Cloud computing has become one of the most utilized technologies in business today, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. It makes it possible for nearly any business to acquire advanced technologies that they could not afford previously, and use them to level the playing field with larger, more capital-rich companies. This month we thought we’d talk a little bit about how moving to the cloud can benefit you and your business.
Cloud computing has been touted as one of the most innovative and important technologies for smaller businesses as they look to compete with larger organizations. How it makes this possible is by offering dynamic computing environments that can help bring these smaller businesses into the information age without saddling them with massive infrastructure costs while doing so. That’s not to say that the cloud is cheap by any means.
This month we will discuss how cloud computing is a great option for nearly any type of business.
Why Should We Choose the Cloud?
There are many reasons why your business could choose cloud computing over traditional methods. One of the most cited reasons is cost. Cloud computing is billed differently than the traditional lease where you buy your technology and then set it up and manage it. Many cloud resources are hosted by service providers that host and manage the underlying technology themselves, effectively removing that responsibility from your IT administrator. This cost is distributed throughout the per-user or per-GB cost of the cloud service. So today, any business can get the tools they need via cloud computing. This gives organizations options they never had before.
Cloud Concerns
With more businesses committing to cloud computing every day, some of the underlying issues that plague cloud deployment are being ignored. The first consideration that is overlooked is that many times businesses want control over how their IT is managed. With cloud providers managing their own infrastructure and effectively renting out storage and computing to customers, this can be problematic for some businesses. You also need to concern yourself with the security of your data. While cloud computing companies have done a marvelous job of improving the security of their products, all data is transmitted over an Internet connection so organizations are still taking on more risk.
How to Improve Your Cloud Management
Let’s take a look at a couple of ways that any organization can improve the ways they manage their cloud-based resources.
Cloud Monitoring
Like any other part of your IT infrastructure, if you consistently monitor your cloud resources, you will know that you are getting what you pay for. When you sign up for a cloud account, you have a service agreement and if you monitor your cloud accounts, you will know that they are living up to their end of the agreement. Furthermore, you’ll know to cancel accounts that aren’t actively being used.
Workload Automation
One of the more important IT management tools to come along in quite some time is called workload management. It is effectively the way that most organizations are able to manage their cloud computing resources. Workload management allows organization and IT administrators additional flexibility to integrate cloud resources into their IT infrastructure if they still choose to host a lot of their more mission-critical IT. When you hear about businesses using “hybrid cloud” resources, workload automation is what makes that possible. It can also provide IT administrators with baseline metrics about organizational computing needs and help them make decisions on how best to organize and manage workloads.
At North Central Technologies, we can help your organization get the technology support it needs to reduce downtime and meet its goals using cloud resources. Give us a call today at 978-798-6805 to learn more about how we can help.
