When it comes to new technologies, which camp do you fall into?
Are you an eager, early adopter? Or, are you more cautious, skeptical, and arrive later on the scene?
Every new technology has its supporters and detractors, and adoption of cloud technology is no different.
The pros and cons of cloud technology and resources means it can deliver strong advantages. Yet, scenarios remain where local data centers still provide the better choice.
In fact, some early cloud technology adopters now find themselves moving resources back to on-prem data centers, for one reason or another.
To determine the best option for your organization, consider the pros and cons of cloud technology for your specific uses – and recognition that as your organization changes, the right solution may also change.
Let’s take a look at whether cloud technology is still the right choice for you.
Reasons to Return from the Cloud
When first developed and implemented, one key pitch for moving to cloud technology was reliability.
But lately, many users found themselves unable to access their cloud resources.
For example, on June 21, Cloudflare misconfigured their internal network, creating a massive outage affecting major resources, like Amazon Web Services and Gitlab. This followed outage issues with Microsoft 365 services caused by infrastructure power outages.
While data problems can happen in nearly any situation, it’s frustrating when it’s something you have absolutely no control over.
So, what about the costs involved? Again, the pros and cons of cloud technology must be weighed against your business’s needs.
In some cases, yes – you will save money by making the move. It can free up precious space and energy costs, and save you from upgrading your equipment (at least for a while longer).
But, some customers never realize these promised cloud cost savings.
Why? Because their operations teams select overpowered resources, such as high-performance, multiple-CPU instances with high-volume storage repositories.
While resources are available to reduce cloud costs, some organizations would benefit by assigning one person a central role: managing cloud technology infrastructure and shutting down unnecessary resources.
Experts now see slowing migration to the cloud. Additionally, they see data moving from the cloud back to on-site data centers, because of declining hardware costs.
However, most transitions utilize a hybrid approach – not a full transition of all resources.
Hybrid setups use the cloud for some functions, like email, and leave others as local resources.
Some might even choose complex hybrid models with a baseline need satisfied by a local data center, with additional needs sourced from cloud resources – especially for storage.
Onsite Microsoft Exchange Server News
Email was one of the primary resources moved to the cloud with the adoption of Microsoft 365.
However, many organizations strongly prefer on-site Microsoft Exchange servers, and became worried when a promised 2021 release of a new version never arrived.
Fortunately (sort of), local Exchange teams don’t need to prepare for a transition to cloud technology – you just need to wait until 2025.
Microsoft’s delay was forced by development of many security patches, including out-of-band updates for older Exchange versions.
Sadly, these security vulnerabilities, present only in the on-premises versions, continue to be a major problem. The Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group dubbed ‘ToddyCat’ is just the latest in a series of attackers targeting on-prem Microsoft Exchange servers.
The BlackCat and Cuba ransomware gangs also targeted Microsoft Exchange servers earlier this year. These attackers sought to exploit unpatched vulnerabilities such as ProxyShell and ProxyLogon.
Although many IT teams may suffer fatigue from the constant flow of software updates, these attacks only work because so many servers remain unpatched. Make sure to do your due diligence, and update your systems!
Making Fact-Based Assessments
So, do these on-prem Microsoft Exchange flaws mean companies must move to the cloud?
Of course not; attackers will always seek to attack resources wherever they reside, and Office 365 is also a regular target.
But, if your organization struggles to update your software and maintain strong security on a regular basis, you’ll need to take a hard look at your capabilities and decide if changes need to be made.
There are many reasons why these critical updates may not be made on a timely basis.
Related Article: How to Protect Your Cloud Credentials from Theft
Lack of personnel, no one employee specifically responsibility for that role, or even software that can’t be updated for any number of reasons.
Many of these issues stem from limited budgets, limited IT staff, or limited security awareness. It’s a problem many businesses must deal with on a daily basis.
So, when evaluating the pros and cons of cloud technology, make sure it’s right for you.
While investing more money in staff and tools can address these issues, not all solutions need to cost more money. Though a cloud migration might be a good solution for some organizations, for others, the better solution may be outsourcing server management or patching responsibilities.
Final Thoughts
The pros and cons of cloud technology make it difficult to say for certain whether it’s right or wrong for your business today. It’s something you need to weigh based on your own needs and abilities as an organization.
While it can be one less item to update, secure, or buy something new for, it can be frustrating when you’re left unable to access your own data – such as in the case of the issues with Cloudflare’s misconfiguration and Microsoft’s power outages. At least when the problem is on your own end, you can act to fix it on your own terms. Of course, you’ll need to pay for it on your own terms, too. It’s all a trade-off
Additionally, if you know your team doesn’t always update on a regular basis, then it might be best to leave it in the hands of someone else.
If your management team is uncertain where your IT readiness stands, they’ll need to conduct penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to obtain a clear picture. They then need to sit down and have a practical, realistic assessment of any gaps between their expectations and the results.
Ideal Integrations, along with the help of our cybersecurity division, Blue Bastion Cyber Security, can provide all the help your business needs. We can provide testing, cloud migrations, on-site Exchange server management, or patching assistance for customers of all sizes.
Simply contact us at 412-349-6680, or fill out the form below, and our experts will provide a no-obligation consultation regarding your needs and reasonable solutions.