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NE INTERPRETATION OF THE
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‘ cloud ’ is that services are no longer associated with ugly , cumbersome physical hardware sitting in your office , but are simply now resources that can be accessed via the Internet – abstracted into some magical realm where stuff just happens . Another interpretation is that the ‘ cloud ’ is just that : cloudy , nebulous , beyond clear understanding . Both interpretations have attractions ( endusers not having to think about the reality of how these services come to be – better to concentrate on their main priorities ), but also dangers ; opening up users to unconsidered costs , unknown levels of resiliency , murky understanding of resiliency , data protection and other potentially negative elements .
That ’ s not to say that SMEs should necessarily abandon the cloud and move back to on-prem solutions . Rather , they must review their cloud options with an informed eye and ask the right questions to ascertain whether such solutions are actually fit for purpose .
So , what should SMEs be looking for when it comes to the best long-term cloud investments ?
The ‘ low cost ’ myths
The cloud isn ’ t a magical entity ( though it would certainly like you to think of it in this way ). It is , at the end of the day simply hosted infrastructure : hardware , cables , switches , firewalls , etc . And large-scale cloud services entail large-scale infrastructure . There are two key repercussions of this .
Large cloud vendors spend a lot of money to pre-populate their extensive data centres across the globe , enabling capacity in advance of demand . And so , while they may market their services as being low-cost with unlimited scaling potential , this is not necessarily the story . They need to both recoup their cost and make a profit from their investment . And as much of that pre-populated infrastructure might sit unused for long periods , that will require either running the hardware for a very long time indeed , charging a high price or , often , both .
Many cloud vendors also often charge customers by usage , meaning that monthly invoices can easily end up being far more
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THAT ’ S NOT TO SAY THAT SMES SHOULD NECESSARILY ABANDON THE CLOUD AND MOVE BACK TO ON-PREM SOLUTIONS .
Intelligent SME . tech 29
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