The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make when Migrating to the Cloud

While cloud computing is highly efficient in itself, businesses fail to use half of this potential. This happens because businesses men are not ideally technicians who can decode the functioning of this seemingly simple technology. It is a specialized field best left in the hands of experts.

Like most businessmen, are you all set to move your enterprise to the cloud? Well, this may be a great decision in several ways. This virtual world has a lot in store for businesses, including optimal safety of your data and information, greater scalability, increased productivity, and cost savings!

However, moving ahead without proper directions or in haste won’t benefit your business much. You should either take cloud computing services from a reputed professional or keep certain things in mind before getting on to the cloud.

Make sure you don’t make the following mistakes when migrating:

1. Inadequate Research and Planning

Taking your business onto the cloud is going to be a big leap ahead. You are, after all, going to get a chance to cut expenses on hardware equipment, storage and its maintenance. To make it happen smoothly, however, it is important that you’ve done sufficient research and made a foolproof strategy beforehand!

Most companies don’t plan well when they have time and face lots of problems later on. For example, what will you do to survive if the cloud provider fails? Do you have a backup plan to retrieve your business data and information? It is always a better choice to be prepared instead of assuming that all cloud providers have policies in place in the event of a disaster!

Tip: since data security is the biggest concern at the time of your migration to the cloud, consider asking your provider whether they can ensure the safety of your infrastructure or not.

2. Choice of the Inappropriate Cloud Model/Package

How do you know you are not paying more than necessary for cloud computing services? Most companies don’t have a fair idea of how the cloud works and end up using an inappropriate cloud model. The worse, they still expect to get as good results as those who have spent lots of time to choose the right cloud providers are getting!

Remember, your choice of a cloud provider will always depend upon your unique business requirements, the level of flexibility you need, what kind of problems you are facing, and, of course, your budget.

Tip: Keep both short and long-term benefits of professional cloud services and you’ll automatically find the right provider.

3. No or Insufficient Compliance with Privacy Laws

Every company is subject to law and regulations that are associated with the privacy or safety of its clients, regardless of which industry it belongs to. That implies there must be certain limitations regarding what kind of cloud model you can use, what type of data you can store on it, and who can access this information and who not. Ignorance towards or inability to abide by such laws and privacy terms often causes companies huge losses, especially in terms of breeched contracts and fines.

Tip: Learn what kind of data you are going to store in the cloud and how much of it. Spend some time about laws and terms that may apply.

4. Inefficient Use of Bandwidth 

Frequency and speed are probably the biggest benefits when it comes to moving to the cloud. If you are an aware user, you can make the most of features like data compression and reduplication in order to make enormous savings. Used efficiently, these features can help achieve more bandwidth over time, leading to optimal uptime and productivity.

Companies often take all this lightly or are unable to develop their know-how of it, and end up being at loss. Contrary to that, smarter businesses are able to save on cloud bandwidth and get the benefits of hybrid cloud computing in the long run. This allows them to keep their replicated data with them all the times, making it possible to access it when required.

Tip: Since the cloud is about more flexibility and efficiency, make sure you are able to use available bandwidth as efficiently as possible.

Smart Ways to Improve Your Cloud Strategy

When moving to the cloud, make sure you have a foolproof strategy. Read on for tips that can help you develop one!

Are you planning to move your business to the cloud?

Although this may help your business in several ways, it is more important that you have a practical cloud strategy in place. If you already have one, you can take disaster recovery services to improve it.

Here are ways to strengthen you cloud strategy:

1. Align Your Business and IT

It is important that your business strategy incorporates cloud computing also. Here, you should keep in mind that your cloud computing strategy is not solely for the IT department. Involve your entire organization in order to generate more creativity and innovation. 

2. Know What to Move and What Not

No organization can move everything to the cloud. So, find out how much of your unique business can be shifted.

It won’t make sense to renew a contract if you have an obsolete package that is complicated and expensive to maintain. Carrying the same contracts forward might prove to be highly negative for your business.

