Cloud computing has significant advantages, especially for small to medium-sized organizations. For such enterprises, establishing their own IT infrastructure is costly and requires continuous support and maintenance from dedicated staff. In addition, it’s best for a data center to grow proportionally with the growth of the organization itself. Since this is traditionally difficult to achieve, decision makers tend to buy new hardware in set cycles based on an estimate of their future needs. This often leads to more resources being purchased than are actually needed.
Nevertheless, most companies cannot operate without a data center. Cloud computing provides a needs-based solution to this issue. The acquisition and maintenance of the hardware is taken over by the service provider, and the customer need only invest relatively cheap terminals in order to access the cloud computing services. In addition, professional server farms, such as those used by cloud providers, are much more secure than most organizations could manage on-site. Dedicated security personnel and server specialists protect the data center from physical and digital attacks respectively, and fire safety experts ensure data is safe from fire. Finally, most cloud computing service providers conduct compulsory backups of all data.
However, cloud computing also has some drawbacks, which is why some have still not made the switch. For example, the level of customizability in terms of configuration can vary greatly depending on the service provider, which is a significant disadvantage for some. Generally speaking, you are also dependent on the provider – if they are having technical difficulties, it will directly affect your operations. Furthermore, cloud computing requires a strong and stable internet connection to be effective. If this isn’t in place, employees won’t be able to work efficiently.
The largest concern over cloud solution is about data privacy. Although it’s true that data is secured in the data center or server farm, transmitting that data over the internet always presents a security risk. Furthermore, the location of the data center also has an effect. While US-based providers should reasonably be expected to adhere to local data protection regulations, the same cannot necessarily be said of international providers.
Of course, although cloud computing can help companies save money, it’s not free, so users must think carefully about how much capacity they need and when. Companies often book more cloud resources than they actually because of the relatively low cost at face value, but these costs add up. This doesn’t have to be the case, however, since some providers allow you to cancel cloud instances as soon as they are no longer needed, saving you money.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
No acquisition costs | Requires fast and stable internet connection |
No capital commitment | Data privacy concerns |
Scalable as required | Dependency on the service provider |
No in-house specialist required | Security risk during data transmission over the internet |
Data centers are well maintained and secure | Low individual prices make it tempting to book more resources than you need |