Debunking 10 Stereotypical Myths Associated with Cloud Computing

Despite the quick adoption of cloud computing and the huge impact it has on businesses of all types and sizes, many business owners are hesitant of investing in cloud courtesy the many myths that surround deploying and running applications in the cloud.

By ensuring you do not subscribe to these myths, you guarantee you’ll be making an informed decision with respect to your business’s move to the cloud. Let’s take a look at these myths:

1. Cloud Is Not Secure

Security is the biggest concern for most businesses when considering switching to cloud. The fact that sensitive enterprise data will be stored and processed outside the corporate firewall raises serious concerns.

However, there are many cloud service providers that incorporate relevant security architecture to ensure your entire database remains safe and secure on cloud. Cloud security architecture includes various types of controls, secured APIs and encryption that guarantees information will remain opaque on the wire and the cloud.

It is therefore vital for businesses to fully research cloud service providers and opt for the one that provides robust security they can trust and monitor.

2. Assessing the Cost of Cloud Services is Difficult

Billing in cloud follows the ‘pay-per-use’ model. Businesses find it difficult to measure the costs involved in using cloud services due to its on-demand nature of services.

To get around this problem, many cloud service providers deliver comprehensive billing information to help customers understand how they are being charged for their use of cloud services. Businesses must, therefore, carefully analyze pricing models and their own IT needs before they sign service-level agreements (SLAs) with cloud service providers. Many cloud service providers even offer real-time billing.

3. Not Possible to Switch Cloud Service Providers

Businesses fear that subscribing to one cloud service provider means they will be locked-in with that particular provider for a very long time, as it is not possible to move applications and data to another cloud environment.

What businesses are looking for is the ability to switch providers or move in and out of cloud whenever they want.

That’s actually possible now!

There are certain cloud-service providers that provide interoperability for cloud portability. This ensures their customers can move applications and data easily to a new cloud provider.  Furthermore, the process of moving to other providers is neither time-consuming nor complicated.

4. Cloud Outages Badly Impacts Business

Businesses seek round-the-clock services from cloud-service providers. However, at times, businesses leveraging cloud services have to face cloud outages; a period during which cloud services are unavailable.

However, each and every business needs to accept the blunt truth that failures can and do happen irrespective of the hosting solution picked. Planning ahead can save businesses from any adverse impact of cloud outages.

Businesses must pick a provider that is reputed and should ensure that the Service Level Agreement mentions the provider will reimburse customers in case of any downtime.

5. Brand Name May Get Affected Due to Poor Performance

A survey by Research in Action revealed that nearly 80% of businesses were worried about damage to their brand name due to downtime and poor performance.

However, the truth is in most cases performance is better in the cloud environment because there is more available capacity and scalability.

Even then, if performance is a major concern for the business, it should consider using a ‘hybrid’ cloud for hosting.

6. Migration to Cloud Is A Big Hassle

This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you pick a trusted cloud service provider, migrating to the cloud from traditional on-premise servers will be a hassle free process for your business. In fact, it is a seamless and quick procedure with minimal downtime. This short-term inconvenience shouldn’t outweigh long-term benefits of cloud like cost efficiency, improved customer support, flexibility to react to changing market conditions, and many more.

7. Multiple-Clouds Are Required to Run a Business

Different cloud-service providers offer different sets of features. Businesses might think it makes sense to consider different cloud service providers for varying business needs.

However, the truth is in such a scenario, a business would be required to handle complex integration and maintenance of all these services.  According to a survey, poor integration of cloud applications from multiple vendors caused staff downtime, business deadlines getting missed and stunted innovation initiatives.

On the other hand, opting for a complete integrated enterprise solution can eliminate the need of complex integration.

8. Clouds Are One-Size-Fits All

Each business has different sets of requirements. Today, various cloud service providers offer different features and deployment options to meet their clients’ requirements and needs.

Ensure the cloud service provider you select matches your business’s needs and industry requirements.

9. Cloud is for Large Enterprises Only

It’s true that with each passing day more and more big businesses are moving to the cloud, but this doesn’t mean they are the only ones with the right to do so. In fact, some cloud services are specifically tailored to suit the needs of SMBs.

10. Cloud Should Be Used for Everything

Businesses hold the misconception that actual characteristics of the cloud are applicable for all business requirements. They think if they opt for cloud, they are required to move all departments like HR, inventory, billing, etc. to cloud.

However, the truth is not all departments, applications and workloads can benefit from cloud. Unless there are some clear advantages, moving a legacy application is not a good idea.

End Words

If you’ve been following the misconceptions covered in this article, it is high time you bust them and start making the right decisions vis-à-vis the cloud.

Image Credit: Hubspot