pervasively implemented. The disparity between costs is as wide as seating at a ballpark. The ‘nosebleed’ section is always cheaper than a private box.
For public cloud usage, make sure that Cybersecurity is properly configured, that all data is encrypted, and that your cloud host provides a security dashboard – typically these offer baseline reporting and proactive correction as part of the service.
Performance
This is an area of concern for IT Support. One common problem is storage access times. For applications with significant input and output operations per second (IOPS) – outages can occur for a variety of reasons if not configured correctly Issues occur when the application is sensitive to shifts in latency. Any applications that regularly cause high spikes in throughput or bandwidth compute nodes and storage are a valid concern which must be addressed.
To solve these issues, the best approach is to quantify performance with metrics like latency, CPU utilization, and various application-specific measurements. These metrics provides a baseline for your systems that allows you to quantify performance.
Cost
Many perceive that the #1 challenge is cost, or the illusion that cloud computing will cost a lot more – but does it? A cloud provider will arrange for you to have what you need of a single bill, which looks like a lot more money. To make sense of the total cost you must reconcile all the costs which currently arrive as separate bills from various vendors for storage, networking, servers, and core infrastructure software services.
This is very similar to evaluating the costs when switching from supposedly ‘cheap’ Time & Materials IT (what the industry calls ‘Break/Fix’) to a Managed IT Services provider. Managed Services provides a monthly bill that includes everything, but purveyors of Break/Fix can send a handful of separate bills every month: a new bill for every service call and any materials needed. It’s not unusual to see shocked looks on the faces of CEOs when they discover how much their ‘cheap’ IT is really costing them.
The most elusive factor is productivity. The speed with which employees work and collaborate is greatly enhanced. Time is money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which is the most important challenge in migrating to cloud?
A: The number one challenge impacts all others:
Failing to have a clear plan for migration. If this step fails, new challenges will spring forth – such as:
Exceeding your budget for migration.
Cloud Sprawl, which means that your cloud plan is haphazard, resulting in too many variables - such as different software applications in conflict with each other and services you paid for but do not use.
Security weak spots; users who lack the skill to navigate a complicated cloud infrastructure.
Q: Is the cloud completely secure?
A: NO. Nothing is 100% secure, although the data you store in the cloud can be made more secure than the data you store on your local network or workstation hard drive. The best Cloud services providers use the strongest security measures available, such as:
Security Updates
AI and Auto-patching
Firewalls
Data Backup Redundancies
Third-party security testing
Battling hackers and malware is like a game of ‘Whack-a-Mole’ – crooks always find new ways to get around yesterday’s best security defenses. Stop one threat and another one pops up immediately. The crooks learn from their failures, and they don’t sleep on the job – neither should you.
Q: Which cloud service type is best?
A: It depends on your company’s needs. In general, Microsoft wins the day, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google close behind. AWS and Google produce a good-enough product, but both companies’ trustworthiness in the marketplace remains a question mark. Google fails to guarantee not to sell your data (a major source of their profits), and both have been known to shut down or censor enterprises for nebulous or political reasons.
Following the introduction of cloud computer Windows 365, coupled with the improvements and rebranding of Office 365 to Microsoft 365, Microsoft has sealed the gaps that other cloud providers are still just patching together. Theirs is a platform that is truly fully integrated and negotiates full cloud operations with ease and the best security.
On C-Sharp Corner, Mahesh Chand provides an intriguing breakdown in his article ‘Top 10 Cloud Service Providers of 2021’.
Q: How do I choose the best cloud service provider?
A: There are as many levels of quality within the cloud hosting community as there are in the IT Support community. If you have an IT vendor whose knowledge and experience you trust, they will already have done the homework – rely on their expertise.
It is important to examine factors such as a potential cloud service’s level of Certifications & Standards – and to a look at the prospect’s bottom line – how healthy is the cloud host’s company? Over the decades, many once-healthy technology providers have gone under – leaving their customers in the lurch.
Cloud Industry Forum provides a roadmap of the top ‘8 criteria to ensure you select the right cloud service provider’.
How secure is your network?
As a reputable member of the IT Support Los Angeles community since 2002, IT Support LA offers a FREE, no-risk network and security assessment. It is a non-intrusive scan that allows us to deliver a comprehensive report that is yours to keep. No strings, and no obligation to ever use our Managed IT Services.
The best defense is the best Cybersecurity to protect your data from theft, and a top-notch Managed IT Services firm to ensure continued reliability and defenses against newly emerging threats.
With our 100% Money Back Guarantee in writing, we offer a risk-free way for prospective clients to try us out. Because we do not require a ‘hard’ contract, our clients can fire us at any time with 30 days’ notice. We have to be good.
Need Mobile Device Security Solutions?
No matter what size company you have, mobile device management is vital. Contact us to learn more about our endpoint security solutions.
Among the Managed IT services we provide:
IT HelpDesk Service
Onsite IT Support
Cybersecurity
Cloud migration and management
Email migration services
Backup and disaster recovery
VoIP phone systems
IT disposition and recycling
Office moves
White label services (IT to IT)
For more information, or to receive your FREE no-risk network and security assessment, just fill out the form on this page or call us at:
818-805-0909
