Moving Away From The Cloud

It's 2024, why would business move away from the cloud? Yet they are

In this episode, we discuss the reasons why organizations are moving away from the cloud, the challenges faced by using cloud solutions and why On-Premise solutions are becoming the more affordable option. So why is Cloud computing becoming expensive today? Listen here. 

Transcript

EP 66 – Moving Away From The Cloud 

Episode Recap:

·      What is the issue with cloud computing today? 

·      Why are companies moving away from the cloud?

·      Should you move out of the cloud?

What is the issue with cloud computing? 

·      I will begin with talking about the humble beginnings of Cloud computing. Yes I am old enough to remember these days too. (laugh) if you think that this is meant to be a jab at my age, you are wrong because it is simply a reflection for all of you to realize how fast and quick our digital frontier takes in the 21st century. 

·      The modern cloud computing beginngins as we understand it today took shape in the early 2000’s. Back in 2006 Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) which offered a suite of cloud-based services, including computing power, storage, and databases – on a pay-as-you-go basis. This humble beginnings revolutionized the global cloud computing era. I’ll also note that there were many “Regional” data centres that were handling various cloud computing operations, however in time other major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon and slowly eliminated these regional data centres. 

·      This paradigm of delivering computing resources over the internet was referred to cloud computing. This evolved rapidly with immense speed – with advancements in virtualization, containerization, automation and other technologies which drove IT infrastructure into new heights and various services were provisioned, managed and consumed. 

·      I say I remember these days from my beginnings in working with jumping around jobs in the Financial, University, Medical and National security. This was the time where cloud computing was being embraced and deployed in masse. I still think about how naive we were or just didn’t understand the bigger picture. Heck, I was still green at the time...my humble beginnings. For those who were born after the high-speed bandwidth days...or I should say after the dial-up days, you’ll never understand this feeling. 

·      I am not saying Cloud Computing was a problem, I fully believed it would change the world for the better, and it did. My concern was always about the security and privacy that we are all aware of today…hopefully. 

·      Cloud compting has many advantages as it has many disadvantages, I’ll list some of the issues that are raised about cloud compting

1)    Safety Concerns -  One of the primary concerns with cloud computing is data security. Storing sensitive data on remote servers managed by third-party providers raises concerns about data breaches, unauthorized access, and data loss. 

2)    Privacy Issues: Users may have concerns about the privacy of their data when stored on cloud servers. They may worry about how their data is accessed, used, and potentially shared by cloud service providers. Compliance with data protection regulations, such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), can be challenging in a cloud environment. I’ll speak more of this in a next episode. 

3)    Downtime and Reliability: While cloud service providers strive for high uptime and reliability, outages can still occur due to various reasons such as hardware failures, network issues, or even cyber attacks. Downtime can disrupt business operations and result in financial losses for users relying heavily on cloud services.

4)    Dependency on Internet Connection: Cloud computing heavily relies on internet connectivity. Users need a stable and high-speed internet connection to access and utilize cloud services effectively.

5)    Vendor Lock-In: Moving to the cloud often involves selecting a specific cloud service provider and adopting their proprietary technologies and APIs.

6)    Data Sovereignty and Compliance: Different countries have different regulations regarding data storage and processing. Users may face challenges ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations when their data is stored and processed in the cloud, especially if the cloud provider's data centers are located in multiple jurisdictions. Again, more on this on a next podcast episode. 

7)    Cost Management: While cloud computing offers scalability and flexibility, it can also lead to unexpected costs if not managed properly.

8)    Limited Control and Customization: Cloud users have limited control over the underlying infrastructure and software stack. This lack of control can be a concern for organizations with specific security, performance, or compliance requirements that may not be fully met by standard cloud offerings.

·      However, even with some of these challenges, cloud computing is the right choice for many organizations across the globe. Organizations continue to adopt cloud computing due to its scalability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ability to offload infrastructure management tasks. However, it's essential for organizations to carefully evaluate the risks and benefits of cloud computing and implement appropriate security and risk management measures to mitigate potential issues, regardless on how big and small they are. 

·      So this sounds like great news…but why are businesses leaving the cloud today?

Why are companies moving away from the cloud?

·      More companies are leaving the cloud, this is true. However the traditional belief is that companies are moving away from the local data centres and are adopting cloud-based infrastructure. This is true. 

