Defogging the Cloud: 9 common myths about Cloud Computing

Cloud computing impacts businesses in all aspects and at all levels. It is one of the most hyped technologies in this new age, from accessing our Gmail to storing data on Dropbox, the cloud is growing larger every day, with more and more customers either storing their data there or using its other functions. Yet in this time of extraordinary growth and despite the obvious benefits of switching to the cloud, there are popular misconceptions surrounding cloud computing which cloud the reality of the cloud and continue to hold back progress.

Many people believe that cloud computing is only for tech companies, or that migrating to the cloud is difficult and expensive…

Even some business owners and tech leaders have no idea about what the cloud entails and what it can do for them.

In this piece we will debunk these erroneous myths and explore myriad ways that cloud computing can have a positive impact on your bottom line, expand your business, deliver competitive advantage and help you sort and manage your valuable data.

If you are a decision maker, and finding it difficult to maintain your expensive physical IT infrastructure but uncertain about moving to cloud, then this is a must read article for you.

 

Cloud Computing is expensive.

 Not so. Actually, cloud services can save you money and increase ROI. Investing in your in-house technical infrastructure can be very expensive starting from putting money on your servers, routers, software, IT employee compensations, licenses and many more.

However, when you move to cloud, your problems are over. All your expenses will be taken care of by your cloud service provider. You just need to pay for the amount of capacity you use; you “pay as you go “ and nothing else. You can always scale up or down based on your needs.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), almost every small business enterprise that adopts cloud services saves a significant amount of money.

 

The Cloud is only relevant to the technology sector and isn’t suitable for my organization.

 Not true, it goes well beyond the data center. A 2016 Everest Study reports that 56% of US enterprises consider cloud to be a strategic business differentiator that enables operational excellence and accelerated innovation.

Many business owners feel that the cloud is not suitable for their organization. But the fact is, as the market continues to mature, several businesses have started adopting it already.

As more businesses are seeing the ROI and value proposition the cloud brings for them, the field of cloud-based business applications continues to grow. Like Salesforce, a cloud based CRM, which helps you to manage your business contacts and sales records, or Intacct, which handles all your accounting needs. Another one is Adaptive Planning, which comes with a wide feature of forecasting and budgeting capabilities. All these are cloud-based, robust business applications.

 

The cloud is just another fad and it won’t last for a long time.

In reality, the cloud is here to stay. There is and will be an increased growth in cloud adoption as businesses begin to understand how it can significantly improve their organization. According to a recent Gartner report, enterprises have started adopting cloud in a large scale and it is growing pretty fast. The report predicts that cloud technology will contribute $6.2 trillion to the global economy by 2025. It’s not just large sized businesses making their investment either, according to Small Business Computing, 52% of SMBs are using cloud technology.

 

For my business, the cloud is a ‘Yes / No’ proposition: I can either be in the cloud or I can keep my current setup with physical servers.

In actual fact and in our experience, the most effective way for an organization to see the benefits of the cloud is to use both setups simultaneously as they gradually transition into the cloud.

Isn’t Cloud Computing unsecure?

No, this is a major misconception among many business owners and stated by them as a key reason for being reluctant to cloud migration. How can your data be unsafe, when talented and trained IT security professionals work solely on keeping your data secure? Think about it. For cloud service providers, data security is the highest priority and their capital investment belongs to it.

 

The only way to keep hackers from breaking into my cloud is to build my own.

False! In reality, the variety of attacks a cloud sustains can actually make it more secure. That’s because our engineers protecting your network will be able to identify and correct more weaknesses. But that doesn't mean you need to build your own cloud. As your security needs grow, any increase in resources directed towards securing your cloud can provide an advantage, whether in money saved or attacks defeated.

 

Moving to the cloud is expensive and won’t help me save money on my IT needs.

Not true. The cloud is able to easily adjust the amount of computing power you're using, giving a lot of flexibility to your budget. We can help you investigate how you can achieve significant efficiencies with new cloud technologies to maximise your return on your cloud investment.

 

Once I’m in the cloud, I can help employees be more productive by giving them apps for their smartphones.

The recipe for a successful app is often misunderstood. While a cloud’s ability to provide enormous computing power can help an app succeed, other factors can be equally important, such as whether the app will work without a network connection. A hybrid approach combining local and offline data storage while interfacing with the cloud on an as-available basis is best practice.

 

I’m worried that my cloud provider is spying on my activity in their cloud.

Internet privacy is a burning issue these days, and the multi-billion-dollar cloud computing industry would collapse if even one major cloud provider was caught snooping on their user’s data - or helping third parties do so. These providers are actually building state-of-the-art security mechanisms to guarantee they themselves cannot access your data.

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Are you considering moving to the cloud for your business? Are there any other thoughts you have which are stopping you from making a decision? Share it with us and our trained IT professionals will be able to find the best solution to migrate your business to the cloud.

SBM delivers comprehensive cloud based solutions that help our customers adapt to market changes and remain competitive in a technological age. Whether you are large enterprise or small business, talk to us today and we will drive your business into the future.