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Everyone is moving to the cloud. Individual, solopreneurs, SMBs, and multinational conglomerates have embraced the potential of cloud computing and are using it to streamline their operations while saving money.

That said, every technology has pros and cons, and  cloud computing is no exception. It involves certain challenges and risks that must be understood before a smooth cloud rollout.

In this article, we’re going to discuss those risks and challenges and explore strategies to prevent or minimize the dangers.

Top Cloud Challenges and Risks

Data Security and Privacy

It stands that the biggest concerns with cloud computing are data security and privacy. A Statista survey tells us that 64% of respondents in 2021 said data loss or leakage was their biggest concern with cloud computing. In the same survey, 62% said that data privacy was their second largest concern.

Is this is a worthy concern in 2022? Yes and no. While it’s true that the cloud puts your data offsite and relegates it to the control of outside parties, there have been numerous developments in security that make cloud extremely safe. If nothing else, understand that cloud service providers built their entire businesses around providing secure cloud. With that in mind, one realizes that they apply significantly more resources and expertise toward security than the average business owner could on their own.

How to address this challenge: Choose a reliable, secure cloud provider who uses identity authentication, management, and access controls. Check their service level agreement for security and uptime guarantees. Simple due diligence goes a long way.

Compliance Risks

Increasing cyberattacks and growing concern over data privacy are leading to more and more regulations. Regulatory initiatives like HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, and others are put in place to ensure organizations take steps to maintain data security and privacy for their business and customers.

This means the compliance issue comes into play for anyone using cloud storage or backup services. Moving data to the cloud doesn’t remove the need to remain compliant. Organizations that fail to do so could face penalties that can cost them money and customer trust.

How to address this challenge: Ask potential cloud vendors about their compliance measures. Ensure they’re able to provide the security and reporting necessary for your organization to stay in compliance.

Lack of Visibility and Control

Offloading resources needs to a remote location saves time, expenses, and effort, but end users sometimes worry about having reduced control and visibility into their software, data, and computing assets.

Some organizations find it challenging to gauge the security and continuity of their cloud systems because of limited access to the data and security tools on the cloud platform. This makes it rather difficult to create internal incident response plans.

How to address this challenge: Learn all necessary details about what data you can access and what security and controls a cloud provider uses before making a choice. Knowing this in advance allows you to set expectations and plan your controls.

Cloud Migration

Cloud migration means moving your data, services, applications, systems, and other technology assets from on-premises and into the cloud. It’s the means of moving some or all of your IT infrastructure from on-premises hardware to remote cloud data centers.

This can be challenging, as the migration process can consume a lot of time and resources. Organizations face challenges like extensive troubleshooting, speed, security, application downtime, complexity, and project expenses. On top of this, many organizations lack the specialized IT expertise needed to pull off a smooth cloud migration.

How to address this challenge: Before you choose a cloud service provider, make sure to inventory the critical IT functions that might be affected while migrating to the cloud. When shopping different cloud service providers, choose the most experienced provider who can offer hands-on assistance with running a successful cloud migration from top to bottom.

Access Controls and Management

Cybercriminals often leverage improperly configured access controls to steal credentials, execute data breaches, and install malware.

Poor access controls and management leaves an organization vulnerable to attacks. Moving data and operations to the cloud can create new access control vulnerabilities that must be closed.

How to address this challenge: You must have proper management for user accounts to avoid such issues. All those accounts should be administered centrally from an IT staff or MSP who can maintain strict access control policies at all times. You can also use a third-party tool to analyze all the users, groups, and roles.

Lack of Expertise

Cloud technologies are rapidly advancing, and more and more services and applications are being released to cater to different needs. Because the cloud is growing so quickly, expertise in the IT profession is having trouble keeping up. This makes cloud expertise costly and hard to find.

Make no mistake — just because someone is an IT professional doesn’t make them a cloud expert. This is a unique discipline with its own ins and outs.

How to address this challenge: Outsourcing cloud expertise is one of the best ways for organizations to secure the know-how and experience they need. End users can outsource to MSPs with a strong cloud background, and MSPs can outsource to cloud-specific service providers like Technolify.

Downtime

Thanks to redundancies and improvements in broadband internet, downtime is rarely a hardware failure or networking issue. Downtime for the cloud or cloud services is often caused by something simple and obvious — poor or interrupted internet connections.

If internet access is a bottleneck for an organization, they must consider how much of their data or computing they can safely relegate to the cloud.

How to address this challenge: Organizations going all-in on cloud technologies must ensure they have consistent and reliable internet connectivity. Those organizations which might not have that option for geographical or other reasons must be careful about how much reliance they place on cloud services.