Cloud Computing benefits, warnings and guidelines

“I don’t need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster… carrying around these non-connected computers is byzantine by comparison.” – Steve Jobs

I am still finding out that many people are confused about the cloud, its function, liabilities, and comparison to the old office network.  Below is an introduction that is not too technical yet informative enough for anyone to get a decent general understanding as it relates to utilizing it for a business. I will explain how to go about it, provide you with some warnings and a plan of attack.

Cloud computing enables businesses to consume computing resources as a utility just like electricity, rather than a single company’s in-house server system infrastructure. As Nicholas Carr indicates in his book “The Big Switch, Rewiring the World from Edison to Google” in the 19th century, many companies provided their own electricity until the big electric suppliers emerged and provided them with a grid and a monthly cost, thereby reducing the high cost of maintaining the infrastructure from the business to the vendor. This is basically what cloud computing is doing to office solutions.

Cloud computing enables businesses to consume computing resources as a utility just like electricity, rather than an in-house server system infrastructure. The cloud is not for all businesses and firms have to weigh the level of risks and functionality they are willing to accept. There is generally, a public and a private cloud. “Public” refers to Applications and/or Data that is stored by a third-party provider as opposed to “private”, which refers to hosting it in your own infrastructure, most likely in your own office. This article focuses primarily on the public cloud, its components, and how it might apply to your organization’s needs.

If you have ever used Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Gmail, Facebook, and even as far back as Myspace and Friendster, then you have already been using the Public Cloud. One of the reasons for its growth has been the emergence of “Software as a Service” (SaaS), which is basically a software licensing model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis, centrally hosted, and typically accessed through a browser or client software. A good example of this that many know is QuickBooks online, Office 365 Email Hosting solution, or even Dropbox.

There are many good and valid reasons against utilizing cloud solutions but it appears that these reasons are slowly thinning out. They can range from slow internet speed availability, security concerns, and software’s lack of functionality as a SaaS compared to the in-house server-client model, the cloud vendor having full access to your data, government intrusion, and poor customer service such as lacking a live person to contact.

But what appears to be the most attractive aspect of the cloud is the improvement in efficiency and fewer disruptions, especially when it comes to migrating to “Infrastructure as a Service” (LaaS), such as virtualizing (converting a physical server to a virtual one) your servers and migrating them to a Public Cloud solution such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). What this means to you as a small or large business is that servers are leaving your offices and your workstations will connect to them through the cloud with remote access software or through a portal.

In this article, I want to help you understand some basic aspects of this technology and the pros and cons associated with them. The Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) mentioned below is any software or hardware vendor that offers a solution for you to purchase at a monthly price. These solutions could range from simple email, any software you might use, such as accounting, HR, project management, to your servers being hosted by them in the cloud. There are thousands of vendors online now offering a multitude of services and it is very likely that some of the software that you are using now, has a cloud solution too. All you have to do is check their site or call your sales manager.

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1. Internet Connectivity

Many of the cloud solutions are completely dependent on your internet connectivity. This can be a big con if you have speed or connectivity issues. Some of the Cloud (Saas and Iaas) vendors offer solutions that allow you to continue working while the connection is down but they are still few and far between. The only pro here is that you, allow users to work from home provided they have a live internet connection. In the past few years, we have seen much better stability from the vendors we have worked with, and very rarely do we hear about the connections going down, and if they do, it is not for any considerable amount of time. This is not to discount and minimize the impact of downtime, hence we highly advise our clients to budget for a backup line using a different technology for internet connectivity.

2. Business Continuity

Imagine there is a disaster that prevents you from getting into your office. Let’s assume your email server is also in the office and the building is totally out of service or possibly destroyed, including any internet connections that allowed for remote access to data and email flow. How will you be able to work and access the vital data immediately?

One of the advantages of the cloud is that it allows for your data to either stay offsite in the cloud or synchronize with the office server (Hybrid Cloud) in some instances. Hybrid cloud is not a universal solution and the vendors providing the cloud solution have to offer it as an option. With Hybrid clouds, you can work without the internet and when the connection comes back online, your files and work will sync up.

Of course, much of this solution relies on a working internet connection and a severe disaster could totally put you out of service, but more and more cloud solutions are beginning to offer offline solutions that allow the users to work while not connected and sync when it detects a connection again. However, this is really dependent on the solution you are looking at and is one of the key questions that need to be asked from the Clouds Solution Provider (CSP).

