4 Cloud Culture Barriers That Companies Face & Why

Cloud computing is no longer the new kid on the block. Edge computing has usurped the title as its edgy new counterpart.

Or dare we say it; block chain, has blazed through 2017 and 2018, predicted as the second (digital) coming. Yet, Cloud wasn’t forgotten. Rather it became one of many options to choose from for IT work-load placement.

In fact, last April the Gartner Group reported that the IT cloud market size is expected to top $300 billion by 2021, nearly doubling the 2017 total. Its merits include its ability to stretch across multiple infrastructures, which offered up the well-known out-of-the-box public cloud.

Upon recognising that ‘one size fits all’ could not truly apply to cloud computing, the acutely tailored private cloud was defined. And following technology innovation pairings from IT providers such as ourselves, and tech giants (Microsoft Azure Stack), hybrid multi-cloud was established. All in all, cloud is scalable, flexible to demand, and very cost effective when put in place correctly.

In fact, Gartner estimates that: “By 2020, a corporate ‘no-cloud’ policy will be as rare as a ‘no-internet’ policy is today.”

So while it has passed into maturity with many companies adopting a ‘cloud-first’ or ‘cloud-only’ stance, has company culture changed around cloud? Here are a few challenges that our customers have faced while embarking towards cloud transformation:

Mitigating Risks of ‘Rogue IT’

One of the main challenges of cloud computing is called ‘rogue IT’. The pervasive move towards ‘Do It Yourself’ has opened many vulnerabilities to end users less professional in adhering to security measures and best practices. Enterprises must implement security which immunises them from infection or intrusion which could result from sharing applications with ‘rogues’ and ‘amateurs’.

Managing User Identity

The public cloud is the multi-tenant with numerous users inhabiting any given environment. Even in a secured environment, when the users are authorised, there is still a greater need to manage access in a fine-grained matrix so each user gains the appropriate level of access to privileged information.

Addressing the Fear of Change 

Sometimes the perception of specific security threats is just a mask for general fear of change. Any major IT migration entails a multi-year process that comes with risks inherent in any organisation-wide strategic change. But with the risk also come opportunities and rewards for information executives who with oversee the journey and shepherd their organisations to digital transformations.

Questioning security in the Cloud

While the news is rife with stories about malware and hacks which target and penetrate cloud systems, impressions around cloud security can be often misleading. While on-premises infrastructure and applications may have had more time to develop counter-measures, the reality is that they are no more secure than well-built cloud systems. The key is precisely that: build your cloud systems and the connections to them from legacy on-premises systems, from a solid foundation that incorporates your specific security and availability requirements.

Moving to the Cloud?

A multitude of diverse elements must be marshalled to empower the enterprise to pivot confidently from its legacy IT infrastructure and applications to a more modern custom-fit hybrid solution. Our Cloud team understands the importance of evolving with emerging technologies.

Choose expert guidance through each stage of your cloud journey across the wide spectrum of cloud technologies, including Azure Public Cloud, Private Cloud Solutions and Hybrid deployments such as Azure Stack, PaaS and SaaS services.

Digital Planet is Ireland’s largest indigenous Cloud, unmatched in delivering secure and compliant Enterprise-class Cloud Hosting across Tier 3+ data centres in Ireland, UK and the US. Awarded ‘Cloud Partner of the Year 2018’, its growth has exceeded 50 per cent year-on-year since 2011, making it the fastest growing Irish-owned enterprise cloud platform in Ireland.

As a proud Microsoft Gold Partner and part of Evros Technology Group, Digital Planet enables businesses to rapidly deploy Azure and its stack to client locations. Azure enables an optimal hybrid cloud solution for increased business efficiency, flexibility and productivity.

Have you concerns or questions about cloud adoption? Talk to the Digital Planet team today.