The Top 6 Misconceptions of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is not exactly as new as many would have you believe. While the term ‘cloud’ is relatively new, the technology is an evolution of virtualization, utility computing and other technologies. Cloud computing as a concept has actually been around since the 1960s.

Widespread adoption of cloud computing, resulting from developing technology and increasing needs for efficiency, has sparked the interest of many businesses. But many still do not fully understand cloud computing and are burdened by misconceptions. Hopefully these misconceptions will be cleared up below.

1. Cloud services are not secure. In many cases cloud services are actually more secure than in-house systems. IT service providers such as a Nexus Management specialize in providing virtual and cloud applications. These companies are generally more knowledgeable about IT security, and are able to devote more resources than a business needing to fit IT into a budget.
2. The ROI is too low. Depending on exactly what your business is trying to accomplish through cloud services you could cut hardware, software, and even maintenance costs significantly. Cloud solutions eliminate huge capital expenses and make IT costs much more budget friendly. Because the cloud is flexible your business only needs to pay for the minimum resources it needs today, while retaining the ability to easily scale in the future.
3. I don’t know where my data is. Many IT service provides such as Nexus Management can guarantee the location of your data, so you know it’s safe and compliant. You want to make sure it’s in a secure location where a disaster is unlikely to occur. Having your data in geographically diverse locations is also something to consider.
4. I will lose control of my data. Sure there is another level between you and your data but it is still your data, make sure the Service Level Agreement clearly states this. Having a dedicated IT staff monitoring and managing your cloud 24/7/365 actually provides much more control, even if the data isn’t stored in your office.
5. Cloud services are not ready for enterprise users. Recent economic turmoil has forced many businesses to find ways to cut costs, which in turn has pressured information technology experts to find more efficient solutions. This recent pressure has led to new developments in cloud based solutions and has made the cloud enterprise friendly. Lots of businesses are moving to the cloud, don’t be left behind.
6. Using cloud services increases the risk of downtime. Actually the opposite is true. Because cloud based solutions operate using several physical servers many think that if any one of those servers has a problem the entire cloud will go down. But actually it would take multiple hardware problems occurring simultaneously to knock a virtual server offline, thus making cloud solutions less susceptible to downtime stemming from hardware failures.

Cloud computing solutions can help businesses in a variety of ways. And although it’s true the cloud may not be for everyone hopefully this article dispelled some of the most common myths about cloud computing. Send us a request for information to learn how virtualization and cloud solutions from Nexus Management could help your business.