The hype around Cloud technology is frothy and in some ways over the top. To most non-technical people, it probably seems that there is a technological revolution underway and they need to get on board or else miss out. But is this Cloud revolution really anything new?
One of the great claims made for the Cloud is that it allows you to access your data or email anywhere and anytime. But before someone coined the term “Cloud,” people were accessing data and email from the Internet already—and have been doing so for decades using VPN and remote access.
Another claim made for the Cloud is that it makes administration of technology much easier. This is somewhat true, but I would guess that most businesses still need some help to get from here to there, especially if they don’t want to pay the high monthly cost of turning the whole thing over to a hosted-model IT consulting firm.
What most companies really want is a hybrid that lets them avoid paying high monthly fees—while still getting the benefits of local data storage and fast access. So the promise of lower IT administration is complicated.
It’s true that low-cost Cloud technology (such as Google Apps, Egnyte, and various other online models) can be highly beneficial for some small business. But even in those cases, it needs to match up well with your company. Otherwise, you’ll dive into an experience that isn’t what you expected. (For more about the kind of companies that benefit most from the Cloud, see the blog post “IT services from the Cloud: Who benefits?”)
There’s no doubt that Cloud is on the rise. But it didn’t start just a few years ago. The technology has been developing for many years, and though it has been nicely repackaged, some of the nagging issues still remain. Cloud is here to stay and will grow. But it will go through some serious growing pains as it continues to mature.
Authored by: Jimmy Kim