3. Customize the Cloud for Your Unique Requirements

Your ultimate goal should be achieving improved safety, high availability of data and information and maximum uptime. Review your disaster recovery services and policies from the standpoint of ensuring optimal data integrity and cost-effectiveness. Make sure you give equal importance to data security and backup.

4. Re-Scrutinize Your Business Process

You should make the most of every opportunity offered by the cloud. Revise and update your business process regularly. For example, when you move to Google Apps, don’t keep sticking to your old, outdated processes with Google. Your purpose is to collaborate crucial documents rather than move them back and forth. 

Questions to Ask When Selecting a Cloud Service Provider

With an ever-increasing number of cloud service providers, choosing the right one has become a tough job. When in dilemma, consider asking the following questions to make an informed decision!

Shifting your enterprise to the cloud has lots of benefits, but it is important that you are able to find the right cloud service provider. After all, you need a professional who can handle everything from safety and maintenance to support and backup!

Ask the following questions to choose the right cloud computing company:

1. What’s the Range of Services that You Cover? 

Taking professional cloud computing services is important, but the real name of the game is to know your business requirements. Once you know what you want, you’ll be able to ask your selected company completely relevant questions. For example, if your type of business requires more than data storage, ask if they can provide the same.

2. What’s Your Costs Structure Like?

It is important that you pay only for what you are using. Make sure there are no heavy upfront costs, for a reputed cloud provider will never have then as a norm. Ask your provider to provide you with a detailed estimate of fees and all other charges well beforehand. Also, ask whether they charge monthly or annually or hourly.

3. What Will Be Offered in Terms of Security?

Ask what they will do to ensure complete safety of your stored data and how. Ask what safety measures they have in place and if they are updated regularly or not. For example, make sure your provider follows all data security and privacy standards.

4. What Happens If Data Is Lost?

Try to find out what your provider will do in case they lose or delete your important data. Ask what provisions they have in their SLA agreement that is meant to address data loss.  

Most Common Myths about Hybrid Cloud

Although the hybrid cloud may boost your business up, make sure you adopt it with your eyes wide open. Read on for common hybrid cloud myths busted!

While it is true that taking your business into the hybrid cloud is a great option, you can’t expect to make the most of it unless you are fully aware of what it is and how it works. In case if you are misinformed about the hybrid cloud, nothing other than real-world facts can help you out.

Here are some common hybrid cloud myths and practical facts to disapprove them:

1. Hybrid Cloud is an Appendix of Converged Infrastructure

This assumption is almost completely baseless because it overlooks automation, an unavoidable element of cloud deployment. Plus there is a lot of difference between infrastructure and cloud management!

Practically, a business can get most benefits of the cloud only by minimizing the management burden.

Hybrid cloud allows you to create a runbook of the entire process of burden reduction and respond with synopsis of policy enforcement tools and capacity planning.

2. Hybrid Cloud is for Enterprises 

In reality, it is a very flexible tool that anyone can use. It can even be run by small business units or individuals looking for agility, especially it is an SLA-indifferent model.

3. A Hybrid Cloud can be Created Using a Specific Homogeneous Standard

Technically, there is no specific environment for the creation of hybrid cloud. Different resources such as Azure, VMware and AWS use different formats, bandwidth and management tools.

4. Hybrid Cloud Doesn't Affect Operations

When it comes to having a simple and stable system that can boost production, private cloud is the best option. Likewise, public cloud is the best for complex and transient operations. The efficiency and impact of a hybrid cloud depends upon how you merge the two cloud types and execute them.  

Ensuring Maximum Security in Cloud, Big Data and Mobile

Today when the risk of cyber attacks and other disasters is higher than ever, Cloud computing is a boon for businesses. Read on to know why digital security is critical and how you can ensure it using the cloud, big data and mobile!  

One common concern that comes along with technological advancements is security!

It is true that digital security can make or break organizations in this age of cloud computing. So, it is important that you have a foolproof plan to proceed ahead as a business!

Here is how you can make the most of innovations such as big data, the cloud and mobile for maximum security:

Grab Cloud and Mobile Computing

All aware businessmen today have learnt or are learning to use different handy options available with the cloud and mobile for improved security. They can help you create opportunities to have a built-in security system for your unique business right from the beginning.

