If you were asked about the link between technology and the weather what would you say? You might first think about constant change or perhaps areas of high pressure. (Hopefully you won’t mention bad similes as well.) The excitement surrounding the latest era of computing has cemented the connection between technology and the weather. This latest era is familiarly called Cloud computing as shorthand. Unfortunately, the shorthand terminology creates challenges for business and individuals alike as they look to gain a better understanding of what it means to make use of the many advantages of this new computing paradigm.
If we lay back, hands behind our head in a grassy field and look up at the sky, we may see any number of different types of clouds. A quick search reveals a long list of meteorological phenomena, including: cirrocumulus, cirrus, cirrostratus, altostratus, altocumulus, cumulus humilis, cumulus mediocris, stratocumulus, nimbostatus, stratus, cumulonimbus, cumulus congestus, pyrocumulus, noctilucent. For most of these clouds we could remain comfortable on the grass, but if we see a select few (e.g. cumulonimbus: thunderstorm clouds) we would probably seek extra protection. The same can actually be said of cloud services technologies. There are a wide variety of cloud services and several options for how these services can be provided. Cloud services are often characterized as infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service and are available in a continuum from a fully private cloud through hosted cloud to a fully commercial cloud offering. Each of these varieties of cloud service has its own considerations for protection and imposes different obligations on the organizations that leverage them.
The most significant barrier for organizations looking to harness cloud computing is uncertainty. Organizations are uncertain about the cloud’s impact to their business or uncertain about how the cloud will impact their status quo. This uncertainty impedes an organization’s efforts to build up the confidence to make use of cloud services. So like pilots planning their route from take-off to landing carefully review the specific types of clouds that they may encounter along the way, IT and business leaders must become skilled on the variety of cloud technology options that are available to them as they plan their projects. A comprehensive understanding of the cloud offering that matches their business will help provide a focus on the actual risks to the business and not those derived from the unfortunate generalizations frequently found today. So as you and your organization explore the vast potential of cloud computing, be sure to take a little extra time to identify the specific cloud options applicable to your business. A little bit of up front effort will go a long way to crisply identify the detailed risks and compensating safeguards to help avoid a turbulent ride.
