It seems everyone is using the cloud in some form, and with good reason, too. Migrating your business applications to a hosted environment has the potential to greatly reduce costs and maintenance requirements while also giving your business the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a more flexible and more mobile workforce.
At least, that’s if you take the right approach.
It’s also possible to end up severely damaging the stability of your business and leaving your employees with systems that are practically impossible to work with. To make sure such problems don’t befall your organization, here are five common cloud mistakes to look out for:
#1. Failing to Implement Proper Access Control
One of the most common misconceptions about the cloud is that it means giving up control over your data and compromising on security. In reality, the cloud typically provides a much more secure environment that’s enabled by the latest technology and expertise needed to operate it.
However, cloud-based resources are only ever as secure as the access rights you create. That’s why it’s important to deploy role-based access controls and multi-factor authentication to keep data in the right hands.
#2. Overlooking Compliance Regulations
Compliance regulations often come with a whole lot of red tape, but data governance can become even more complicated when you need to factor in the cloud.
It’s a big mistake to assume you’re compliant with legislation like HIPAA and PCI-DSS just because your provider already is. You’ll still be responsible for upholding your own data security measures as regulations demand, such as by managing access rights and storing any sensitive data locally.
#3. Neglecting Bandwidth Optimization
If there’s one technology that has facilitated the remarkable growth of the cloud in recent years, it’s high-speed broadband. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean bandwidth is always in limitless supply, and many cloud applications consume more bandwidth than what’s available in some areas.
When you run into bandwidth problems, your internet and all your cloud-based apps will suffer, and productivity will end up taking a nosedive. That’s why it’s important to prioritize certain types of web traffic and ensure you have the necessary bandwidth available to use the cloud applications you need.
#4. Not Thinking about Total Cost of Ownership
In some ways, matters were simpler when you could buy a computer or an application and just pay for it once. Today, by contrast, it’s much more common for companies to effectively rent their computing resources by paying a cloud provider to host their apps and storage. In most cases, this is cheaper in the short and long term. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean you should neglect to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Many experts recommend calculating the TCO of a subscription-based service by counting the total cost over a period of five years and comparing it with the total cost of a one-off purchase combined with five years’ worth of maintenance and upgrades.
#5. Getting Trapped with the Same Vendor
When using cloud products and services, you’ll probably want to have the flexibility to migrate from one vendor to another. However, due to vendor lock-in contracts, this is often prohibitively complicated and/or costly. Other reasons for effective vendor lock-in include the lack of a clear migration path or lack of compatibility between proprietary and public cloud systems.
To avoid potentially costly vendor lock-ins, you’ll want to carefully review the fine print in the terms and conditions and make certain that your vendor follows industry standards of compatibility, such as the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI)
At Spectrumwise, we’re all about giving you the freedom to choose what’s best for your business. That’s why we offer our cloud services without long-term contracts while also enabling a smooth transition through personalized guidance you can depend upon. Call us today if you’re ready to enjoy the freedom that comes with well-managed IT.