Using crowd-sourced threat intelligence to stay ahead of potential disasters and cyber attacks is the best example.

Make the Most of Analytic to Grow Smarter at Defense

No matter how much time and money you invest, there will always be security holes, small or big. However, it can be of great help to protect your confidential data by regularly keeping an eye on who’s accessing it and from where. Gather your team members, make coordinated plans, and respond to any attacks employing the right tools.

Expand with an Integrated Approach

You would never want to be an organization having a lethargic approach to security. Learn to cultivate a disciplined culture of watchfulness within your company. Ask for help from outside experts if the need be. More importantly, keep assessing your efficiency vs. industry standards! 

How to Evaluate Cloud Computing Services

The need for evaluation of cloud computing services is being felt by all and sundry. After using them for so long, isn’t it high time that they were clubbed and evaluated in detail.

There can be two ways to approach this issue. Either each and every service can be evaluated as a standalone or all can be clubbed together as an aggregate. At the end of day one can either be a cloud opponent or a believer.

Find a few tips to help make the evaluation process simpler –

1. Mobile Computing

The whole world is gong mobile and people who still choose to ignore mobile computing can only be termed as retards. During the evaluation, a provider that has an App and offers solutions through cloud is way ahead of someone who doesn’t.

2. Offering Real Time Solutions

The world has shifted to instant gratification. We don’t need to wait for the newspaper, for the news keeps popping via notifications in our devices. In the same way a cloud computing service should offer a business instant access to updated data in order to make snap decisions, even while on the move.

3. No Specification Of Hardware

We are discussing cloud computing service for a global platform here. There are certain services that brag about catering only to Apple users. A reliable cloud computing service should be able to cater to all data systems and all kinds of hardware. The evaluation criterion is not just that it works for all, but that it allows a user friendly interface too.

4. Expansion and Scalability

A good cloud service should be able to offer the same quality and superior service irrespective of the size of the business. They should also have scope for growth and be flexible enough to accommodate any expansion. 

Interesting Facts about Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become the buzz word in the last decade. It has loads of advantages but a few limitations too.

Cloud technology has huge benefits and potential. In the near future we can expect all companies to shift to it in order to cut costs and secure their data.

We have collected some interesting facts about cloud computing and they should be an eye opener for some –

1. Cloud computing and software as a service are two different things, although they can be used interchangeably.
2. The first company to embrace the cloud network was Amazon Elastic Compute
3. The infrastructure in the form of a service is actually the provision of hardware that is virtually hosting and telecommunicating.
4. The service as a platform is the provision for development of a specific tool kit in the virtual sense. On the basis of this service other applications can be built.
5. The software when termed as a service has provision to host hardware for telecommunications. And it does not necessarily need to be virtualized.
6. Tim Berners Lee is credited with the development of World Wide Web in early 90’s.
7. The idea and concept of cloud computing was conceived in the 60’s, but was more accepted when internet became popular.
8. Almost 70% businesses are either using an older version of cloud computing or looking for an updated one.
9. 90% of Microsoft’s budget is spent on making new computing strategies and products related to it.
10. Almost 80% companies have shown tremendous growth in just six months of switching to cloud.
11. In the US alone 2% of the total electricity consumption is by data centers.
12. On inspecting the speed by which companies are shifting to cloud computing, almost 45 new plans of coal will be required to power data centers, by 2015.
13. For every 600 smart phones or 120 tablets a new server is added for cloud computing. 

Hybrid Cloud—Why Choose It?

Hybrid clouds are similar to private clouds which work exclusively for a company and offer greater security than a public cloud.

Companies that have understood the exact benefits of cloud computing are using a strategic combination of public and private clouds to store their data. Companies worldwide are storing their sensitive data on hybrid clouds and shielding it with security measures.

Let’s look at the advantages of hybrid computing –

1. Can Be Custom Designed

Since hybrid clouds are designed for a specific company, their design can be developed to meet the specific needs of the company. Standard processes can be put in place that create harmony between different types of clouds.

