When the cloud first popped up on our radar several years ago, there was plenty to get excited about. However, in those early days there was also plenty to be concerned about. We didn’t know what to be on the lookout for. There were so many stories talking about how when you store your private, personal and business information on the cloud, you give up ownership of that data. That was a huge red flag warning for users to be very careful going forward.
In the years since, the cloud has exploded with growth. There is a public cloud, a private cloud and a hybrid cloud. Plus, there are so many companies in the cloud space offering a wide variety of services for consumers and businesses. The cloud continues to mature and that’s good.
With that said, we must remain diligent. We must stay on top of cloud issues. Make sure we retain ownership, protection and control over our information, whether personal, business or government data. We must stay ever vigilant.
AI, IoT, AR, VR work within the cloud
In the years since the cloud started, many new technologies have also taken root. They help us use the cloud and help us better access, store and use the information we have stored there.
The cloud can be a safe place to store information. But even the cloud is not perfect. Before the cloud, individuals and companies used to keep their own data on their own servers. That means if there was a cybersecurity problem, your data was at risk. If there was a fire, the data was at risk. If there was a computer or server problem, the data was at risk.
So, the thinking is, customers have a choice. Business customers and consumers can either continue to store and manage their own data on their own servers and devices, or they can us the cloud. Of course, many use both as a way to back-up their data.
There are risks both to putting data on the cloud and to keeping it on private servers
There are risks on both sides, the public and private side of that equation. So, it’s really just a matter of choice for your own personal data or business data. With that said, it is becoming clear, the cloud will continue to grow and to dominate.
That means users will have to make sure they are aware of what they are doing when they sign up with a cloud service. Some are better than others in a variety of ways. Some have better security. Some have better terms in the contract. Make sure you are fully aware of everything before you sign up.
Because the marketplace is continuing to grow rapidly, the threat also grows. That means most companies and individuals find it easier to store their information on the cloud. To ensure you protect your data, you can use more than one cloud service. Just in case.
Cloud providers like iCloud, AWS, Azure and more
Consumers have a choice between the Apple iCloud, or services from Google, Android, Microsoft and so many others.
Business and government users have plenty of choices like AWS or Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google and more. There are more cloud providers than you would imagine, from big, brand name companies to smaller, lesser known ones.
Cloud will continue its explosive growth trend for many years to come. The largest provider today may be Amazon with their AWS cloud services.
It’s always difficult to make the leap from one way of thinking, one way of doing things to a new way. That’s where we are today. When the cloud first began, we could see the incredible value. However, with the threat of losing ownership of our own data and other confusing issues, the confusion created levels of chaos and even panic.
Today the cloud is looked at as the right place to store your data
Several years later, the cloud seems like it is the right place to store your data, whether you are an individual consumer wanting to protect your own data on your laptop or smartphone, or whether you are a large corporation with mountains of data to guard and have access to.
Just remember, there are many different levels of cloud services. And within each level there are many different levels of security to protect your confidential data.
The cloud is great for storing and giving access to your data to your workers. It’s also great to back-up and store all your information.
They do this, just in case. You know. Just in case of cloud losses or corruption in their data. Unfortunately, this has happened and will continue to happen from time to time. So, you need to have a backup for your backup.
It sounds like overkill, until you experience a loss. Then you will be very happy for the overkill. It can mean the difference between getting back up and running quickly or taking forever and losing business, even going out of business.
Any way we slice it the cloud will continue to grow going forward for both individual users, corporate users, government users, health care users and so much more. We will continue to face issues as we move forward but compared to other solutions the cloud is growing and maturing and becoming an important slice of our pie.
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