Public Cloud Computing: Right For Your Business, but Not For Jennifer Lawrence

How your business chooses to store its data is a major decision. You can implement a private cloud computing model and spend more on equipment and maintenance than you need to, or you can save money with a public cloud. Although, in light of the recent celebrity-nude-photo-iCloud hack, is the public cloud secure enough to host your company's data? Let's address this concern and explore your cloud computing options.

Having a Private Cloud is a Major Expense
A private cloud infrastructure isn't an easy thing to implement, and if your company already has a functioning IT network, it can be challenging to switch it up. Only a trained IT specialist should attempt to add cloud software and hardware to your existing infrastructure. InfoWorld explains this process:

Bending your existing infrastructure to accommodate a vast private cloud, not to mention migrating the lion's share of legacy applications to that cloud, is a losing proposition. Ultimately, building a private cloud demands replacing old systems with new ones. That can be accomplished step by step, as new initiatives -- particularly those supporting customer engagement -- demand cloud-like infrastructure. In addition, as legacy systems become too awkward and expensive to maintain, you can replace them with modern cloud solutions.

The Public Cloud Computing Model is the Money-Saving Choice
This increasing trend in public cloud computing has led to lower utilization costs and great competition between cloud providers. Businesses now find public cloud computing much more affordable, especially compared to five years ago. Unlike other necessary services - fuel, utilities, food, rent, you name it - cloud data hosting has grown cheaper to integrate into your company.

Compared to the public cloud, it can be far more expensive to buy the necessary equipment and integrate a private cloud into your IT infrastructure. The public cloud is particularly valuable to startups, as they likely don't have the funds for a full-fledged private cloud, though established companies can still find the lesser costs savory. In fact, the public cloud is so cost-effective that these startups opt to completely integrate their practices with it in order to save the hassle of of setting up their own infrastructure.

For perceived security reasons, many businesses would like to have their own private cloud, but before you decide to drop everything and break the ground with a private cloud infrastructure, you should think about the benefits that a public cloud can provide. Preferred is a cloud service provider that can host and manage all of your data on our public cloud offering.

Leaked Pictures of Celebrities' Private Parts Raise Public Cloud Privacy Concerns
Despite the public cloud's affordability and convenience, there are still many businesses that have reservations about storing their sensitive data off-site. These concerns were intensified last weekend when Apple's public cloud offering, the iCloud, was breached and personal data (primarily nude photos) of more than a half-dozen A-list actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian, and more, were stolen and distributed over the Internet.

There's a couple of points to make here in favor of utilizing the public cloud for your business. First off, thanks to celebrity gossip publications, photos like these are in high demand and can lead to a big pay day for a hacker. It's unlikely that TMZ has a bounty on your company's files. Secondly, it's widely believed that these breaches could have been prevented if these unfortunate celebrities were more careful and enacted best security practices. The Washington Post explains:

Security experts point out that if cloud storage was indeed the source of the photos, an easy security measure might have saved celebrities a lot of embarrassment. Most cloud services, including Apple's, offer an extra safeguard known as "two-factor authentication," which requires users to verify their identities in a two-step process using different passwords.

Therefore, don't let a frontpage celebrity-gossip story like this keep your business from taking advantage of cloud computing. It's a wonderful tool that can save your business lots of money.

The Hybrid Cloud is a Popular Option Too
However, a private cloud computing model is still a valid option for your business, and we can help your company with this too. It's important to keep in mind that every business has different data needs. For most companies, utilizing a variation of both the public and private cloud (a hybrid cloud) is the best bet. In fact, according to a survey of IT professionals by RightScale, it's the direction that most businesses are moving toward. They say that "the biggest slice of respondents - 58 percent - are not relying on public or private cloud alone, but a mix of both."

Preferred has several secure cloud solutions for your business to consider. Give us a call at 708-781-7110 for more information.