2. Save the Server Cost

Hybrid clouds are perfect for heavy projects, those that an in house server may not be able to handle. Since the heavy data is uploaded on a hybrid cloud, the company saves the money it would have spent on investing in hardware like servers.

3. Easy Access from Anywhere

Hybrid clouds can be operated upon from any location and at any time. This enables the businesses to reach out to customers globally, without any restrictions. It is also convenient in case there is an outage in a particular region.

4. Cheaper Than a Hosting Provider That Is Managed Externally

When the cost of set up of a hybrid cloud is compared with that of an outsourced managed hosting service, it will be seen that the former is much cheaper in comparison.

5.  Very Little Scope for Errors

Worldwide companies are shifting to hybrid clouds in order to tap their potential and acquire maximum gains. The most impressive feature of a hybrid cloud is the fact that there is very little scope for errors and unmatched efficiency.

A Practical Guide to Cloud Computing Services

Cloud computing comes with its advantages and risks. Companies are strongly advised to study both before taking the plunge.

Cloud computing has made investments in data centers, and other hardware a thing of the past. Cloud computing can be broadly classified into two categories, a public cloud or a private cloud. The former is one that has no restrictions of demographics and limitation of storage space. A private cloud has demographic restrictions, but is much more reliable and secure.

Have at look at Cloud Computing services in detail –

1. The user must read the terms and conditions carefully before signing the Service agreement form the IT support company.

2. The CCS provider is liable to perform all the diligence and provide the best network it support, especially if it is in alliances with third parties.

3. In order for the cloud computing services to work smoothly, the company or user must get into an agreement for the Data Processor.

4. Have some knowledge of the data protection obligations in order to get a commitment from a business IT supports company.

5. Insist on keeping your data segregated form data of other companies. Ensure that there are terms and conditions governing this condition in the agreement.

6. Please have clarity on whether the data will be stored indefinitely or completely eradicated once the term of service ends.

7. Choose a CCS provider that has a system in place for regular screening for security and best practices.

8. A CCS provider will offer each client a vulnerability test or scan to prove their credibility.

Is the Future for Businesses in Hybrid Cloud?

The cloud is today an integral part of virtually every enterprise, small or big. Moving forward, since business requirements of organizations will evolve to the next level, it is but natural to ponder on the shape that the future cloud will acquire.

Most probably, it will take a hybrid form to efficiently meet ever-increasing requirements of different industries. Hybrid model, after all, has the best of both worlds!

Why the Hybrid Cloud Model?

One of the biggest problems with the current cloud model in use is insecurity; not all businesses can rely on public clouds for safety reasons and most companies can’t afford completely private storage solutions!

Practically, the only solution to this dilemma can be a hybrid cloud model. It can protect company networks and also reduce workload. Should anything go wrong with one part of the network, a hybrid cloud can still continue to deliver.

Here is what we can expect the future hybrid cloud model to have in store in terms of advantages:

More Flexibility & Performance: 

Today, while everyone wants to deploy economical cloud solutions, most industries have to employ expensive private cloud providers in order to abide by government
regulations. The financial sector is the best example. The worse, they can’t be sure of complete customer safety even after spending too much on professional cloud storage services.

When working together, private and public clouds involve either high deployment costs or safety risks; combining them solves both of the problems. Here, we need to engage with expert cloud providers who can build a flawless hybrid cloud model.

An Eco-Friendly Approach:

Given the high level of competition in the cloud market, cloud companies will need to market themselves as ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly’ to get a competitive edge over other providers in future. And none other than a hybrid cloud model can help a professional cloud company to establish its commitment to the ongoing green revolution. A hybrid cloud model uses lesser resources compared to the traditional ones.

Author Bio: 
A Singapore based IT consultant company APIXEL IT Services, has been operational for over 8 years from now. Apixel provides fixed price IT support services with unlimited packages that includes small business server setup, cloud solution configuration, network management and data security & theft prevention. The company also provides expert IT consultancy to SMEs in Singapore.

Increase in Cloud Service Usage Results

What You Should know about E-Signature Security in the Cloud

Compared to the Internet and other such technologies, cloud computing is yet to acquire a fully mature form but yes, it has indeed got some stringent data security protocols in place now. Cloud solutions are way more secure than they were until few years ago.

