As we continue to work from home for the foreseeable future, ensuring your users have access to the data they need at any time, anywhere, on any device, is crucial.
Using cloud storage for data makes this possible.
Cloud storage means your data is stored in the cloud by way of a third-party cloud provider who offers data storage as a service. Using cloud storage means you don't have to pay for hardware and other costs associated with storing data on-premises. It also removes the burden of managing your data yourself, as the cloud provider takes ownership of that.
Storage is provided on as a pay-as-you-go basis, so there's no wastage and you won't pay for more than you use making it a cost-effective choice. Organisations can scale their storage capacity up or back as they need and in line with business requirements, which also helps you to be agile and flexible. It's even possible to move data which is not accessed frequently to a lower-cost storage tier. The right amount of data storage can be quickly delivered, and data is secure and protected in the cloud because it's stored across multiple datacentres, with backup and recovery included so human error and natural disasters won't result in data loss.
All of these things can have a transformative effect on IT departments and business operations. But it's essential that users trust the cloud they're using for data access and storage, or else they might be tempted to save data in other locations. To mitigate this, the Microsoft Cloud, Azure, includes Azure Recovery Services like Azure Backup which lets you restore virtual machines and corrupted files, and Azure Site Recovery, which replicates workloads running on physical and virtual machines from a primary site to a secondary location in case of a cloud outage. This means data is still accessible if the cloud goes down.
Read more about what happens when the cloud goes down in this blog.
Because of its flexibility, reliability and cost-effectiveness, cloud storage has a compelling business case; but transferring data from an on-premises environment to the cloud can be daunting, especially when legacy systems are involved. Migration services provided by cloud vendors can make migrating large amounts of data easier than trying to navigate the process yourself and also gives the peace of mind that data has been migrated securely.
Watch our video on migration services and things to consider when choosing a cloud service provider.
Of course, some organisations are fearful of storing sensitive and confidential information and data in the cloud; we see it often in the legal sector, especially. Security and compliance is the number one priority for cloud service providers, and compliance controls are available to ensure you meet industry standards. Many of these controls can be customised to suit your exact compliance needs. Azure has more than 90 compliance certifications, with more than 50 specific to countries and global regions. With so much investment and emphasis on compliance and security, concerns around these should never be a barrier to cloud migration.
Find out the security and compliance tools in Microsoft Azure.
With on-premises IT infrastructures becoming increasingly impractical, cloud data storage is one of the quickest and most effective ways for organisations to ensure their data can be easily accessed at any time, and is stored completely securely.
Our Cloud Readiness Solution is the perfect starting point for organisations beginning their journey to the cloud. This one-time assessment establishes the current cloud maturity baseline in your business, and identifies the scope of potential changes to your current IT landscape required to move to the cloud.
Book your assessment here or contact us for more information.