Is Cloud storage safe?

So you are in need of a new server, or you are looking at moving to the cloud. We at Asquick IT are happy to talk you through the options and give you an answer out of our own experience on the question: “Is cloud storage safe?”

Onsite or Cloud: where to store my data?

An mounting number of companies, from small to enterprise level are moving their it servers and data storage from physical on site IT systems to a cloud based solution. There are multiple ways of looking at “cloud”. In our opinion, cloud is nothing more than running your applications (programs like Word and Excell, or more specific business applications) on a server that is not located in one of your offices. You can run this as SAAS: software as a service where you “lease” the application, to just having your own servers setup in a data centre and you use your keyboard mouse and screen to access your whole companies IT through a secure private connection or a simple internet browser.

So what are the advantages of still having your own server?

First: you have control of everything: your files on your harddrive in the building you own or lease. With a proper setup security monitoring and backup system that has the data offsite, there is not a very high chance of someone getting access. Stats show that the weakest link generally is the human factor: employees not using secure passwords or writing down passwords for others to find. This same problem can occur on the cloud.
Also to have a smooth work environment you need quite a “large” internet connection to transfer and work with large files. We see that especially engineering companies with drawing systems and modelling systems, film and photo editing companies and other large data consumers need an onsite server to enable fast file transfers.
If you have your own backup power you can keep working during a power failure, and you are not completely dependent on an internet connection in case of an internet failure.

And what is the disadvantage of having an in house server vs. a cloud based one?

Well, most cloud based solutions give you an easy upgrade path. So you don’t have to plan too much for your growth: you just add data and processing speed as you go. You don’t have to worry about mechanical failures or data issues because your cloud provider will take care of that if you have paid for that service. Keep in mind that you will still have to define your requirements with regards to uptime, backup and data retention. The higher the requirements, the higher the price.
There are three major disadvantages to traditional file servers and they are largely responsible for driving businesses to the cloud. First, file servers can be vulnerable to physical threats such as fires, floods and other natural disasters. Colocation – where your server is moved to a dedicated data centre – can reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the risk of irretrievable data loss.

So why would I move to the cloud?

Cloud-based solutions generally can reduce cost of onsite support and and IT personnel costs. The IT infrastructure costs are defined and come as a monthly fee, making budgeting easy and predictable. There are no unforeseen hardware failures to take into account.If you are a fast growing company, cloud based infrastructure is mostly very scalable, so again here the cost will be in line with the growth. Very easy to predict.

So what are my main risks by going Cloud?

Your main risks are still your employees: Even with the tightest security, hackers are trying to get into your systems, cloud based or physical. The good thing is that the cloud service providers are aware and as part of there global presence have much more power to fight the bad boys. They have multiple server centers spread over different locations. All of these data centers have multiple layers of security and will almost seamlessly switch if there is an outage in the center you use.

So If Cloud storage is Safe, is it suitable for my business?

Every business is unique. And when for most businesses the could might be the best solution, we at Asquick IT can help you decide on “To Cloud, or not to Cloud”.
So give us a call: we will be happy to discuss your specific situation and determine the best approach for your business applications.

If Cloud is the best solutions we will be happy to assist you with the configuration of your cloud services.