What are the real costs of Cloud Computing for business across Australia?

Our Australian Cloud Computing specialists recently came across an interesting article written by security specialists, Symantec on avoiding the hidden costs of the cloud. In the article, Symantec shares research showing that while the cloud offers significant advantages there are some elements of cloud deployments that may be overlooked, resulting in hidden costs of utilizing the cloud, many of which are not financial.

Good news, cloud adoption continues to grow compared to a year ago. 90% of business professionals are now discussing how cloud technologies will best fit their business, an increase from 75% in 2011.

Does the cloud have a dark side? One ongoing challenge facing business is “rogue cloud” services or the unauthorized use of cloud technologies. These may include the use of Gmail or Outlook.com email, Dropbox or other file sharing and storage solutions and many others. 77% of those surveyed in the Symantec report say use of unauthorized cloud services is a situation that exists in their business. 40% of businesses across the country have stated they have experienced a loss of confidential information through unauthorized cloud services.

Our team has observed this at many of the Australian business we speak with on cloud services. Our team of cloud specialists is equipped to offer insight into activities on the network and offer our clients solutions to prevent unauthorized cloud services from being used by employees on the company network.

Online backup, disaster recovery and business continuity solutions are the next area where business struggles with the cloud. In the Symantec report, nearly half of those surveyed have lost cloud data and two-thirds have experienced recovery failures. Many are running up to three different backup solutions often unmanaged and uncoordinated.

We offer Australia business a fully managed backup, disaster recovery and business continuity solution. Our team can help clean up existing backup solutions and consolidate all of your backup systems into our fully-managed solution.

The last issue revolves around compliance. Nearly half of those surveyed have expressed concern about meeting compliance and e-discovery requirements. Up to one quarter have been fined for violations. When it comes to e-discovery one third report having challenges finding information in the cloud making it hard to respond before a deadline and two-thirds have reported missing deadlines and face costly penalties.

Once again, this is where having a trusted cloud consulting team can help you stay clear of costly fines. Our Australian cloud consultants help businesses set up robust and well-managed cloud solutions. Already have a cloud solution? We can also help ensure everything is running properly and as designed.

We welcome you to contact us to learn more about how our cloud consulting services can help your business. Please ring us to book your no obligation cloud assessment.