5 popular cloud myths – are they true?

09.05.2019 2,027 12

Martin Deshev

The cloud is well established as a major force in the world of IT. Companies of all sizes and industries are starting to use cloud services a lot more. Yet, there are still some questions and worries about this technology. Some might be legitimate, but others are just plain wrong.

So, with that in mind, let’s check out a few popular cloud computing myths and see whether they are true or not. Some of them might seem obvious, but they still raise questions to this day.

The cloud means you have less control

You’ve all heard it before. “Uploading my company data to a remote server? I don’t want someone else to roam around my stuff somewhere. And what if it shuts down?”

On the surface some of that does seem like a legitimate worry. In reality, data centers generally are much better equipped than the vast majority of corporations. So, when there are failures, they will be resolved a lot faster. Plus, even if you use a shared server, your data is still only accessible to you and anyone who you grant access to.

It’s too expensive

Yes, using cloud services can get quite expensive. However, it all depends on the services you subscribe for and the resources you use. So, costs can vary and things can indeed be expensive if you don’t take the time to actually manage your expenses. Most services offer a pay-as-you-go option and the ability to upgrade and downgrade at any time as needed.

This is where the increased savings come from. This way you don’t need to buy much more expensive servers for the 30% of high load times. Instead, you can only pay extra when you do need that additional power. Taking advantage of the cloud scalability can be a big boost.

It’s too much of a hassle

“Sure, it sounds good, but it would be too much of a hassle to migrate everything, train employees and then maintain the thing” – another popular phrase. These days cloud services are very flexible, so you can only move part of your data, servers or apps to the cloud and still use your on-site configurations as well. Plus, providers often offer additional help with the migration process and the setting up. This is handy for smaller businesses which don’t have big IT teams.

The cloud is not secure enough

“You don’t know what goes in on the data center”, some could say. Actually, data centers have to meet very strict requirements in order to get certifications and approval. All down to the last detail like how wide the doors should be and so on. They are much more secure than anything any small and medium business (and quite a big number of enterprises) can offer for its own cybersecurity.

Plus, data centers have dedicated teams of professionals to keep the data safe. They also constantly improve their security and offer plenty of backup options. Of course, there’s no 100% safe guarantee, but it’s a lot safer than a typical SMB on-site setup.

You set it up once and forget about it

Well, yes and no. You can do that, but it’s not a good idea. You need to be on top of what’s going on. The cloud changes and develops on a nearly constant basis. New services pop up all the time and the multi-cloud strategy becomes more and more popular.

Still, it’s not that difficult to perform cloud management. The services also have useful tools to help with that. Once you get the hang of it, it will be very easy.

Bonus: Using the cloud equals a digital transformation of your company

Digital transformation is a big topic and a bit confusing. For many companies it means simply transferring your business to the digital world. Therefore, using a cloud service means a digitally transformed business. Not quite. The cloud is definitely an important tool for the digital transformation, but it’s not the end-all-be-all of digital transformation.