11 Classic Cloud Storage Mistakes
Being Cheap With Connectivity
The more data you migrate to the cloud, the more bandwidth you need to buy. Depending upon your connection, moving just 1 TB of data can take minutes—or days.
Failing to Plan for Disaster
Failure to plan is planning to fail, right? Stage a disaster recovery exercise so your team knows whether the right data is getting backed up, and how to access it in times of trouble.
Ignoring Legal Implications
Does your agreement cover liability in case of a data breach? If not, the provider is an extension of your company, which means you’re more vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Not Assessing Your App Requirements
Applications don’t translate to a one-size-fits-all cloud solution, given the range of associated costs, performance, features and scale. You may need multiple storage options.
Thinking Only in the Present Tense
Short-term planning often leads to unintentional design limitations to restrict storage capabilities. Think in terms of what cloud storage must do for you now, a month from now, a year from now, and so on.
Overlooking Geographic Issues
Where is your provider located? It matters, as some states and countries have laws in place that impact data storage, sharing and privacy.
Not Establishing Access and Use Policies
Salary files, for instance, should only be accessed by accounting, HR and management.
Not Asking About Down Time History
Before signing anything, ask what the provider’s down time was for the past year. It should be minimal, if not non-existent.
Failing to Identify Plan B
Cloud providers go out of business or otherwise don’t work out. What’s your business plan for moving to a new cloud quickly, with minimum disruption and data loss?
Buying Everything New
You don’t have to start from scratch. If you’re considering a private cloud, for example, you can repurpose existing hardware to run it.
Concluding the Cloud is One Big Easy Button
You don’t just press “send.” Take the steps to ensure transferred materials are referenced and cross-referenced, and that the data can be read by other data, and categories of data can be compared to other categories.