The only in-house solution that can match this is if you have replicated your IT infrastructure offsite or have an online backup solution that has remote boot capabilities and has been set up through Virtual Private Network (VPN) at the designated emergency locations. Even with this solution, you will probably struggle with speed and employees’ remote access from home as in many instances your IT needs to be available to adjust VPN connections, not to mention you are still reliant on an internet connection. Frankly, my guess is that after such a disaster, many of these businesses will realize they can’t really function fully and feel frustrated. If you have such a solution, I highly advise your IT to test this solution for you by emulating an emergency situation to show you how effective this solution is and how you feel about it.

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3. Disaster Recovery

This builds on the business continuity as your data is kept offsite at the CSP. However, just because your data is offsite doesn’t mean you have full recovery options. You need to think about how you want your restore your ability to work. A perfect example of this is the recent rise in ransomware. One CSP I work with told me that they offer a restore solution at a high hourly rate or I could pay a monthly fee to avoid the higher cost. They did offer great individual file restore solutions but with ransomware, you would quite possibly need to restore thousands of folders and millions of files, which is simply not feasible. However, most public cloud solutions tend to offer great backup solutions, as you might in your own office, but it’s kept offsite and most likely redundant too. Hence a vendor or a CSP like Amazon or Microsoft will have their data centers in multiple states and can easily balance between the two in case of a disaster.

Another important feature of cloud solutions is that you don’t rely on building your infrastructure server system. You just need to have your office or home PC up and running and utilize the services, so when you get your office up and running again, the return to business, as usual, does not involve the daunting task of rebuilding servers. This one feature is a key benefit to the cloud as it cuts costs, downtime, and technical difficulties in reproducing the server environment hardware after a disaster. All you are doing is waiting for an internet connection from any location. I guess this is where the beauty of this solution truly shines.

4. Software Updates

As an IT guy, I can tell you that some software updates and server changes are truly a grueling experience. Any IT guy can tell you that migrating to a new Exchange E-Mail server is not a favorite bit of work, not to mention all the client updates that need to take place such as upgrading an older Outlook on the workstations to the latest version. However, now this is all kind of done seamlessly for you through CSP.

As an example, let’s look at Microsoft Office 365, which is basically an Exchange system at the Microsoft data center and in essence a cloud solution. Not only do they manage the email servers, but they will upgrade and move your mailbox to upgraded servers. Should you subscribe to their packages that included Microsoft Office, you will also always have the option to get the latest Microsoft Office version by following their simple update procedures. Many CSP vendors give you the option to run the update in the background without user intervention to assist in the upgrade and keep you on the most recent version of their software, which reduces IT staff time in the upgrading process.

5. Quicker implementation

In the past, you had to order the hardware and wait for it to be shipped, create space for it, buy a UPS, and hope to God your calculations were correct for growth. You then need to have your IT work on the weekend or after hours to mount and prepare the hardware, which all could take weeks. The cloud has completely changed this so that everything I just mentioned can be done in minutes. If you have an AWS or Microsoft Azure account, you can now boot up a server in the cloud within minutes and have it in operation the same day, doing away with new sever purchases to be stored in the office.

6. Group Collaboration free of physical location

As more users are becoming mobile, it is imperative that they can fully function and collaborate regardless of location. If you can email from your phone, then why not view and edit an excel spreadsheet in real-time and have someone on the other side of the globe or in-house see those edits within seconds of you saving it. Up to now we’ve been used to emailing these files back and forth or if we are in the same office, work on the files from the server drive after we get in. Granted, with remote access solutions to desktops, we can work while away from the office, but that means you have to be always connected online and hope that your office computer is on and working or if you are very lucky and have a local terminal server solution, then chances are you will get the work done. But that means you need an active online connection.

In a hybrid or offline type of cloud solution, I can work off my laptop while away and as soon as I get an internet connection, it syncs up much like your email on your phone. Furthermore, should I be using a SaaS solution, I can log in from any computer securely to do my work regardless of the state of my network at the office and have the work ready for my collaborators. A great example of this is Microsoft Outlook. Whether you have the server in-house or hosted in the cloud, Microsoft Outlook works the same way. If it can’t connect to the server, then you can still use the program if the offline option is enabled. You will not be able to receive a new email or send any, but you can review your emails, write new ones and update your contacts and calendar. Even though you can hit send, the email will not leave Outlook, but sit in the outbox and await a connection to the server again before it can send out your email. This is a perfect example of a hybrid solution.

