Moving to The Cloud: Is it a Safe Haven for Us?

Once upon a time, there were companies around the globe scratching their heads at one common problem. The Industry Giants and the ambitious entrepreneurs; all of them stumbled upon the common question, how do you store those large amounts of data safely that keep getting generated every day? This problem was about to be solved with the Inception of Cloud Computing in the early 2000s.
Cloud computing not just made business easier for everyone, but also ensured greater safety to sensitive data than personal networks and computers.
But with driven usage of Cloud Computing for over a decade, certain security issues cropped up which have marred some of the excitement that enveloped Cloud Computing.
Before we go into these flaws, let’s understand a thing or two about technology.
 

What exactly is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is basically creating a virtualized pool of resources.
Whenever a user requires certain resources regarding their job, they may avail the resources directly from the cloud instead of their personal spaces.
Cloud Computing works as a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, which would otherwise be too huge to store in a local server or a personal computer.
The Cloud Computing phenomenon is a substantially huge shift from traditional operations of IT businesses.
It has become the ideal way to deliver enterprise applications and has been preferred by the businesses as the solution to maximize their infrastructure and thus develop newer innovations.
 

What are the challenges impacting Cloud Computing in the Businesses?

It is evident that with passing time, Cloud Computing has expanded manifold. 
It has become a go-to technology for everyone, irrespective of the occupancy of them in the industry.
However, this widespread and prolonged usage has exposed challenges that were peeking in from behind the cloud.
From the Cloud Security Alliance Survey, following were regarded to be substantial challenges that one faces concerning Cloud Computing:
 

1. Security of Data

Ask anyone, and the one thing they want to be sure about is, how much their data is secured.
This is one of the most important concerns plaguing Cloud Computing.
Cloud Service Providers have been some of the biggest targets of data leaks and breaches which has slowed down the inception of Cloud Computing.
Companies have scrambled to develop encryption and tokenization of data so that they might reduce the risks that Cloud Services bring with it.
 

2. Cost Concerns

Cloud Computing isn’t similar to a simple internet service. Installation alone does not suffice.
The entire business system has to be tuned finely to support Cloud Computing.
Once that is done, the employees and shareholders have also to be trained effectively so that they have a flexible understanding of Cloud Computing.
All this comes at a huge cost that has sent many companies thinking otherwise when it comes to using the technology.
 

3. Vulnerability to Attacks 

When you have everything on the internet, it is inevitable that you are the most vulnerable to threats.
Even the best in the industry suffer from malicious attacks, and to think how big the IT industry is!
Cloud Computing has always been deemed as a public service and hence administration and access remain unchecked.
Another grey area which the businesses have been fighting when using Cloud-based services.
 

4. Managing Multiple Clouds

In the Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey that was published in 2018, it was said that around 81% of businesses and enterprises around the tech-world uses a multi-cloud strategy to optimize their infrastructure.
The technology hasn’t yet reached its pinnacle to enable easy switching from one cloud to another and hence becomes a serious deterrent.
Performance: The businesses that use cloud computing vividly also end up being dependent on the service providers.
The performance of your business ends up being dependent on this partnership.
Hence, when your service provider falters, the performance of an otherwise great enterprise ends up being compromised. 
Vendor Lock-In:  Getting into an agreement and getting out from it are not two equally flexible tasks.
Vendors might suddenly turn expensive or may affect your performance that requires the enterprise to move away from the vendor as a whole.
But then, taking your data back is a mean task as data does not work like material possessions.
 

The Bottom Line

In spite of certain deterrents in the way Cloud Computing works in the industry, it is by far one among the best innovations in recent times.
Connecting huge data samples together into a single accessible entity was a dream and Cloud Computing made it a reality.
Enterprises have to work around the potential hiccups by adopting newer strategies and suiting their business and their needs to work with Cloud Computing.
It is surely the path forward for the IT industry.