The cloud tends to be a common choice for businesses these days – many are moving their IT infrastructure as a way to provide better security, and enjoy the other benefits that the cloud can offer. Things like disaster recovery, ease of management, and archival are just a few benefits of using the cloud.
The security of cloud stored data tends to be better as long as passwords are strong and protected. Plus, if something happens to your premises, like a flood or fire, you won’t have to worry about losing data.
Other reasons you may choose to switch your business infrastructure to the cloud include:
● The cloud is tried and tested and many of the old kinks have been worked out.
● Many big names use the cloud, such as Amazon and Microsoft.
● ROI is easier to forecast.
● Storage is less expensive.
● It allows your organization to do more with less downtime.
● It is highly available.
● Remote employees have the ability to work over the internet.
● Better security than on-premises.
Is The Cloud Safer For Your Business?
A traditional computing system require back up plans, especially for data storage. If you were to suffer a disaster such as a fire or flood, or even find your business a victim of theft, this could lead to permanent data loss if no backup storage is in place. Storing data on the cloud will mean you no longer have to worry about these things as much. The data is always available, providing those who want to access it have an internet connection. Some businesses decide to use cloud computing services as backup and a plan for disaster recovery.
Business owners have realised that storing data on the cloud is far safer than storing it on physical servers and data centres. With data on the cloud, you are able to delete any confidential information remotely, or even move it to a different account. It’s very difficult for anybody to breach security measures on a cloud platform. It is a smart safeguard to have in place in case of an emergency.
However, because cloud computing solutions are so easy and affordable these days, proper security and backup measures must be put in place to protect your data. An Intel report shows that 52% of respondents have tracked a malware infection to a SaaS application, so taking precautions when switching your infrastructure and maintaining that security is key to your success.
Is The Cloud Free From Risk?
The cloud is safer, but it is not free from risk. You are no longer in full control of how and where your data is being held. Effectively, you’re handing that responsibility over to another company. This is why doing your research and finding a company you can trust is imperative. This point becomes even more important if you are handling highly sensitive data, such as medical records. The company storing your data must be trustworthy, as your data is the lifeblood of your business. Losing it will mean downtime, a substantial amount of money lost, and perhaps even a bad reputation and lost customers.
It’s important to note that ‘the cloud’ is still a physical server; it’s simply located elsewhere. This is still a risk of your data being lost, wiped, or stolen, even if it is less of a risk. Although all businesses should be thinking about moving their infrastructure to the cloud, it does not give you a guarantee that your data will never go missing. For this reason it’s imperative you go with a company you trust.
Why Is Data Safer On The Cloud?
There are many reasons that data can be safer when stored on the cloud. For example, it’s a fact that most major data breaches tend to occur mostly against companies within their own internal servers, rather than companies that are utilising cloud storage services. Things like outdated systems also tend to be one of the major causes of data breaches. For these reasons, working with a trustworthy, high quality cloud storage provider will nearly always carry fewer risks than using your own server in-house.
Let’s take a quick look at other reasons why data tends to be safer on the cloud.
Redundancy
A cloud service will usually store at least three copies of each piece of data, which are all kept in different places. In order to lose the data, the three copies will need to disappear at exactly the same time. Three separate hard drive failures at the same time are a very rare occurrence. In most cases, even in the rare case this does happen, data can be restored in a couple of days.
Security
As long as you look after your password, you will be the only person who can access the files on the cloud. They will be sitting on hard drives on machines in physically secure data centres, remote from where you do business. The biggest danger is how you keep your local machine safe.
Safe Sharing
If you’d like to allow others to look at your data, or allow them to edit it, then they can. You don’t need to make a copy of the file. Safe sharing is a useful feature from trustworthy cloud storage providers.
Conclusion: Is The Cloud Safer For Your Business?
Although the cloud still carries a small element of risk, it is still much safer for your business. All you need to do to keep your data safe by selecting a trustworthy cloud service provider and keeping your passwords strong and secure. You can also reduce risk by making sure only certain, trustworthy keyholders also have access to the data – not everybody in your business needs to know the details or be able to access it. Providing you do this, moving your data to the cloud will be one of the smartest, most cost effective decisions that you can make. You no longer need to panic about theft, natural disasters, or downtime.
Moving to the cloud is something every business should be doing in 2019 for security.
