Cloud computing has revolutionized the businesses through scalable resources among other flexibilities. But with its many advantages, there are many challenges which business organizations encounter most of them. If you’re having hard times with cloud computing, here are five common problems and real-world ways to fix them.
1. Safety concerns
Security remains one of the greatest problems and hazards associated with cloud computers. The more that private business data are located in the cloud, the more easily targetable companies become by cyber-attacks and data leakage. Even though most of the security steps are in place on the part of the providers of cloud services, some other people may still have an unauthorized access into their shared environment.
How to Make It Right
- Since so much private data is stored in the cloud by companies, they really should understand how important protection is.
- Seek a company to handle your cloud service that has had a good record on safety.
- Apply the latest and best encryption methods to all forms of data, whether in motion or at rest in some storage.
- Security software must be updated continually, with the search and patching of vulnerabilities routine.
- Robust access control policies and numerous authentication procedures should ensure that private data are accessed only by authorized entities.
- Establish an appropriate incident response program to respond to security incidents when they do occur.
2. Downtime and Service Reliability
You may not be able to access the cloud services at times. This could be due to repair, outage, or any other reason. Nobody can assure that his system is 100% safe, although all companies providing cloud services strive their best to remain ‘on’ for almost all the time. For a business, this would amount to lost work and money.
How to Make It Right
- Better service level agreements offered by some cloud company that ensure more ‘uptime’ make the chance of ‘downtime’ lesser.
- Choose a service company that has installed several backup systems and data centres so that if one fails, the services will still be running and back on their feet in quick time.
- A backup recovery plan for emergencies should be maintained with regular backups so that at any point in time, you may switch over to another system.
- It is this kind of monitoring tool that also notifies you of problems before they become big. Thus, one may assure service reliability proactively.
3. Cost Management
One of the most common problems that pop up with cloud computing has to do with cost control. Many have referred to the way cloud services work as the “pay as you go” approach due to which business holders can’t do anything impulsively. It may get very expensive, and most will learn to their disappointment. That could be the primary reason why, if not handled well, the company could use more cloud resources than planned.
How to Get It Right
- Check on your cloud expenses regularly, and if your cloud provider allows you, utilize all available options that they can provide in terms of seeing an itemized list of your expenses.
- To avoid overspending, set real-time alerts for usage and budget limits.
- Reserved cases or long-term contracts should be considered in scenarios where you know for sure that the resource will be used, as it saves a lot of money.
- Use automatic scaling to turn off or lower the number of resources when demand drops. This will save you money for times when you don’t need the resources to be used.
4. Bandwidth and data transfer issues
Moving huge amounts of data in and out of the cloud can be slow and very expensive if your business has insufficient bandwidth or if the migration is not done efficiently. This will result in reduced effectiveness and increased expenses.
How to Fix This
- In the first place, ensure that the flow of data has been optimized to enhance it.
- Compress data to be transmitted and utilize content delivery networks that would store the information and transmit it to users who are closer to the CDNs.
- Transfer large data sets during off-peak times of network usage so as not to throttle the bandwidth.
- See how your existing network equipment is positioned for fast data transfer and upgrade it if necessary.
5. Vendor lock-in
The other major issue regarding cloud computing is vendor lock-in. Many companies have become so dependent upon the tools and services of one particular cloud provider that it is going to be difficult for them to move providers or even link to other systems. This may make them less flexible, which would stop them from growing further.
How to Fix It:
- This way, a portability and interoperability facilitating plan will help keep you away from vendor lock-in.
- Choose cloud service providers with open standards, also known as “technology paths,” whereby you will be able to plug into other systems via APIs.
- Design multi-cloud strategies that will allow you to use services from more than one cloud provider, thus reducing dependence on any single vendor.
Conclusion:
You are at liberty to view your cloud architecture at will and drag and drop your files and apps around in their places. A great plan for exit from the cloud, along with writing your surroundings down, will also help when something goes wrong and you need to move. While, there are some gains that cloud computing offers, especially for businesses, its best mode of usage rests on how some prevalent problems in this area are resolved.
Some of the important problems that are somehow difficult to be dealt with by a business using the cloud effectively include security, uptime, cost, data transfer, and “lock-in.” Better ways of tacking the problems already discussed will help the business avoid the same problems from recurring again and get the most out of cloud computing. Cloud computing is an excellent way to help a business succeed, but it requires careful management and attention. This can be very safe, reliable, and less expensive for companies if they are aware of the challenges and risks so that they can deal with them properly
