Moving to the Cloud
Most businesses are moving their data to the cloud. If you don’t absolutely need to run storage onpremise, it probably is more cost effective to use a specialist cloud provider like us to consider migrating some of your data to the cloud.
On premise vs Cloud
Using on premise storage also means there are associated costs to equipment, maintenance charges for both hardware and software, power and networking and depreciation to name but a few overheads. Legacy storage systems are notoriously difficult to configure and administer. Whilst local storage provides instant access to data it is normally bought as a CAPEX vs OPEX for cloud storage.
Cloud backup
One of the most important roles in your storage infrastructure is the ability to back up and protect your data in case of a problem. This may be a small scale file recovery request or a full blown disaster recovery scenario failing over to a remote location or straight to the cloud.
As your business grows, the issue becomes more pressing while the solution becomes more difficult. You may have some percentage of backups stored physically offsite as part of the backup/DR strategy, resulting in lost time and expenses for retrieval. The delay in obtaining the required data may take hours or days.
Perhaps the largest drawback to on-premise storage is lack of scalability. For example, your scalability ceiling is relative to the time in which your scalable systems were deployed, and todays ceiling is in the cloud.
Security of your on-site data is always a challenge due to the continuously evolving cybersecurity landscape. Our cloud solution offers 11 nines of data durability and immutable storage functionality, which means your data is read only once it is written and you can decide on the policy ensuring the data cannot be deleted or overwritten until the policy rules expire. Without immutable data it won't matter how many 9s of durability you have, your system will still be vulnerable to human error, which security studies show happens far more often than system errors or attacks by hackers.
Just because you are migrating to the cloud doesn't necessarily mean that your data will be 100% storage off site. Cloud storage is ideal for a variety of applications, including primary storage for on-premise or cloud based workloads, secondary storage for backup and recovery and archival storage for long term data retention. This versatility protects and extends previous storage infrastructure investments, allowing migration to the cloud on your terms.
Why migrate to the cloud?
At one time there was no other option than to own your own infrastructure - now you have choices to be the most secure and efficient with the business data which is after all a vital and main asset to any company.
You could extend the life of previous on-premise storage investments and use the cloud as primary storage for new applications like Big Data, analytics and IoT. Transition existing applications to the cloud over time and gradually decommission legacy storage platforms.
- Lift & Shift - use the cloud as primary storage when moving on-premise applications to the cloud en masse
- Backup & Recovery - Protect on-premise storage for a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions
- Archival Storage - Cloud offers affordable and durable long term data retention. Move infrequently accessed data to cloud based solutions to free up expensive legacy storage capacity.
Before planning your migration to the cloud you will need to choose the most suitable cloud storage for your business. Consider the following
- Cost of Storage
- Life expectancy of your data
- How often the data will be retrieved or modified
- How fast the access to the data needs to be
Based on your business needs and any prior migration implementation you will need to designate what types of storage buckets you require
There are four main tiers of storage- Immediate Use
- Disaster Recovery
- Backup
- Archival
Using the cloud provides peace of mind regarding maintenance, which is built into the cloud service models providing regular maintenance and updates.
Whether a company places its applications in the cloud or whether it decides to keep them on premise, data security is paramount. Migrating to the cloud gets reduces technical debt, reduces costs and ensures better disaster recovery. Make sure your business has the right plan in place to get the highest ROI with a cloud adoption strategy.
If you would like to know how storing data in the cloud can help alleviate or solve some of your issues please call us on 01256 331614 or email save@savedtocloud.com.
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