Store It, Secure It, Share It

by Christine Cignoli on February 17, 2017

At this point in the hybrid cloud evolution, data is accumulating quickly in the cloud and in data centers, not to mention moving from place to place. So it's natural that storage concerns are rising. This recent survey from Wikibon found that software services are the most popular use of cloud technology, followed by infrastructure and platform services. All these applications' data need storage that can scale up and down as needed, as another survey found: Cloud storage elasticity was respondents’ top cloud challenge.

And on the cloud app front, here's a look at one class of business applications that are really tied into cloud computing: collaboration tools. Lots of these apps are new, or relatively new, and employees depend on them as they work anywhere and everywhere there's a WiFi connection. File sharing, in particular, is seen as the collaboration tool that will transform workflows the most.

These apps take budget, of course. If yours is staying flat in 2017, InformationWeek offers some tips on how best to spend what you've got to make sure your IT team and organization are well prepared for the years to come. Two tips that resonated with us: Get creative around saving money by using cloud, and don't skimp on security.

On the topic of modern IT security: Security worries around public cloud services have faded quickly for many in IT. Public cloud providers now offer more secure environments for enterprise workloads. One recent survey and analysis of more than 100 private cloud deployments found that 97% had widespread performance issues, raising their risk for security issues. Private clouds aren't tested like legacy systems, which may be part of the cause of the problem, says APM Digest.

And though security for public clouds is better and more reliable than ever, that doesn't mean you've secured your entire hybrid cloud environment. The on-premises systems in your data center can easily become the weak link to access sensitive data, according to Cloud Technology Partners. So while you may have worried about cloud provider security five or so years ago, it's now time to refocus on the potential risks inside your own data center.

Till next week, keep those data centers locked up tight.