Separating the myths from the facts of cloud computing is a good place to start when you are trying to figure out the best solution for your business.  Let’s take a look at five popular cloud computing myths and the realities behind them so that you can make intelligent and informed decisions about the cloud.

My Data Won’t Be Secure in the Cloud

Any public or private Cloud Hosting solution will ultimately be as secure as it is engineered to be.  So, ask your cloud provider what steps they have taken to ensure your data’s security.  Reputable cloud providers understand that any serious security breaches will receive publicity and ultimately damage their reputation.  This is why public cloud provider security is often better than that of even most large enterprise data centers.

When it comes to specific features to ask about, secure hosting companies will offer features such as a managed firewall, edge protection, intrusion detection and/or prevention, data encryption, multi-factor authentication, and other such security measures. These types of security measures may come standard or maybe add-on services; confirm these security features with the hosting company to ensure you’re satisfied that your data is protected.

I Won’t Have Full Ownership of My Cloud-Based Data

You can have full data ownership if you choose your cloud provider carefully and pay attention to contract terms.  Negotiate contracts that give you full ownership of your data, including your right to choose where the data is stored, if necessary.

Essentially, your data ownership situation can be as flexible as the cloud hosting company you choose to engage with. If you can outline the type of control you’d like to have over your data, you can make an informed decision about the data ownership policies of your hosting company or the hosting plan you choose to move forward with.

 The Cloud Is Always Less Expensive

Whether or not the cloud is more costly than other options depends on several factors: the other hosting solutions you are contemplating trying, network and bandwidth requirements, hardware needs, and the cloud service and application being considered.  When comparing the cost of a cloud deployment, make sure you consider the costs of power, cooling, staffing, and data center real estate for deploying the same application in-house or in traditional hosting.

Additionally, some types of hosting are more complicated than others, such as managed hosting plans with special hardware or security requirements, or compliance hosting that meets standards outlined in HIPAA regulations or PCI DSS. Every hosting situation is different and therefore may be priced differently. When comparing hosting plans, make sure to consider not just the bottom-line price, but also what’s included in the hosting, as this can help you make the best-informed decision.

 Cloud Computing Is For Small Businesses, Not Enterprises

Studies have shown that the biggest growth in cloud usage is currently coming from enterprises because the benefits are often greatest for enterprise-sized businesses. Larger companies are using the cloud for a variety of applications ranging from highly customized websites to social applications and employee collaboration.

As economies of scale for hosting companies continue to improve, competitive pricing for enterprise-level cloud hosting packages has become even more viable, meaning switching to the cloud can be as beneficial for a big company as a small one.

 Cloud Is Not Reliable

Top-quality cloud providers have backups in place to prepare for downtime and improve overall reliability. Well-planned backups and redundancies help reduce the effect caused by potential outages. Also, there is little to zero downtime with a proper fail-over installed. Atlantic.Net offers industry-leading service levels backed by a 100% up-time guarantee for our cloud servers.

As a general rule, you can check the reliability of your cloud provider by asking about their downtime and uptime statistics, backup policies and offerings, disaster recovery plans, and other such industry standards.

Implementing the Cloud Will Completely Eliminate the Need for Internal IT Departments

There is no question that two types of staffing shifts will occur because of the cloud: individuals working in IT today will need to learn new skills to remain effective in the industry, and certain jobs will shift from the company to the cloud service provider. Additionally, many new IT jobs will be created due to the cloud, including cloud developers, integration specialists, etc.

Most organizations will need help from IT to choose, migrate, configure, integrate, and monitor cloud services properly.  The cloud, in turn, can help make IT much more responsive in delivering the applications and data required by the company.

Also, cloud-based systems do not manage themselves.  In a cloud hosting environment, the company will need personnel who understand your company’s software applications and how they relate to the business.  Additionally, because security issues become more important when a cloud provider manages data and/or infrastructure rather than internally, IT departments will need individuals who understand the company’s security issues at a deep level.

You may find that fewer people are needed to manage your servers with the cloud, but you will still need project managers, network administrators, and business analysts.  With fewer IT resources required for the core tasks, the IT department will have more time to spend on the strategic aspect of its role: delivering business value to the company.

Better Cloud Hosting with Atlantic.Net

At Atlantic.Net, our cloud servers are supported by our industrial-grade, scalable, secure, and robust cloud hosting platform.  Whatever your hosting needs, we have the infrastructure, service, and expertise to serve you.  Our machines can support multiple database-driven sites, streaming media, complex e-commerce sites, and more!

Atlantic.Net provides a full line of cloud hosting solutions that give you flexibility and control, backed by almost three decades of experience in connectivity, advanced computing, hosting, and web technologies.  Give your IT department the availability, security, and scalability they demand from their infrastructure by choosing Atlantic.Net’s flexible and affordable VPS hosting. Atlantic.Net even supports HIPAA compliant hosting. Call 1-800-521-5881 today to get started with a free trial!