What is “As found data” and “As left data” and why might you need it?
Porton BioPharma testimonial for SenseAnywhere 35 logger system
What are the facts about cloud data?
Cloud based data. Can you trust it? Where does it go? Is it secure? How does it work? Is it popular? Are there risks? What are the benefits? There are many questions and doubts people often have when it comes to cloud-based data. So, are the concerns based on legitimate flaws or are they unfounded? Let’s explore the subject in this article.
First, let’s look at some interesting facts about cloud computing.
- Global public cloud computing spend is set to exceed $350 billion in 2020, an 18% rise since 2018.
- The top reason for cloud adoption is for data access anywhere in the world. The average yearly cloud budget was $2.2 million in 2018.
- About a third of companies’ IT budget goes to cloud services.
- Privacy, security and lack of staff training are the top roadblocks to cloud adoption.
- Hybrid cloud adoption is at 58%.
Impressive right? And chances are you’re already using some form of cloud software… Microsoft, Google, Amazon and IBM are just a handful of the behemoth organisations providing cloud-based services. However, that doesn’t prevent hesitation when moving your other operations to the cloud and rightly so, your business or personal data integrity needs to be protected, secure and as ease free as possible.
What are the key benefits?
Firstly, cloud service providers are extremely reliable, providing up to 99,999% uptime. Meaning that your data and applications are available at any given point. Even if a particular server goes down, a backup will quickly turn on to prevent any downtime. Additionally, availability is another key benefit of cloud data storage. The ability to access all of your data whenever and wherever you are, provides countless benefits. Furthermore, the safety of your data is another highly beneficial asset. Equipment loss or failures usually result to a loss of important information. However, with the cloud your data is always going to be safe and accessible. Cost effectiveness is another advantage, having less equipment to purchase and maintain will drastically reduce costs. Who doesn’t like to save money? Moreover, cost isn’t the only form of efficiency that improves. You significantly increase productivity through ease of use, with aspects such as data extraction and reports that would once take multiple staff members weeks or even months to collect, being done in minutes or even seconds. Also, transparency: data integrity is never in question with cloud data, there can be no doubts about whether there has been any tampering involved, making regulatory compliance a breeze. Finally, synergy and cooperation. Cloud provides an extremely user-friendly engagement platform for employees/ collaborators to engage and interact on.
But are there any negatives?
It's far from perfect. You need to take into consideration the fact that your data is being sent to a third-party source. Therefore, you need to ensure that the third-party company is reliable to guarantee that your data is in secure hands. To add, despite many systems being highly secure to external cyber-attacks- there are still some vulnerabilities. The internet is not completely secure meaning there is always some risk involved. Finally, compliance concerns that may be raised are whether your industry will accept data from a cloud-based system. More often than not it is welcomed and even recommended but you should always check before switching to this kind of system.
So what's the verdict?
To conclude, cloud storage has grown at an unprecedented rate and isn’t expected to stop there. Cloud initiatives are expected to comprise 70% of all tech spending by 2020. Projections also show that 80% of organizations are predicted to migrate toward the cloud by 2025. This acceleration towards being the preferred data storage platform for online data storage systems speaks for itself. Yes, there are some drawbacks. With cyber security threats and third-party reliability being potential concerns. However, you reduce the risk of equipment loss, theft or failure and most companies are reliable and have highly secure systems in place. The array of benefits far outweighs the few disadvantages, so join the herd and migrate to a cloud-based system in 2020!
