This blog is from our partners over at CloudM Click Here to read the original post.
Recently, we’ve seen a large amount of requests come through to migrate data from a file server in to a cloud hosted environment. The main reasons behind this have been around; cost saving, improving productivity and last but not certainly not least, security.
But why the sudden rush?
In 2002, whilst it was still being described by most as an online book store, Amazon single-handedly launched the age of the cloud. Surviving the burst of the dot-com bubble a year earlier, Jeff Bezos saw which way the wind was blowing and formed what we now know as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Shortly after, Microsoft and Google followed suit.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Almost 20 years later, cloud servers have become synonymous with flexibility, accessibility, and convenience. Offering businesses the opportunity to save time and money, it’s easy to see why so many of them are leaving in-house servers behind and embracing the digital workplace to store their company data.
But if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that having secure remote access is integral to the day-to-day functioning of a business. And if there really is an incoming borderless work-from-anywhere revolution, it’s only going to get more important.
The problem with on-premise servers
It made perfect sense to bring everything in-house when computing started to take off. What better way to guarantee safety and access than having physical servers in your office? That way, they benefited from your existing infrastructure like power, security, and IT support. No need to pay anybody else when you can absorb the overheads. But technology has moved on, and now internal servers are vastly more expensive than cloud servers.
Sometimes almost double the cost. They’re also far less agile when it comes to adaptations, developments, and upgrades. Couple this with less accessibility, lighter security, and high maintenance requirements – and all of a sudden it’s starting to look like an outmoded option.
Enter stage left: cloud servers
The market has moved on from the old concerns about having files stored in a warehouse hundreds of miles away. The security worries melted away quite quickly, when these data centers started publishing their terrifying military protection protocols. 90% lower storage bills also helped, plus further savings in remote software updates and automatic server maintenance, which both helped to drive the mass migration from in-house to cloud servers.
But it’s flexibility and accessibility that really give cloud servers a home run.
The ability to scale at pace is something quite unique to cloud servers. We’ve all heard horror stories about brands launching new products, or commercials, to find their websites crashing due to demand. If you only have so many servers in your office, how can you cope when they are at capacity?
Cloud servers can scale on-demand, and you just pick up the bill for it. And accessibility, whilst it does require an internet connection, is unparalleled.
The nature of cloud servers is remote access, so whether it’s your tech team configuring updates or your staff accessing software and files, the system is built around secure but easy access for those who need it. We all came to terms with the fact that giving our money to banks made perfect sense, even if we couldn’t see it, touch it, and we had to trust that they would look after it. But would you rather have it all under your mattress, just to keep it nearby?
The realities of migrations
Of course, many companies with large or complex server setups are well aware of the advantages that they’re missing out on. But the headache of the migration keeps them where they are, and it’s better the devil you know.
With the right tools and the right team, data migrations can be as easy as 1, 2, 3. Both Umzuzu and CloudM do data migrations all the time with enormous success.
