There is no doubt that businesses and their owners/managers can benefit greatly from moving a part of their operation to the cloud. The accessibility of the data, the enormous storage potential and additional services truly do make the cloud part of the business future. That being said, there are still some creases to be ironed out, so to say, and the business owner needs to be careful not to make mistakes when moving their data to the cloud. So, what are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them?
Thinking All Cloud Services are the Same
Probably the most common mistake that business owners make when moving to a cloud is going for the first they come across, believing that they are all the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there are no two cloud services that are the same. Some of them are aimed more at large corporations while some specialize in catering to small to medium businesses. Some employ superior or inferior encryption methods; some have better or worse customer service, etc. Only when you are certain that you have find the right could service, should you commit to it.
Thinking It Is All About Storage
At first glance, the cloud looks like nothing more than another storage option. When you run out of space on your hardware, you turn to the cloud where you can store your data. A number of companies that provide cloud services are aware of this and besides plain storage, they offer very little. Going for one of these is rarely a good idea. You might need occasional processing, the ability to manipulate the data in the cloud or some of the additional features and options that some cloud services offer.
Thinking Your Apps Will Work
When you move part of your operation to the cloud, you are suddenly depending on cloud versions of the software that you are regularly using. In some cases, your software will not even feature cloud versions. In others, the cloud versions will be nothing but inferior alternatives that will struggle to do the job your current, desktop versions do. It is important to decide what you need and to see if a cloud service you have chosen will cater to your needs.
Thinking It Is Free
The cloud is not free, do not have any doubts about that. Sure, you may get a fraction of the service for free, but if you are a serious business owner, it will not be enough. Not even close. The mere storing of data will cost you quite a bit, often more than you would pay for “traditional” storage drives. If you are in need of additional options and services, the price will only rise. You will need to take a long hard look at your budget and what you are getting from your cloud service to make sure it makes financial sense for you.
Thinking It Is All Safe
Safety is still the most controversial aspect of the cloud, especially for business owners that would like to transport some sensitive data to the cloud. We have witnessed a number of faux pas (to say the least) from the biggest players in the game. In short, when choosing a cloud service, make sure you know everything about the security measures that they employ. For instance, go for cloud services like pCloud which offer client-side encryption which adds another layer of security to your data.