10 Issues To Consider When Switching To Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is very different from conventional forms of outsourcing. Conventional outsourcing involves either storing your server in someone else's data centre or having a service provider who manages your devices for you. Both methods mean that you know precisely where your data is, where your servers are stored, and what resources you have access to.

With cloud computing this is not the case. Your data is kept in virtual 'cloud' maintained by a range of virtual servers. This new practice comes with a several privacy and security issues. Compliance, auditing, and other complex legal issues have had to be re-evaluated. It will also affect your risk management practices.

There are many benefits to cloud computing. It is greener, more efficient, faster, and less expensive than its alternatives.

It will free you from worries about up keeping and updating your IT infrastructure and allow you to concentrate on the far more important task of running your business. To help you fully understand the process, the following is a checklist of concerns and issues that you should consider when evaluating a cloud service:

Step 1: Are Your Applications Ready?

The more up to date an application is, the more it can benefit from cloud computing. Some older applications may not be ideally suited to the technology. It is a good idea to carry out an assessment of your key applications to determine whether they are ready to run on the cloud. Ask questions like; is the application already web-based? Will cloud-based architecture benefit it? Will the present application scale up in the cloud? Do this in relation to potential suppliers so that you can gauge each supplier's suitability, i.e.  linux virtual private server or public cloud.

Comments

[thegeeke]

Very well written, but I would take the link in step 1 out. I have been saying this ever since cloud computing started becoming popular. Aside from the link in step 1 (I wouldn't use it because it is too biased and some people could view it as spam) I think this ible should have been featured... I'm sad it wasn't. Keep up the good work.

[Computothought]

After what happened at Megaupload, I would be hesitant to use a cloud server.