Today, businesses all around the globe have realized the enormous potential of cloud computing and have welcomed the technology with open arms. Cloud computing enables global collaboration and facilitates access to a pool of resources such as computer networks, apps, data, and services. The challenges of cloud computing are numerous, but the realization of the fact that it brings value to businesses has compelled organizations to transition to the cloud. Implementing cloud computing technology is no simple feat, it entails developing a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and the challenges of cloud computing. Like any other technology, implementing such solutions is not free from issues. But if you are unwilling to deal with them, you’ll never realize the value it can bring to your organization. That being said, here’s a list of some common challenges of cloud computing that businesses are facing this year:
- Cost factor
Thanks to the growing popularity of the “pay as you go” model, cloud computing has become affordable. However, customizing the cloud computing solution according to your business requirements is a pretty expensive affair. Since the cost of transferring data to the cloud is relatively high, smaller-sized businesses may find it challenging to make the transition to cloud computing. Though businesses can save huge amounts of money by moving their IT processes to the cloud, they have to invest in the additional bandwidth. This is one of the biggest challenges of cloud computing.
- Data security and supervision
One of the greatest challenges of cloud computing lies in ensuring the security and privacy of your business data. Even thinking about the fact that your company’s confidential data is hosted on an external server is enough to give you sleepless nights. Added to that, instances of hacking could expose the confidential data of your clients. To prevent this, you’ll have to invest heavily in tracking unusual activities, purchasing security tools for the hardware, and using secure applications.
- Downtimes and reliability
Despite the rising popularity of cloud technologies, most service providers still lack the capability to offer round-the-clock services. Downtime is perhaps one of the most significant challenges of cloud computing. Even today, no service provider can offer you a platform that is free from possible downtimes. It is because of this issue that most small and medium-sized companies think twice before moving to the cloud.
- Portability issues
Despite the growing adoption of the “pay as you go” model, some cloud service providers have a fixed “lock-in” period. This is one of the major challenges of cloud computing as most businesses prefer having the option to migrate in and out of the cloud and change service providers when they want to.
- Analyzing costs
Effectively analyzing and assessing the costs involved with the use of such solutions is perhaps one of the main challenges of cloud computing. The easy scalability offered by cloud computing solutions and its on-demand nature make it all the more difficult to assess the costs involved in using a cloud computing solution. Extensive use of the service may exhaust the budget that you had allocated for several months. Therefore, it becomes quintessential for companies to avoid contracting and budgeting issues while procuring cloud computing solutions.
