Cloud Adoption in the UK
While the cloud remains the most extensively accessed technology today, many people still do not completely understand its functioning. But you will find millions using cloud computing for performing various tasks. Whether it is conducting online financial transactions or storing documents in services like Dropbox, the cloud is what you need. Surveys of about a thousand enterprises undertaken by Right Scale shows that the two key threats to cloud adoption have been compliance and security issues.
It is interesting to see that most clients are worried about security threats to their valuable data when it is moved to the cloud. Large cloud vendors have been maintaining data centers in various global locations. But they are still not sure whether it is really compliance issues or concern about data safety that discourages people from the cloud.
In the European Economic Area the enterprises which have worldwide operations face a lot of difficulty in maintaining uniform rules in different countries. But it is also imperative for them to ensure protection of data for their clients. There are many companies which are paranoid about data leakage when the transition to the cloud happens. There have been instances of leakage of personal data, and in 2015 alone, there were as many 1505 leaks of which about 905 was personal information. Microsoft has opened many UK-based data centers which have solved much of these issues for people using Office 365 cloud solutions. These businesses can keep specific data sets in UK-based facilities and use cloud hosting to improve work efficiencies. So, data sovereignty laws are complied with and costs are also reduced.
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Cloud adoption in the UK has far reaching consequences for businesses in the defence and healthcare sectors. Earlier, the NHS had been skeptical of the cloud fearing that patient data would be compromised. The task of compliance with data governing laws made matters worse. But, with UK based data centers coming up, the NHS trusts the Azure cloud infrastructure for keeping sensitive patient records. At the same time, they can guarantee total compliance with government rules and regulations. This has made it possible for other health practitioners to use devices for viewing, accessing and editing patient records seamlessly. This hassle-free experience has allowed the practitioners to give up the old method of sending emails of records to concerned patients. Since cloud computing follows a utility pricing model where you pay only for what you use, it has helped to cut down operational and capital costs of trusts.
Apart from the healthcare sector which is benefitting from these cloud computing solutions, there are many other businesses enjoying cost savings and operational efficiencies too. As more and more local data centers are coming up, the performance and reliability of systems is growing. Companies are slowly expanding their operations across the globe. Moving to cloud hosting is a far safer way than running remotely-accessible services independently. It is less risky for businesses which are steadily growing.
Like the healthcare businesses, the Ministry of Defence too has adopted the cloud computing technologies. It has started to make use of the Microsoft Azure and Office 365 services. For them the chief reasons have been security and cost-savings. They are now able to work together on documents easily and they can track time being spent by teams on emails, phone calls and meetings.
With the security and compliance issues being taken care, only the issue of user expertise remains to be tackled. IT personnel feel that understanding the cloud is not hard but implementing what is required is the real challenge. This explains why businesses are resorting to technical help from professional IT consultants. They can help you to understand the installation, deployment and management of the software. Cloud hosting triggers many problems, primarily compatibility problems. Since cloud hosting plans are being offered by many providers today, there is quite a bit of confusion and businesses cannot determine rightly which services are being provided to them.
Although cloud computing still remains ambiguous to many, the truth is that it can be understood easily. It can be deployed to improve work efficiencies. The very fact that UK based data centers are being established proves the way businesses are using cloud computing. While data storage may not be the prime criterion for choosing cloud hosting for businesses in the UK, they are still moving to the cloud for operational convenience. As consequences of Brexit come to the surface, businesses will continue to handle compliance issues. It is therefore recommended that UK businesses should evaluate their existing IT set-ups. They should get in touch with professional IT consultants to carry out a secure and stable transition to the cloud.
This article is written by the expert ecommerce marketing specialist of Folio3 which is one of the great IT firm for Magento 2 upgrade – seamless Magento 2 migration from Magento 1.x