·      IaaS – Infrastructure as a service has become a buzzword for many years, this includes various “as a service” acronyms that relate to cloud computing. So why the exodus from cloud-based infrastructure? Why the move back to the good old On-Premise infrastructure? 

·      What do the numbers say?

o   1. Rising Costs, you may think Im talking on On-Premise here, but Im speaking about the cloud. Many organizations that have started used the cloud as a smart option to reduce overhead and reduce overall expenses. Unfortunately the cost-savings in the cloud are not guaranteed in many cases. Once example is Basecamp, they left the cloud after many years of use because they started to enjoy the demand patterns. 

o   Security Issues – over 45% of these data breaches were cloud-based. Duh, not a surpise here. Consider the following – a group of centralized servers have hundreds of companies running operations inside of them. Which target do you think cybercriminals are going to go after first? The less effort, higher reward. Even with proper cybersecurity fortifications for a cloud-business, this base price of cloud spending will increase significantly. This may convince organizations to move the responsibility in house instead of taking higher-cost cybersecurity solutions from the vendor. 

o   Ensuring Regulatory compliance - Cloud compliance has been an entirely different world for businesses that migrated from physical infrastructure. They were suddenly failing or at risk of failing to meet various standards, which could cost them fines and put them in the crosshairs of legal trouble. This damage could potentially end a business. IN addition, many of these organizations assume compliance best practices are the responsibility of the cloud provider. Server location is also a situation here too, again more on this in next podcast. 

·      What are the benefits of moving back to On-Premise?

o   No Contracts or Vendor lock ins – that freedom of not being tied with vendors or contracts. Vendor lock-ins in my experience have caused some organizations terrible headaches.

o   Rapid Deployment - Moving back to on-premises from the cloud can give companies what they’ve been missing when it comes to workload deployments: speed, ease, and security. 

o   Range of Hardware options – Latest hardware to choose from, greater control in the needs and wants of an organization. 

·      It is not always sun shine and rainbows for On-Premise

o   I’ll say that management and talent are the real kickers when it comes to On-Prem solutions. It is not impossible; I’ve deployed various organizations in my time running my IT and Security management company. However, from my experience finding talent, finding management, and monitoring are the key actors here. For example, finding the right person or persons to manage the date centre is one thing, but there has been a significant talent shortage which could harm your company, actually managing the servers and everything that goes with it, and actively monitoring it. All of this takes time, energy and especially money. 

Should you move out of the cloud?

o   This is indeed a loaded question and the answer will have to be it depends on your particular situation. I can say that the hype of cloud computing in the 2000s has gone the ways of the steam engine. 

o   Yes cloud computing completely revolutionized computers, internet, communication, humans, etc. Without cloud computing you would not have all these fancy gadgets you enjoy right now. On the same breath, I can say this is the reason cyber attacks have increased along with our dependency of the internet. Let’s face the truth here, we NEED the internet to be able to function or society today. 

o   Recent industry discussions reveal that the Cloud is not always the answer and that the use of on-premise computing is starting to find its way into more and more use cases.

o   Most businesses, large and small, are using one or more cloud services. These services offer feature-rich, relatively inexpensive productivity applications allowing their customers to focus on core business objectives. The exponential growth in the volume of cloud storage required by businesses has created challenges for hyper-scalers, and as a result, running costs have increased, seeing rising costs passed down to their customers. 

o   The cold hard reality here is that cloud is not always cheaper. The payment of usage is not always black and white, but it requires active management to reduce costs. Redundancy is not always the best case here, if your cloud configuration doesn’t address redundancy, you can still have outages. Even without the need for a tech team, you still need investments in automation with the cloud SaaS provider.

o   This is why I see the same amount of effort going into cloud as on-premise, the gap is clearly closing on this one. Especially in 2024 where cyberattacks are increasing, your cloud provider is not on the hook or responsible to properly protecting your cloud infrastructure, so again, you are on the hook for when that does happen to you. 

o   Finding an organization or consultant that is well versed in these challenges that I have listed and the ones I did not list will help with deciding which direction your company should be headed in 2024. Always understanding that regardless where your data sits, it is your responsibility and you will need to take the time, energy and money to make certain that your data is indeed secured and no longer rely on that feeling of it is not your responsibility. 

o   Remember, when that day comes your cloud server gets breached and all your customer data get stolen – your customers will think of you with malice, not your cloud provider.