Get your head out of the cloud(s)

Cloud computing is by no means a new phenomenon. In the last few years, the cloud has gained widespread popularity amongst SMEs and even large conglomerates facilitating flexibility, not to mention it cuts the cost of hardware and is environmentally friendly.

But of course, everything comes with a price. Disgruntled ex-employees, hacktivists and cyber criminals can easily unlock corporate data and classified information with cloud technology. From their research, Computing magazine revealed that 45% of 256 UK decision makers expressed that security was their main concern when it came to cloud technology, so with a plethora of data breaches associated with this prevalent technology, is it really worth sticking to the cloud? This yields a sound solution for on premise technology, especially for those organisations, like government bodies, who store sensitive data.

Traditional on premise solutions offer the end user a multitude of solutions many of which alleviate security concerns, it’s a secure perimeter. Data and network security are in the organisation’s hands and no third party can tamper with the system.

On premise solutions are hosted on site or at an organisation’s data centre, kept in the bounds of the organisation’s infrastructure which means the administrator has complete control. Although it is only as secure as you make it, organisations that deploy on premise have complete control of their whole infrastructure and therefore you limit the vulnerability.

This is not to say that you should disregard the cloud completley. What most people refer to as the ‘Cloud’ actually refers to ‘Public Cloud’. Private Clouds are a symbiosis of both the dexterity and cost-effectiveness of cloud services with the data security and control of your own infrastructure. When choosing a Unified Communications system it is worth considering all aspects to suit your business but it’s important to consider the notion that on-premise solutions offer the end user a plethora of solutions, many of which alleviate security concerns.

Learn more about on premise solutions.