Are you asking the right questions when considering cloud storage?

With the device landscape becoming more complex in recent years, organisations have needed to adapt their IT infrastructure to keep up with their employees and customers. Organisations now need to implement solutions that will now only back up corporate data, but also makes sure that this data is available remotely in order for employees to work anywhere and from any device. This is why so many turn to cloud. Cloud-based solutions offer flexibility and quite often better efficiency. But cloud comes in many guises, such as private, public and hybrid clouds. And beyond that, there are also multiple cloud storage models to choose from.

Although storage has been around for a while, organisations have only recently started to think differently about it, and consider using Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in the cloud, rather than having just a box standard storage solution. IaaS enables employees and clients to access the data through the cloud anywhere they may choose and provides companies with greater flexibility for certain IT services. This is especially important with the prevalence of public clouds on the rise. However, cloud storage also brings risks, such as the security access of data, which organisations need to consider. All of this begs the question, how do you decide what cloud storage model is right for your business?

The first step is to ask the right questions before choosing a solution. In fact, this is critical if you hope to find a good cloud storage fit for your organisation.

The first question you ask should be, “how secure is my current storage solution?” Data security is after all one of the most important issues that IT managers should be considering. The right cloud storage solution can transform the business and the security of data, by ensuring that even when the physical solution becomes corrupted, data is protected and the business keeps on going.

Next, IT managers need to ask themselves about costs. “How much am I willing to spend?” “What will the actual cost be?” “Will there be hidden costs?” IT managers need to consider that there could be extra costs when a disaster occurs. And costs do not necessarily have to be financial, as it could be time costs that might be lost whilst data is being restored, with the risk of businesses experiencing loss of trading by up to 36-48 hours. Because of this, it is vital for IT managers to understand what they get when purchasing storage and how quickly they can get their data back.
Finally, IT managers need to ask where their data is being held and what the information laws are of that country. Once data is situated in a different country, then that country has the right to look and review that data as much as they like. Data and confidential information is the lifeblood of any organisation, and without it, organisations cannot function properly. If other countries can access an organisation’s data, how safe and secure will that data remain?

As the amount of devices used in the workplace continues to diversify, IT managers need to be investing in the right cloud storage solution for them. Although storage ensures flexibility of IT services, it also comes with risks. So IT managers need to be asking the right questions to find not only the right cloud storage solution for them, but also meet the needs of today’s mobile workforce.