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7. Security

I believe this is one of the most ambiguous discussions about the cloud. I would start off by saying that many of the cloud solutions I have seen implement a much higher security solution than small businesses use right now for their own existing setup. Furthermore, they have a much more robust IT infrastructure to protect themselves than a small office. In the past, the concerns were about a hacker breaking through the firewall, server security, and such, but now with more security threats on the rise, a simple attachment can wreak havoc as Ransomware has so clearly demonstrated. Having said that, I would like to add that it might make sense for hackers to go for the big fish rather than the small one. The target store was a big fish that was hacked recently as opposed to a Mom and Pop retail store. But with the landscape of exploits changing shape and now focusing more on how to fool users by email or phishing sites to obtain login information or taking advantage of simple passwords, the question is, which one do you feel more comfortable with. I think if you run a business that logs social security numbers and credit card numbers, you will be much more nervous about migrating to the cloud. So what can you do?

The key factor here would be encryption. You need to make sure that the data is encrypted while traversing to the CSP and when hosted at the CSP. Some refer to this as encrypted at rest, meaning no employee at the CSP can open these files as they are encrypted. This protection is true for hackers who could be monitoring the CSP or communicating with them.

In addition, have all the users utilize a strong password and implement a policy of changing one’s password every few months. Frankly, this should be done in-house too, though we know many users will resist. You can build the best lock for a door, but if you leave the door unlocked, then what’s the point. Additionally, all the devices must be set up for two-factor authentication and if the vendor supports hardware locks, the solution needs to be married to a device so that if anyone else obtains your password information, they still need to have the text code to get in. I have said this before, but keeping the office up to date on all security and virus/malware protection by your IT is an essential step in keeping safe too and this must always be on the checklist. We even recommend solutions that lock down the computers further, such as whitelisting what applications can install and update.

Unfortunately, not all CSPs offer encryption at rest, and the rise of cloud computing will eventually have to lead to this solution for more companies to make the jump. Security is a huge conversation and a few paragraphs will not cover everything, but these steps will set you on the right path.

8. Fixed Cost

No one likes hidden costs and technology has a way of accumulating costs. As a matter of fact, short of salaries, IT budgets usually appear to be the biggest item on the balance sheet. Typically cloud solutions offer their services at a monthly cost for user, device, or service. Some like Amazon or Azure can be a little unpredictable until you use them for a few months and gauge the data utilization but overall, you can lock down the monthly cost for your office. We have an online quoting system, online helpdesk, online Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solution, online project management and we are looking at a few more. It’s pretty easy to do the cost calculations and come up with a monthly budget for most of the services. Granted, in some cases, especially larger-sized offices, it will be cheaper to bring in an in-house solution, but the CSP might offer competitive enterprise licenses for larger offices.

There is also zero capital costs for most solutions, short of the first month’s payment. If you are not running your own cloud or a hybrid one that requires hardware, then you have almost nothing else, unless you hire a consulting firm to implement this for your office. There are also no software maintenance fees as they are built into the solutions and you or your IT guy has full support with the vendor. However, I would still ask for any hidden charges and make it a point that you are not a fan of such charges and need to know upfront, but based on our experience, hardly any vendor does this as potentially your cell or cable provider are likely to do.

9. Going Green – Power Consumption

Since you have less hardware, you have less power consumption, especially in the reduction of the rough and tough servers that were packed in your server room/cubicle/IT Guy’s office/closet. This makes you a greener company by reducing your own office’s carbon footprint and resource sharing a solution in the cloud, which basically means the CSP servers are hosting a multitude of users apart from your firm. In the coming years, there is a potential that the PC or Mac sitting in your office will be replaced by a smaller and simpler computer referred to as a “Thin Client”, which is kind of reminiscent of the old dumb terminals. Its function is to basically use the cloud and as a result, doesn’t require much processing power and as a result, potentially less power consumption too. As this article suggests, savings pass down from power consumption, shipping the device to your office to the lifetime of the system and consequently their end of life and landfill reduction. Hence by migrating to the cloud, we have reduced our carbon footprint drastically and my guess is that in the coming years we will see the resultant power consumption of offices of 20 or more users utilizing as much power as one computer does today.

10. Enterprise-class software at a low monthly cost

Let’s say you were going to use software for your business and needed 10 copies with the users sharing some centralized databases. In the past, you looked at the products and noted they come in different packages ranging from basic to professional editions. That same concept stays true on the cloud model, but at a much lower monthly cost for a much more powerful version. Basically, you are getting more features for less. Yes, adding the numbers up for a large number of users over the long term can seem quite large, but you have to weigh that against the infrastructure costs. For many of our clients the fact that they no longer have to deal with major upgrades and buy new servers, even if it costs less, has been a factor in moving to the cloud.

