Are You Losing Control of Your Data?
After several years of providing cloud services to a diverse group of clients in many industries, I still often hear the same concern from business owners.
“We are apprehensive about having our data in the cloud and out of our control.”
On the surface this makes perfect sense given how technology was traditionally deployed and maintained. Companies often bought their own hardware and stored their data on their own equipment either in their office or in a cabinet in a datacenter that only they had access to. This gave companies a comfort level that they physically owned the systems and data and thus had complete control over it.
Control of the data trumped the fact that the underlying technology architecture might not be redundant, highly secure or scalable to meet their growing business needs. Not to mention the higher cost related to managing and replacing that equipment and software every three to five years.
Data Security is the New Black
As adoption of cloud services has increased, so has the concern over the control of company data.
When companies move critical business systems to the cloud they sometimes feel like they are losing control of their data – and frankly this scares them. They think their data is housed in some secret location they can’t access and all these other people now have access to it.
This fear becomes a real barrier to entry for some companies wanting to leverage the benefits of the cloud but unable to overcome the perceived loss of control. It creates a technology paralysis.
It doesn’t help that each day we hear of some new security breach or hack.
Unnecessary Hybridization
What is interesting is that in every case where I have experienced this scenario, the companies actually use cloud services for some of their critical systems while holding on to those systems they perceive to require in-house control. The result is a hybrid environment where some business applications are in the cloud while others are hosted on company-owned hardware.
A hybrid environment is fine and can be a great solution if there is a business case for it, but often it is done simply out of fear of the unknown – and it actually comes at a higher cost.
In these particular hybrid scenarios, while the cloud systems are very robust in security, failover and availability, and they are constantly managed, maintained and upgraded by the cloud provider, the company continues to bear the burden of all the costs related to managing, maintaining and upgrading the systems they own. Often they are even paying additional costs for hosting that “owned” equipment in a datacenter.
I’ve seen many companies who use the cloud for hosting their email, customer relationship management system, HR systems, project management and company files, yet they continue to own and manage their accounting system for fear of losing control of that critical and sensitive information.
Are the business applications and data hosted in the cloud really less critical, less sensitive and less important than the systems and data you insist you must control?
When finding themselves in this situation, companies should step back and revisit their overall technology guiding principles and strategy to confirm the business case for how they deploy technology. In most cases, once this is done, the company will find the data already in the cloud is no less important than the data they are holding onto.
Using the Cloud Does Not Have to Mean Loss of Control
In most cases, the cloud security, infrastructure and service levels are far greater than what one company can afford to deploy on their own.
Also, “the cloud” doesn’t mean you are giving your data to someone to never see again. The cloud can be used and deployed in countless ways and customized to meet your business needs, including the level of control you really need.
At Fluid, we have the ability to deploy cloud solutions based on the business needs of our customers. Using my example above, we can take the critical accounting systems and data and deploy it in our private cloud where the client is the only one with access to the physical systems and data; it is completely isolated from other clients and systems. They receive all the benefits the cloud provides in cost savings, high availability, management and security while maintaining ultimate control of their data.
When we help clients analyze the advantages, disadvantages and costs related to owning and maintaining their own systems versus deploying in the cloud, the cloud wins in almost every case.
So if you find yourself holding onto systems out of fear of losing control, take a step back and do some analysis to confirm if your fears are justified. You may just find you sleep better at night knowing you have control of your data in the cloud without the responsibility of managing all the technology.
Need help confirming what the best course is for your company? Call us and we’ll help you figure it out.