Find Out What Standards Are Being Followed?

E-signature security mechanism is one of the core elements of most security protocols that are enforced to keep the data (in transit as well as at rest) safe from unauthorized access or theft.

Just about any credible cloud computing company in Singapore or elsewhere will inform you that your e-signature service host must comply with the requirements of popular and established standards such as SOC2 (Service Organization Controls).

If you are choosing a cloud company that’s SOC2 compliant, you need worry a great deal about security as the company is almost certainly taking the required steps to ensure maximum data protection.  

Is the Service Provider Working With a Credible Cloud Company?

E-signature service providers either work with third party cloud companies (for IT infrastructure requirements) or have their own, in-house servers.

Small or mid sized companies that tie up with reputed companies for cloud infrastructure should be preferred over the ones relying on in-house servers.

Also, keep in mind that the e-signature service provider should have a proven mechanism in place for identification, authentication and attribution. At each and every signature location, the host should make use of digital signature technology to ensure maximum protection. Needless to mention, the host should be able to gather evidences along the entire audit trail for future reference. 

Author Bio: 
A Singapore based IT consultancy company, APIXEL IT Services, has been operational for over 8 years from now. Apixel provides fixed price IT support services with unlimited packages that includes small business server setup, cloud solution configuration, network management and data security & theft prevention. The company also provides expert IT consultancy to SMEs in Singapore.

Key Benefits of IaaS for SMBs

Since IaaS takes the entire burden of managing IT off the shoulders of SMBs, they are rapidly adapting to this technology. Read on to learn about the key benefits IaaS has for small and medium-sized businesses!

Keeping pace with industry innovations and developing an infrastructure that can respond efficiently to competitive pressures are probably the biggest challenges small and medium-sized businesses face. This is the reason many enterprises today are using managed IT support services. Professional cloud computing services and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are the best examples.

A unique and high-efficiency IT model, IaaS allows SMBs to outsource their IT equipment and function independently of costly in-house maintenance.

Here is why more and more SMBs are opting for IaaS.

Flexibility and Scalability

An obvious advantage of opting for the IaaS model is flexibility of operation. This flexibility allows SMBs to scale up and down faster, responding more efficiently to all the business requirements.

Today, every IaaS provider has the latest networking technologies and hi-tech servers to provide a better storage, as well as the ability to accommodate ever-changing customer requirements. This added flexibility helps businesses create, test and develop improved work environments and speed up scalability in time.

IaaS Is Relatively Cost-Effective

One of the biggest benefits of IaaS is lower infrastructure costs. Businesses taking professional cloud computing and IaaS services are no longer responsible for ensuring maximum uptime, replacing faulty/old equipment, or maintaining hardware and networking setups.

IaaS also makes organizations more competence to deal with abrupt business challenges, especially businesses with smaller IT infrastructures.

Professional Support for High Availability

Although every business understands that it is crucial to have a disaster recovery strategy in place, it is often highly expensive to employ the technology that it takes to successfully implement it. Here, enterprises operating from multiple locations face a lot of problems, for managing various aspects such as business continuity, technology and disaster recovery simultaneously isn’t some easy. 

Thankfully, IaaS helps businesses set up a foolproof and versatile disaster recuperation infrastructure and that too within the most reasonable costs. Executives can access such an infrastructure from virtually anywhere, at any point of time during crisis. 

A Quicker Time to Market

The overall business approach and efficiency of a business is testified by the availability of resources that can help improve its time to market. One of the reasons for this is the high levels of competition in the corporate sector.

With IaaS providing improved operational flexibility, all small and medium-sized businesses find it easier to reach the market more quickly. And when their products and services are making it to the market well in time, they can ensure faster business growth and more profits. 

A More Centralized Focus

When a business has to spend more time and money on setting up and maintaining IT infrastructure than growing the business, development in terms of expansion and higher revenues is almost impossible. A service-based IaaS model, on the other hand, allows businesses to concentrate on business development policies while the service provider takes care of the IT aspect.