...and its gone.
Ben Erickson February 26 2019 07:52:00
There are a couple of really cool uses of cloud technology. The best example is backups, since a mission-critical part of backups is having another copy of your data somewhere else. Actually, "Cloud" is a term that needs some definition, but that will have to wait for another post. For now, I'll just point out that most businesses fall prey to a false definition of "magic solution that makes all my technology problems go away." However, cloud doesn't mean you don't have errors, exceptions, or service interruptions anymore. It just means you have to wait for someone else to fix them.
But sometimes it's even worse. With cloud services, sometimes it's not your technology problems that might go away, but your technology itself. Like your applications. Like your data. That you run your business with. Poof. As in, "...and it's gone." Sometimes it's only temporary and bearable if you have patience (and your customers have patience, too!):
But sometimes, it's not temporary. Sometimes, that application you've been running your business with and storing all of your records in decides to close up shop forever. Then you really have a problem. Then you really have costs. Because not only did you spend all that money moving your data to that service in the first place, but now you have to spend more money moving it again. Last month, IBM announced that Watson Workspace, a cloud computing solution, wasn't profitable enough, so they would be ending the offering as of 2/28/2019 (two days from today)- announcement here:
What's the takeaway? The promises of cloud services are illusory. Don't be a marketing zombie. Don't buy into the hype and become a bandwagon victim. Think about the future, not just the next five minutes. Cloud computing (especially in someone else's cloud) is not the answer to everything.
There's real value and ROI in owning your hardware, software, and data in your own network. Remember this old saying, slightly modernized: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the cloud." If you have questions about how to steward your applications and data, or how to repatriate them, give us a call and we'll be glad to help!
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