This week’s cloud business news roundup highlights the topic of the continuity of businesses that are adopting cloud computing. This is a hot topic these days due to many cloud failures, such as Amazon and Microsoft cloud. The big questions: How to ensure business continuity with such unexpected cloud outages? Are business owners and decision makers well-equipped with knowledge about cloud computing?
One of the most recent articles from GigaOM offers us some pointers on how to ensure business continuity in the cloud. The article suggests that you need to plan for cloud failures – just in case. To plan for such disaster, it’s all coming back to your business IT infrastructure. It’s certainly not an easy task, but there is an approach that actually works: Combining redundancy and automation in the cloud
Redundancy gives you continuity when something is wrong, as you have made multiple copies residing in multiple cloud servers. Automation allows your IT systems to respond swiftly as disaster strikes. Combining both will give your business the continuity that each and every business owner wants.
Of course, your critical success factor would be employing or partnering the right cloud managers and cloud engineers who are well-equipped to build such cloud-based business system. Moreover, business owners’ knowledge on cloud computing for business is also crucial.
Learn the cloud well
Business owners – you need to learn things related to cloud computing and the business cloud before you can make a well-informed decision whether to take your business to the cloud or not; there is no better way to ensure your business continuity other than understanding the benefits and risks of cloud computing, as well as managing your expectations of what the cloud can or can’t offer you.
Alas, 72 percent of small business decision makers in a survey commissioned by Zoomerang are not familiar – even don’t have a clue at all – about cloud computing technologies, as reported by Entrepreneur.com.
Similar survey results also shown in SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey commissioned by Newtek Business Services: 71 percent of 1,800 business owners surveyed confess that they don’t have any idea what cloud computing is. For the rest of respondents who have claimed that they have heard about the cloud, 74 percent can’t really describe what cloud computing is.
Both surveys show us one thing: Business owners and decision makers need more resources to help them learn the basics of cloud computing. Alternatively, they can take the easier path by partnering with cloud service providers that offer easily set-up and highly convenient cloud solutions and resources. All needed to ensure their business continuity in the cloud.
The question is, will business owners and decision makers be willing to take action for the sake of their own companies?
Image: AsiaResearch.com.sg
