fbpx

At One With The Clouds

Cloud computing services have been in considerable demand and gaining serious traction before anyone in the West have heard a single “COVID” peep. With so many businesses switching to a remote model, cloud storage has become an essential part of their transition.

Whether editing a document using multiple devices or sharing complex projects with an entire team. Cloud Storage has impacted technology in an incredible way.

Looking at the Forbes 2018 study, 77% of companies have dabbled in the cloud, keeping different infrastructure parts available on-demand elsewhere.  This is understandable as most people are looking for more efficient, faster and convenient ways of handling their data.

But what does this mean for the future? What if everything becomes cloud-based? We’re not just talking about applications and storage, but also hardware, software, security and even networks. The Cloud has been with us for awhile now. It was the first step in making IT more accessible to business and removing some of the traditional barriers to entry.

Moving to the cloud is now a well-established practice for many companies and it continues to evolve. The next step is for businesses to move away from isolated islands of computing and storage. Sharing data has become remarkably easy. Having the ability to share localized files to a cloud while simultaneously keeping them within an arms reach.

The trend is already happening and, coming back to the ol’ coronavirus “friend”, the same services have skyrocketed in popularity due to the virus’ presence. According to the 2020 survey from Deloitte, as many as 90% of the survey’s participants have put cloud computing services among the biggest enablers on the company’s outsourcing journey. As you can imagine, without these third-party online storage vendors, multiple multiple terabyte-sized projects overseas could not have been easy. 

The benefits of cloud computing go way beyond mere storage, though that’s an important one. Services such as Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services provide the backbone for a significant portion of the Internet. File sharing and general storage aside, cloud computing services provide the kind of flexibility and scalability that wouldn’t be possible without them. Ditch these services and quick and easy global access to applications and resources becomes practically impossible. Plus, even the most expensive among them are much more affordable than building an internal infrastructure.

Key Components Of Cloud Storage

  1. Recovery: Crashed or corrupted hard drive? By Restoring, Recovering, or Simply backing up files, online storage has eliminated the fear of data loss.
  2. Updating: Stored files will be updated on all your devices and potentially for an entire company.
  3. Cost Effectiveness: Rather than buying or creating a local storage system. Cloud storage uses external hardware to store your files at a fraction of the price.
  4. Security: Access to your account, documents, or files is still all within your control.

With the demand for data solutions rising every year it comes as no surprise that energy consumption is a hot topic on everyone’s radar. Cloud based storage companies have more efficient data centers, and use fewer servers than any localized data infrastructure. 

The Coming decade will almost certainly demand a great increase in storage capabilities for most of the world and shifting to cloud infrastructure maybe even significantly lower our environmental impact. A 2013 Berkeley Lab (Google Funded) research paper shows that cloud storage has the potential to reduce energy consumption per application by 87% in the US. Collectively being able to reduce the entire US consumption of energy by 23 Billion kW per year. This is the Equivalent to the entire City of Los Angeles’s energy usage.

Is there any reason to believe that, pandemic or not, these cloud computing services’ popularity will dwindle anytime soon? Long story short – there isn’t. Experts project that these services will see nothing but blue skies and fluffy white clouds (pun intended) in the future. In the meantime, they will continue improving collaboration between local and remote teams and putting SMEs on THE map. 

Leaving Security In MSPs’ Hands

As we move further into the 21st century, more and more businesses are making the switch to cloud-based systems. There are many reasons for this trend, but perhaps the most significant is the increased cyber security that comes with a cloud-based system.

In fact, they can actually make your business more secure. Cloud-based businesses have less need for on-premises data centers, which are often the target of cyberattacks. Cloud services are also constantly updated with the latest security features, which helps to protect your data.

On-premises software often falls behind on security updates, which can leave your data vulnerable to attack. Cloud services can also offer better access control than localized security.

The ‘rona pandemic has ushered a straight-up digital revolution. Due to its effect, many businesses had to make drastic adjustments, ditching long-term (three to five years) transformation plans and changing within months. And, as you would expect, the digital shift has left the once traditional businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Wondering why? 

‘Cause since the coronavirus pandemic has loomed upon us, cybercriminals have picked up the slack. Asking the same decision-makers, 80% admit that cybersecurity attacks have basically become an everyday norm. And, as these people’s companies scaled the digital transformation initiatives, so did the cybersecurity threats. 

There are layers to it. The business and development facets come without saying, but there is also employee training, the above-mentioned cloud services, business continuity, as well as business continuity. The people in charge want to upgrade all of these layers’ security levels, hence the MSPs’ rise in popularity. This not only leaves the protection  of your data in the hands of a life long professional, but it eliminates the need to create complex security systems for your business.

What’s more, 57% of the surveyed’ leaders are planning on dropping more than 40% of their companies’ entire budget toward improving cybersecurity. And, more often than not, that means outsourcing this task to MSPs. The steps that these leaders are considering include acquiring threat intelligence tools, bot detection services, and active vulnerability scanning from managed service providers. 

Cloud storage is becoming a more popular option for businesses of all sizes. The benefits are incredible with reduced load on the business itself for creating infrastructure, easier access to information and data, and increased security. Moving to a cloud-based system can help businesses optimize their resources, while also ensuring that their data is safe and secure. And by working with MSPs, businesses can be sure that they are getting the most out of their resources.