Four digital experts (Steve Wozniak (Co-Founder, Apple); David Linthicum (CCSO, Deloitte); Chris Scanlan (Americas President, Check Point Software); Sean Canevaro (CEO, KIS) tell us about how businesses can transition to the cloud, best practices for security, and using the cloud to enhance productivity and output.
How have cloud solutions allowed large companies to operate differently?
Steve Wozniak: It is usually faster and easier to add cloud storage than another hardware system in a company's data center, so enterprise cloud storage can help engineering teams get new ideas developed faster.
What advice would you give to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud?
SW: No matter which cloud file-sharing or enterprise cloud storage you choose, make sure it can still deliver data seamlessly for users People expect technology to be transparent today, and as engineers, it's our job to deliver a great, easy experience.
Where do you see the big data and cloud storage industry going?
SW: Ease of use and automation will be big trends for enterprise technology [Adobe] Flash made applications fast, and the cloud makes it easier to scale, but nothing ties these two tiers together yet The missing link is the ability to manage an application's evolving needs for more performance or capacity.
When should a business migrate to the cloud?
David Linthicum: When it feels it is ready to gain value from workloads running in the cloud. Timelines for moving to the cloud should be based on need and not expectations from the industry or other force.
How can a business maximize the full potential of its cloud technologies?
DL: Define what success means This means s1tt1ng down and agreeing on a set of criteria and numbers that will determine that the movement to the cloud has been worth the investment These really need to be business metrics, with core business objectives that can be quantified.
How is the modern business using cloud technologies to more effectively achieve its long-term goals?
DL: In a word agility Modern business is looking to move as fast as, or faster than, its close competitors Cloud computing is a force-multiplier in this regard and learning how to use it effectively comes back 100-fold in the initial investment.
What are some challenges organizations face when moving assets and data to the cloud?
Chris Scanlan: The most common set of challenges seen in today's cloud environment includes visibility and response to security incidents, protection of sensitive data, meeting compliance requirements, assessing risk to your business - across your on-premise and cloud environment - and the lack of qualified staff.
What should business owners do to prevent a data breach in the cloud?
CS: Provide cloud security education and training to your employees in and around the cloud environment Encrypt sensitive data, restrict access to the internet for applications and workloads, and implement strong password protections as well as two-step authentication to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access in the cloud.
What are the benefits of cloud adoption?
Sean Canevaro: I think that a leveling of the IT cost infrastructure is really the biggest benefit Typical IT departments over the last 35 years have run through a cycle of forklift upgrades that are very expensive, very intrusive, and very dangerous The cloud can now take all of those forklift upgrades and smooth them out so that there's really a fairly predictable monthly cost for all of the services that are being provided in the cloud.
What can be compromised in a breach?
SC: In a lot of situations, it's user ID and password information So it doesn't cause immediate pain to the company itself to have their clients' user IDs and passwords stolen. But it certainly costs them in the public trust domain, where nobody wants to keep their user IDs and passwords with somebody who isn't protecting them.
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