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Cloud Computing and mid-Sized Companies: Gains and Losses that Come with the Cloud
Nothing in life comes without both a set of pros and cons. While cloud computing may be wildly popular, and there are good reasons why it is, there are also a set of issues that the cloud raises that either didn’t exist with on-premise or which the cloud magnifies. Let’s look at it from the perspective of a mid-sized company.
First the good. Consider some of the reasons behind the popularity of the cloud:
- Elimination of the need to maintain hardware. Many business IT shops with on-premise systems clock huge amounts of time keeping their hardware running and patched.
- Disaster recovery. The cloud simplifies data backups and replication, solving a problem that is often difficult to do well on-premise.
- Easier access to apps and better dissemination of information. Business outcomes improve when not only decision makers, but the whole business, can become more data-driven.
But on the flip side, consider some problems that the cloud brings:
- Migration costs. Moving data from on-premise to the cloud is expensive and that cost alone can be a non-starter for a lot of mid-sized companies.
- Operational costs. The cloud is advertised to be like a utility where you only pay for what you use. But your apps need to be modernized to fully take advantage of cloud architecture.
- Security. Once data is moved to the cloud, there will be a greater worry about data security. There will need to be an investment in training and setting up security appropriate for the cloud.
