Is Cloud Storage Always the Answer? We Don’t Think So

The cloud is often being sold with a silver lining to businesses and people alike looking to store their valued data.

Although the cloud has created a whole new stream of revenue and accessibility, whilst further remaining as a cost-effective resource for business’s who are unable to afford hardware, for some, the cloud can create an overcast.

The cloud is a modern entity and many people underestimate its demanding nature if you are to use it efficiently. If you are in an area that suffers from poor bandwidth, or you experience latency issues, but you do not have to store and quantify large amounts of data, then the cloud can fulfil your needs as your demand likely isn’t as potent.

However, if you are a business controlling a vast quantity of data, and require reliable resources to compile it, the cloud may not always be the apex solution.  

Connection Dependency:

As the cloud is currently almost entirely internet dependent, even a minor severing in connection could set you back a few moons.

If you haven’t got a strong bandwidth connection, or if you do but you have poor latency, the cloud may not be the best solution for you, as you will likely experience overarching problems that may have an impact upon your entire practice. If you become reliant on the cloud but can’t quickly refer to and retrieve your data when establishing and developing business and consumer relationships alike, you may begin to experience diminishing returns.

Support and control can be limited:

In most cases, you are not offered a highly dependable route if something were to go wrong. The cloud is not hosted directly by you, therefore if there is a problem on your supplier’s end, you have little control in establishing a solution.

Often support cases are anecdotal and are heavily reliant on community contributions – rather than offering in depth solutions to wider problems. If you are lucky enough to run into a problem that can be resolved through the usage of a public forum, then all the power to you, but if you were to face a slightly more intricate problem that consists of a breach in performance, risking a large part of your business’s integral operations, the last thing you want to be doing is scouring a public forum or looking at FAQs for a solution.

This lack of being able to oversee the core structures and build-up of cloud software becomes a no go for some businesses. If you experience a bug or malfunction specific to your operations, you may not have direct access to the solution, and will become purely dependent on your provider and their speed to a solution.

Money Pit

The cloud always seems like the cheaper alternative upon initial consultation. But if you are a business looking to expand your data capacity, anticipate for a hefty increase in your outgoings. Obtaining cloud software that matches your growing pains can become expensive; as your data becomes infinite, just know that your storage capacity quickly becomes finite – so be prepared.  

Security

Whilst Cloud isn’t as vulnerable as people make it out to be, it is still at risk of being under fire – especially given the increasing appetite for cyber hacking. The downfall of using cloud is that if you are storing valuable and sensitive data, odds are that you are going to need a gate keeper. Having a specialist team or personnel to keep your data under lock and key from espionage and theft becomes an important factor for business’s looking to maintain maximum security and integrity which can become costly and resource draining if you are wanting to maintain stability.

Ultimately, for some business’s the cloud may not provide the light at the end of the tunnel they are looking for, as it does present its own problems – some of which can become more toxic than their tangible counterparts.

Although an expensive and sometimes complex proposition, having access to a tangible data centre can quickly become a powerful asset. At this point in the industry’s life cycle, data centres are far from their original stereotype, and can now be delivered much more compactly, flexibly and inexpensively compared to that of past predecessors, with predictions for them to become even more accessible as the industry continue to evolve.

So, if you are considering cloud, do realise that it isn’t always the answer for everyone. Make sure you consider the option of tangibility before you start looking up only to the cloud.