While the cloud has been with us for about a decade and a half, in many tactics we feel we are still in the early stages of this journey. You can say that the foundations of cloud computing were laid some time ago, however, the generation has only begun to bring a genuine commercial price recently.
This is basically because the cloud itself has a platform that now provides a wide diversity of services, while corporations are also learning to ask the right questions and better perceive the cloud journey.
In South Africa, the adoption of cloud computing was first moderate, basically due to the lack of local presence of cloud providers. After being built into the on-premises market a few years ago, major cloud service providers had a lot to do in the domain of educating consumers about cloud capabilities.
It is not surprising that the initial reaction of visitors has diminished due to some reluctance, since many corporations had made long-term generation investments or were not in a position to move to new technologies and strategies. This is an understandable precaution in the face of new technologies that have not yet demonstrated their viability and value.
High traction
Fast forward to today, and we can safely say that cloud computing has gained popularity in the South African market, with cloud-based responses in one form or another having made their way into many companies. In fact, we can simply say that almost each and every company now leverages some elements of the cloud, such as software or platforms as a service.
The real turning point came when local businesses began to take a look at what cloud computing had enabled corporations around the world to achieve and how this could align with South Africa’s regulations and business models. Based on this, many local enterprises have begun their adventure to the cloud, with the assistance and guidance of professional cloud providers and implementing partners to shape their cloud strategies.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a strong driving force and accelerator of cloud adoption for the past 24 months, and we’ve noticed that on-premises enterprises are leaning toward the hybrid cloud model, rather than multiple clouds. This is largely due to the incompatibility of some legacy workloads and programs that were not designed to be hosted in the cloud. Many have found the hard way that moving those programs and workloads to a public cloud computing platform can be a difficult and impractical exercise. as the software is not optimized for a multi-tenant cloud computing model.
Obviously, there are many benefits that drive corporations to the cloud. For many corporations, the existing way of doing business might not be to offer the agility to grow or offer the platform or flexibility to compete. In addition, the proliferation of knowledge created through corporations is expanding the burden and complexity of intermediate knowledge storage, requiring new IT analytics skills and teams.
Beware of traps
But there are some pitfalls that businesses want to avoid when migrating to the cloud, and asking the right questions can avoid unforeseen headaches and costs. Above all, consumers want to perceive that the cloud is a hosted platform, but protecting their knowledge remains their responsibility. While making your company’s knowledge available anytime, anywhere has benefits, security measures will also need to be in a position to limit and access.
Therefore, it is vital that companies perceive where their information is located and how it is protected. And while the first component of coverage is security, the time is backup and restore. While most cloud providers offer hosting services for platforms or applications, the duty to regain corporate knowledge in a twist of fate or crisis situation is thought of as a separate service and the duty of the customer.
To avoid the potential demanding situations and pitfalls that may arise as part of cloud adoption, there are expert and experienced knowledge control experts who can advise businesses through their cloud adventure. These service providers offer consulting, technical support, controlled facilities, and training. They can optimize knowledge control and support for enterprises, adding cloud integration and adoption strategies; On-site or hybrid knowledge responds to crisis recovery consulting; and controlled facilities, adapted to the duration and budget of an express business.
By Hemant Harie, Managing Director, Gabsten Technologies
Edited via Zintle Nkohla
Follow Zintle Nkohla on Twitter
Follow Africa IT news on Twitter
Podcast via IT News Africa
This week, Luis Monzón speaks with Stephen Osler, co-founder and head of progression at South African cybersecurity firm Nclose.
Stephen and Luis communicate about cybersecurity in the public sector with one of the African organizations, as well as the risks, demanding situations and weaknesses in it.
Now, let’s take a DIP!