Cloud Myths

For years, the virtues of the public cloud have been extolled from the highest mountaintops across all industries. It seems that most businesses have heeded the advice take advantage of what the cloud has to offer.

News reports state that nearly 80 percent of businesses in their study are now using public cloud. But that still leaves more than 20 percent of businesses that are not availing themselves of its benefits.

Some may look upon this with a certain level of shock, given how prominent the push to add cloud into enterprise environments has been. How did these businesses resist the siren call of the cloud?

Some intelligent data professionals who are aware of the cloud's benefits are encountering hurdles that have stunted their enthusiasm or blocked their ability to move to the cloud at all. But the cloud landscape has changed from what it once was. Some of these hurdles have been mitigated or eliminated completely.

Fear of hidden fees

One of the most prominent concerns as of late has been cloud pricing's potential to spiral out of control. Executives and employees alike have heard horror stories from friends and colleagues about being surprised by an unexpectedly high (or 'astronomical,' depending on the vendor) cloud bill, in many cases due to exorbitant data movement fees. These fees have the potential to offset the attractively low capital expenditure associated with cloud services.

However, there is good news. Not all cloud databases and data warehouses charge data movement fees. If you or others in your business have been avoiding the cloud because of unpredictable fees, it may be time to take another look with an eye toward solutions with upfront and transparent pricing.

Lack of integration and skills

Even if the price is right, the cloud still needs to be the right fit for the organization. Cloud isn't an all-or-nothing decision and should often be integrated as part of a hybrid approach that fits the unique needs of the business. That means a database that's on the cloud should work well with the broader, existing data environment and not require users to undertake an undue amount of additional skill building or costly new hires. While the perfect fit may not always be possible, there are a number of ways to help increase its likelihood.

Choosing cloud technologies that are built on the same technology as their on-premises counterparts and share a common analytic engine will help make transferring workloads between deployments easier.

Companies will benefit from choosing cloud solutions which can integrate well with the open source or proprietary solutions they're already using through techniques such as data federation. In this way, they avoid a complete overhaul of their environment and retain the ability to continue using the skills with which they are already familiar. This makes adding cloud capabilities much more palatable, representing a manageable addition rather than a wholesale shift in how business is done.

Security concerns and regulatory requirements

Concern over cloud security has also held some businesses back from moving their data to the cloud. This is understandable given the regulatory atmosphere in many industries and the level of publicity that any security failure receives. However, those concerns are rapidly becoming outdated.

Having cloud and on-premises solutions working together bolstered security rather than harmed it. In addition, since the inception of cloud solutions, vendors have worked hard to address the increasingly complex regulatory environment. Cloud options designed to help meet current regulatory requirements exist and are worth seeking out if that has been one of the considerations holding your organization back.