11 Classic Cloud Storage Mistakes
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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.
More than ever, CIOs and other IT decision-makers are opting for a cloud model to accommodate their storage needs. The overwhelming volume of big data plays a major factor in this, of course. And research reveals that the move can benefit a number of IT functions and needed outcomes, including disaster recovery (as cited by 63 percent of managers), the centralization of data management (51 percent), and cost savings (44 percent). Given this, it's not surprising to see that nearly one-third of those managers plan to use cloud services for storage requirements—a percentage that should only grow during the next couple years. Yet, even with the perceived advantages, there are many missteps which can make for a shaky cloud transition. To gain greater insights, consider the following 11 classic cloud storage mistakes, along with best practices for avoiding them. They were adapted from a report from Docurated in which nearly 40 cloud computing experts weighed in on the topic. Issues covered address connectivity lapses, legal exposure, ineffective business planning and vendor shortcomings, among other potential problem areas. For more about the report, click here.
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