Many businesses are switching over to a cloud based solution and with the improvements in the accessibility and functioning of this service; it is becoming a much more appealing option for small to medium sized businesses. One area that is invaluable to any business is data and files that contain crucial and important information that many aspects of a business depend upon.
However, there is one big problem with this as it means that all off that data is being saved on one universal server that is physically dependent upon the welfare of your electrical grid. Despite being very hard to access externally by hackers, there is still the possibility of a system failure or power surge. Both of these can result in your data being compromised or corrupt when restored if possible. This alone can shut many businesses down as the loss of important data can jeopardise any operation.
With businesses looking at ways to become more efficient with their workload, it seems that the only way forward is to take to the cloud. With the costs of running a business also on the increase, expenses such as software licensing are an exceptionally expensive area that is crucial to the sustainability of employees being able to do their work, especially in IT based businesses. As well as this, the issue of storage as discussed earlier puts tremendous faith and confidence in the single server that so many businesses rely on regardless of the amount of back up procedures that take place. Not only does this cost extra money and man power to do, it also takes time.
Capabilities
Cloud software however seems to provide the solution to this problem by providing an online server that is accessible from everywhere assuming you have an internet connection, a computer and a browser. Eradicating the need to have a physical server in your business which will save costs on both energy and maintenance, it will enable you to have a foolproof way to ensure that you are constantly updated with latest versions and backed up. Not only useful with internal employees working within a business, it becomes even more useful for those who work externally. The main justification for this is that it means data should never need to be carried around physically because it is always available from a single infrastructure, minimising the risk of lost data.
With different sizes of storage being available for different prices, this concept has grown from the personal use of applications such as Drop Box and Google Docs. These are now extremely popular service providers that host an online storage facility for personal and business persons, some even offering free word processers to avoid on licensing costs.
Data Security
It seems therefore that the only issue that people seem to have the aspect of storing invaluable data on the internet is the security and safety concerns. Admittedly, the thought of putting all private data on the internet is not as attractive as what the benefits are. With issues raised as to who can access your data being questioned, it is a viable question that does have an answer. Not being helped by the abundant amount of privacy breaches that governments across the world have seen and been part of with privacy to data, it would appear that there are now very few, if no reasons to fear this nowadays.
Privacy and Accessibility
The obvious concern is the dependency upon the internet to maintain a safe and reliable connection to your business but alike anything; there are always risks within the technological world. It is easier for someone to physically hack your server and steal data than it is to overcome a multinational web hosting service. So in this respect, there is little to concern yourself with in this area.
In terms of accessibility and privacy, the main questions raised here are how much the hosting provider can access your personal data. The answer is very little as not only is it illegal, it will violate the numerous data protection laws that surround this sensitive area resulting in companies of all sizes such as Gmail who rely on customer business relationships to simply not being able to afford to access and use your private data because of the consequences. So once again, in this area there is also very little to worry about in terms of security and privacy.
Finally, being able to have constant access to your data is a fundamental necessity that every business will need guarantees to. Whilst cloud service providers have been known to have temporary shut downs, this is very uncommon and is simply a result of so many people relying on the internet, for good reason. The improvements are going to be quick and sudden in th next few years and service providers are only going to continue to improve their capabilities to meet the usability demands of the customers.
photo credit: James Cridland via photo pin cc
