Cloud services provide companies with such significant benefits that there is often no return to on-premises software after you have had your taste of the cloud. Every organisation should be interested in the benefits and risks of cloud services. However, the deployment of cloud services involves many misconceptions that I will set straight below.
Cloud services have been growing for a long time: AWS started to provide public cloud services in 2002, followed by Google Cloud in 2008 and Azure in 2010. It appears that companies will sooner or later transfer a large part of their IT solutions to a public or private cloud.
This is why it is important to set straight a few common misconceptions about cloud services. Next, I will discuss the Top 3 myths I have run into as a cloud architect.
Myth 1: Cloud services are guaranteed to save money
This is often the case. Cloud services have highly competitive prices, while cost-effectiveness still requires careful planning. It is important to recognise where savings come from.
Those who have tried cloud services on a smaller scale know that the costs of cloud services can be really low. Different web apps or a POC solution for data management can be built, or reporting tools for an entire team can be offered with a monthly budget of just EUR 50–200.
What if workloads or the number of users are multiplied by 1,000? Will monthly costs still be low in relation to business benefits? Not necessarily. It is the task of a skilled designer to build an architecture that makes full use of the elasticity of a cloud. Resources need to be scaled up or down when necessary. Similarly, resources need to be created and removed in accordance with actual needs. Cloud services are guaranteed to save money as long as solutions have been designed properly.
Myth 2: Cloud migrations are difficult and expensive
Often, a leap to cloud services is taken when new applications are built, because migrations are considered to be challenging. This is then followed by migrations in companies’ own server rooms.
But are cloud migrations really difficult and expensive? Modern architecture and the goals of migrations largely determine what kinds of challenge need to be resolved. Of course, migrations involve risks.
Often, not all the power of a cloud can be unleashed if the cloud is only seen as a resource. A good overall architecture and cloud strategy help to build a proper ecosystem and digital business platform. In addition, good planning helps to prevent cloud solutions from being formed of individual fragments or silos that are slow and expensive to integrate.
Myth 3: Information security in cloud services is worse than in a physical server
Fear of a lack of information security is often the main reason organisations have not taken the leap towards cloud services.
It is important to understand that the business models of public cloud service providers depend heavily on information security. AWS, Microsoft and Google have invested millions of dollars in technologies to keep their cloud platforms safe and secure. Not many organisations have as massive compliance and certificate requirements as public cloud platforms.
The problem is often that companies are unable to see how shared responsibilities work between themselves and the cloud platform they are using. This is why some are afraid of losing control of information security if their solutions are transferred to a cloud. It is important to understand how responsibilities between companies using a cloud and cloud service providers are divided in different service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).
A public cloud does offer excellent information security tools, while companies are responsible for the identification of threats and the control of access rights. Ensuring the level of information security in cloud services calls for competent planning.
Where can companies get help from?
Siili’s passionate cloud specialists are happy to help. We are skilled in overall architecture and have thorough technological expertise (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud and IBM Cloud). We also help companies to develop their own competence in different technologies by offering AWS and Azure Camp packages.
Written by
Ken Ikeda