The cloud cannot be all things to all businesses. A mixed approach to the cloud, with the choices afforded by software plus services, is a much more flexible and realistic scenario for most organisations. While many advocate the cloud, there is a desire among many customers to avoid a technology ultimatum. So it is smart to focus on what customers want, and their readiness to embrace the cloud for various applications in the context of their circumstances, instead of forcing a decision to move everything to the cloud.
We are experiencing a disruptive moment in the history of technology, with the expansion of the role of the internet and the advent of cloud-based computing. The global economic turmoil has affected the evolution of the cloud too, driving a faster rate of adoption with demand for less expensive cloud services that benefit from the economies of scale. This gives decision-makers more reasons to look for choice and flexibility in a solution, and to make a thoughtful decision about long-term success before moving to the cloud.
Many companies are switching to cloud computing and this trend is set to rise. However, a sizable number of companies are shifting some of their data to a private environment. A survey found that more than a third of companies opted to make that transition in 2017, with 36 percent of cloud-based organizations hosting their computing platform in a private cloud. An example of this can be DropBox, which repatriated most of its operations from the public cloud to data centers providing colocation services.
Another known issue which people believe is a disadvantage of cloud computing is security. The reason is not without merit. Many companies have left cloud computing citing security as a serious matter. There have been cases involving serious data leaks involving cloud providers. For example, in 2018 AWS error, exposed business-critical information involving over 31,000 systems for the company GoDaddy.
Reliability and data availability is crucial to the success of any organization. Server downtime can cripple business operations, leading to reduced productivity, lost opportunities, and lasting brand damage. Even established cloud providers do not provide 100% reliability. For example, Amazon Web Services on which many services rely and any crashes or outages can take out all those services.
