Cloud computing is a hot topic at the moment, and for good reason. With it, companies have the potential to gain competitive advantages that could make a real difference to business performance – whether shorter time to market, services that can be quickly turned up or down, or reduced upfront IT costs, to name but a few.
Yet despite its continued evolution, concerns remain. Is cloud computing secure? Will it provide reliable availability? Can an organization maintain control over business-critical systems and data that exist in the cloud? In short, is it an enterprise-ready solution that can deliver on all the hype?
Cloud computing helps IT become more responsive to the pace and dynamic nature of business. New applications can be approved and deployed more quickly, making it easier to satisfy the needs of business managers throughout the organization. And the financial case is radically altered – there is no need for large capital outlays to launch new applications.
Transitioning from a capital expense model to an operational expense model reduces financial risk to monthly increments and provides a higher degree of flexibility to manage expenses over time. If the market slows, organizations aren’t locked into expenses their budgets can no longer support. If applications produce disappointing results, an enterprise can pursue a different direction without having to abandon expensive on-premises infrastructure.
The usual concerns cited are security, availability, and control. And it’s true that an effective cloud computing strategy must incorporate these factors, if it is to drive business success.
cloud computing
These concerns must be adequately addressed. Industry standards and regulations such as HIPAA, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act, and the Statement on Auditing Standards 70 have very defined and measurable security requirements. For cloud computing to be viable, providers must adhere to the same standards and controls that an organization would impose in house.