Misconceptions & Benefits of Adapting to Cloud Services

Gartner predicts the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 18% in 2017 to $246.8B, up from $209.2B in 2016. There are many clear benefits to adopting cloud services - but many organizations are still apprehensive about migrating to the cloud.

Many organizations are apprehensive about adopting cloud technology because they overestimate the complications. Once companies are used to storing their data on their own networks, it can be difficult for them to see the benefit of migrating to the cloud. Migrating to the cloud can cut IT costs dramatically and speed up operations. 

Common Misconceptions About Cloud Security

Cloud Technology is not Secure

The strongest and most prevalent myth is that data in the cloud is not safe. There is a natural perception to believe that things outside of your reach, vision, or control are innately less secure, says Tim McKellips, manager of technical services at Softchoice. Physical control of data implies heightened security.

Cloud Technology is Innately Complex

Assuming the complexity of cloud technology is common in many C-suites around the world. Control enhancement can be achieved through a highly detailed and comprehensive security framework.

Cloud Security is Difficult to Maintain

There is a general lack of transparency and assurance from cloud-computing companies.  Establishing a strict governance plan and implementing realistic SLAs can assist in maintaining transparency with cloud providers.

As noted, the common misconceptions of cloud computing come mainly from inexperience and lack of knowledge of the strength/scope of cloud security.

Benefits of Cloud Computing 

1. Cutting cost
   When you run your own servers, there are many capital costs to budget for. But in the world of cloud-computing, financing the capital investment is someone else's issue. Outsourcing this hardware to tech specialist companies saves a lot of money. Use this tool to calculate the TCO in your company. Transferring company information to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud can save organizations upwards of
2. Heightened security
   Gartner reports that through 2020, public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) workloads will suffer at least 60% fewer security incidents than those in traditional data centers.
3. Cloud providers live, eat, and breathe network security, while regular organizations have to focus on many other scopes of business. Cloud providers bring a greater expertise to data security. Gartner also predicts that by 2018, the 60% of enterprises that implement appropriate cloud visibility and control tools will experience one-third fewer security failures.

It is natural to fear what we do not understand, especially when it comes to emerging technologies. Yet, IDC predicts that more than 80% of enterprise IT organizations will implement hybrid cloud architectures by 2017. Cloud computing is a service that is here to stay, as 74% of Tech Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) say cloud computing will have the most measurable impact on their business in 2017.  As the reliance on cloud services increase, more companies will see the direct benefit of switching to the cloud.