Working in the cloud: why would you?

The use of the cloud is quite established, certainly for personal use. It often starts with (automated) backups of important photos and chat messages. But making backups is just one of the possibilities cloud working offers. In the cloud, you can in principle do everything you can with local IT infrastructure. This includes storage, computing power, and everything related to managing networks and security. For organisations, the transition to working from the cloud certainly has an impact. What do you need to consider, what are the advantages and disadvantages, which providers can you choose from, and so on? In short: what is involved in working in the cloud for business?

What is the cloud?

The cloud is essentially nothing more than your IT infrastructure at a distance. The servers are located in typically large data centres, physically outside the organisation. You therefore outsource the care of keeping this physical infrastructure in top condition to these data centres. You purchase storage and computing power as a service and can precisely tailor it to your current needs - whilst retaining complete freedom to scale up or down whenever you need to. You are not locked into anything and pay only for what you use. Besides managing physical infrastructure, many cloud providers also offer the ability to outsource software management. Think of ready-made databases where you have no worries about keeping the software up to date. You can use them directly for your application and the provider takes care of the rest. The cloud is, in short, the IT infrastructure of organisations but in the form of a service - and therefore offers infinite flexibility and convenience.

What about security?

Traditionally, you have all your infrastructure within your own building - that gives the most control. With the cloud, that is not the case. A frequently heard criticism is therefore (data) security: how safe is storing privacy-sensitive data, for example? Koen, data engineer and cloud specialist at Datalab, indicates he worries little about this for two reasons. The first is that most cloud providers are companies with an exceptionally high security standard. Providers often hold numerous security certificates, including ISO certification, which guarantees a sufficient security assurance. Secondly, you can add the necessary extra protection yourself with software. You do lose some control, of course, but cloud providers probably have their affairs in better order than the internal IT departments of many companies.

Which providers are there?

The main providers of cloud services are Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. Broadly speaking, these major providers offer precisely the same thing. The difference lies mainly in user-friendliness, the degree of control over your infrastructure, and the level of security. In general, Microsoft has the highest certification and standards regarding privacy and security. If that is the highest priority, Azure is a fine choice. The downside is the somewhat less user-friendly infrastructure. Amazon Web Services, on the other hand, is somewhat more user-friendly, as is Google Cloud. Google does have a less extensive range of services than Amazon Web Services. But for all these providers, you can trust that their services, including (data) security, are excellently arranged.

And the costs…?

A frequently heard point of concern is cloud costs. Is that justified? Koen: 'You can make it as complex as you want. The cloud gives real freedom to exercise much control. So in principle, if you are a bit handy with it, you can run all your processes in the cloud quite cheaply. In the cloud, you can decide about infrastructure at a fairly low level - you often pay somewhat less. However, this does give you more internal workload and you need sufficient knowledge. You pay extra for services where part of the software management is taken off your hands. On the other hand, you save on internal costs for your IT department.'

The cloud therefore saves costs because you only purchase what you need. You do not need to buy larger in advance because you expect growth in the short term. Moreover, you do not need to invest in all sorts of technologies, because these are made available on demand by the cloud service.

Data-driven work without the cloud?

Technically, you can run all processes related to data-driven work on your local IT infrastructure. However, many organisations that want to work data-driven are still uncertain about the near future, especially regarding necessary investments. They want to grow, but there is uncertainty about costs and what exactly is needed. If you want to set up the necessary infrastructure within the company, you find that you have to incur many costs in advance. You buy many things at once and pay for everything immediately. In the cloud, by contrast, you can specify very precisely what you need right now, and you only pay for that. Expanding or scaling back is quickly arranged: the cloud offers maximum flexibility. This scalability is very attractive for companies with data-driven ambitions and offers the opportunity to experiment cautiously at low cost.

Highly sensitive data in the cloud?

Some organisations work with very sensitive data, for example medical patient data. Can you then use the cloud without restriction, or are limitations imposed? Koen: 'A specific example from my practical experience involves this type of sensitive data. A process was set up whereby sensitive patient data was first processed and transformed locally. In effect, all sensitive details such as names, addresses and specific medical circumstances were removed from the data, and only then was it brought to the cloud. A typical example of a hybrid environment where one chooses to run sensitive components on local infrastructure.'

It can also be done differently: the sensitive data remains entirely local - it does not go to the cloud at all. The other processes do run in the cloud. But this is very much dependent on what the company needs and what requirements are imposed.

And if I have already invested in physical equipment…?

If an organisation already works data-driven and already has the equipment for it locally, is it worthwhile to migrate to the cloud after all? Koen: 'That depends. Some companies are completely satisfied with how things are running and have no need for a change. There is nothing wrong with that - leave it as is. But if you are looking at expanding certain processes, with an eye on the future, then it is certainly worth investigating what the cloud can offer your organisation. It is strongly dependent on specific factors. Also look at the IT department - is there knowledge in-house to migrate to the cloud, or does much time still need to be invested? These are all things that factor into the strategy for migrating to the cloud.'

Want to know more about working in the cloud? Then contact Koen or Harmen - by email or telephone. Or schedule a conversation via our contact page.