11. Device Environment-Friendly

The cloud offers the ability for users to access company data through the use of a desktop, laptop or mobile device, regardless of whether the operating system is Windows, Mac, or Linux. Who doesn’t love that? If users can function exactly the same way or close to on all these devices, without IT spending time fine-tuning and troubleshooting the issues, then it is a win-win situation for everyone.

12. Alerting Features

One of the great features of these solutions is the enhanced alerting features available to both users and IT management. As an example, we have had options in our antivirus programs to send weekly reports and review them, but now with cloud-based protection, we get an instant alert if an infection is detected, giving us a much faster response time.

This will be true for users who might set up alerts to get notified of file changes or an update on a project, through their phone text program or the App itself.

13. Easier Management and quicker deployment

Cloud computing can drastically reduce the setup time. The user simply logs into a portal or for IaaS, uses a Terminal Server type client, though your IT professional still needs to set up the user on each platform. This process is much quicker and will allow your IT to utilize their time much more efficiently and with more control. Furthermore, the reduction in management and setup time could mean cost savings for the IT department too.

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14. Scalability

In the past, if your organization was using a software solution in an in-house server/client model, then it had to buy a certain amount of licenses and renew yearly. With the SaaS cloud solutions, you mostly pay as you go for the exact count per month or a discounted amount per year. Furthermore, if you migrated your in-house server solution to the cloud, then you can easily scale up or down the size of your servers, storage, and memory through some simple adjustments on the portal without physically buying and installing hardware. This apparently simple adjustment is a game-changer as you can scale the computing needs on the fly no longer reliant on specific physical servers but the pool of resources available. If I need another Terabyte of data and 32 GB of Memory, I can easily make it available within minutes.

15. Compliance

Many of the businesses out there are driven by compliance requirements ranging from HIPPA, SOX, PCI/DSS and others. Your organization might have worked hard to keep up with the compliance and prefer to have control. However, some out there might be happy to pass this on and let the CSP deal with it, hence, removing one more item from their plate.

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Here is a list of some questions that might help you fine-tune your research in finding the ideal Cloud Solution Provider.

• Redundancy infrastructure
• Offline usage and Hybrid offerings
• Software update procedures and rollbacks and whether they can be automated.
• Backup and restore and how you can recover from something like ransomware or a disaster
• The security model and how the data is kept safe and secure while traversing between their site, internet, and users
• A disgruntled employee at the CSP and the ability to access and view the data and secondly stealing data
• Supported environment, including handheld devices
• Alerting features you are concerned about
• Scalability, especially if you are concerned about the growth
• Compliance that might apply to your organization
• Support options (hours, live person access, estimated response time, country of support)
• Get the security information and compare it to what you have on-premise
• Do they support dual-factor authentication and device lockdowns?
• If the vendor offers a cloud solution for the software you utilize, what are its shortcomings?

So how should you start looking at the journey and planning the migration to the cloud?

1. Write down the list of software solutions currently utilized by your firm, noting any compliance that accompanies them
2. Examine the existing vendors and see if they offer a cloud solution and test the solution for functionality with key people in the organization who utilize them. If not, compare them to another solution that does offer a cloud-based solution. A word of advice here. Some users who are married to old features will resist. Make sure your IT communicates directly with the cloud vendor to find out how else that feature can be implemented through the cloud and train the user with a multitude of learning webinars and online training many vendors offer. Just because they can’t do it the same way, doesn’t mean it can’t be done in the cloud version or by another solution with a little learning curve.
3. Make the change incrementally and introduce the solutions one by one unless they are reliant upon each other or you note the change will be easy enough for all to embrace.
4. Use strong password policies and setup dual-factor authentication
5. Review the concerns mentioned above with the vendor
6. Do a cost analysis for keeping the solution in-house vs. migrating to the cloud. Include in that the cost of hardware, licensing, maintenance, electricity, warranty renewals, and software contract and upgrades.
7. If the calculations prove the cost savings, I would advise starting off with the least intrusive solution and gradually expose the users to other solutions.
8. Create a disaster recovery solution, which at this point is probably limited to having users know which sites to login or potentially have your IT set up their home computers with some client software too.
9. I highly recommend having your network fully protected against malware & virus and keep up-to-date with the latest security updates.
10. Obtain some sort of web filtering service, so that at a minimum it can aid further to protect against malicious websites
11. With the cost savings you should start seeing, it is advisable to put the money back into a faster internet connection, possibly a secondary internet connection in your office acting as failover and a more robust firewall. Your internet connection is your lifeline at this point and you don’t want to be reliant on just one internet provider for your connection.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to Contact Us