Are SMBs still afraid of moving to the cloud?
We all know that since cloud computing services are available, almost every organization, regardless of its size, at least thought about migrating to the cloud. When analyzing a solution this complex, there are many aspects to understand and plan, including costs, efficiency, technology, resources and so on. But one of the biggest worries was and still is security, and this is one of the main reason why SMBs are still avoiding to move to the cloud.
Cloud services give SMBs the chance to compete with large businesses by providing them the most advanced technology. Despite this great advantage, cloud is more an exception than the rule for the medium-sized businesses. So let’s see why exactly are SMBs still afraid of moving to the cloud.
Security
As we already established, security is one of the biggest fears for SMBs when discussing about migrating to the cloud. Small businesses often worry about viruses in cyberspace, about data-stealing malware or about their data being put in serious and immediate danger when accessed from personal devices that are not properly configured. The fact is that cloud security is nowadays better than ever before and there are many levels of security that protect data.
Lack of information
In many cases, professionals lack the information and education about cloud. Mainly, they don’t want to take a risk and see what happens with the business. And indeed, maybe that is not the best option. But researching would help alleviate this kind of situation. The IT professionals should be informed on the kind of cloud services that exist in the market and how these can help and improve the processes and activities of the company.
Failure of the cloud service provider
Cloud is built on Physical hardware and at some point Physical hardware goes down. Solid enterprise providers add redundancy into their cloud deployments and SMB’s also have the option of deploying a hot failover in another geographical location that would insure business continuity even when a catastrophic event occurs.
Cost efficiency
Many SMBs fear they will need to invest more resources when using the cloud. Choosing the right cloud – public, private or hybrid – will help the company avoid spending more than necessary. Usually public cloud is less expensive in the setup phase and allows the business to pay for what they use.
Do you happen to run or be part of a small or medium sized business? Have you implemented cloud services? What were the biggest fears regarding this process and how did the organization manage to overcome them?
Photo credits: Mark Nye
