Top 10 myths of cloud technologies according to Gartner

Over the past ten years, cloud computing has become a mature technology, however, there is still a halo of myths about its real business benefits. It does not matter: whether these myths focus on the security area of clouds or on their economic feasibility - any myths harm the correct perception of any new technology.

Let's go through a dozen of the most common "cloud myths" and assess how close they are to reality.

Myth 1: The main advantage of clouds is that they reduce IT costs.

Sometimes this is true - clouds really reduce IT costs, but there are many other reasons why companies can switch to using clouds - and most often these reasons are reduced to an increase in IT infrastructure flexibility. A survey of “Gartner's 2014 CIO survey” showed that cost reduction was the main reason for using public clouds in only 14% of surveyed companies. Cost reduction should be taken into account as one of the important advantages, but it should not be definitely considered as the main reason for the transition to the clouds.
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Myth 2: Clouds are “fashionable” and the company must use them to be considered “modern”

Due to the fact that at some point the clouds became a “fashion trend”, vendors appeared that even called their own technologies such clouds, which, strictly speaking, do not apply to clouds. As a result, the original meaning was strongly blurred. At the same time, companies need to apply exactly the functionality (for example, virtualization, automation of IT processes, etc.) that they need, regardless of the marketing of these technologies.

Myth 3: Clouds solve all problems.

Despite possible economic benefits, transferring unadapted or simply old applications to the cloud is not a good option. Clouds are wise to use only when they can give businesses additional flexibility (in the form of “service on demand”, fast scaling for new tasks, granular accounting of resources, etc.). Not all types of business processes are equally well adapted to the use of clouds - so when it is more efficient to use “cloudless” solutions, you do not need to use clouds.

Myth 4: “The CEO said that clouds are our strategy.”

As Gartner polls show, in reality, companies often do not have any clear and well-developed “cloud strategies” - just the desire of the CEO. A “cloud strategy”, like any other strategy, must begin with the formulation of business goals and reflecting exactly how clouds help them realize them, taking into account possible risks, as well as analyzing alternative solutions. Clouds are just one of the possible ways to achieve the organization’s business goals; they themselves are not the goal.

Myth 5: “Single Supplier Strategy” should automatically apply to cloud providers

Cloud providers provide a different set of services; Not all clouds are the same in functionality and prices for cloud operations. Therefore, the strategy should be developed on the basis of the final efficiency of business processes, which may be different when using different cloud providers.

Myth 6: Public clouds are less secure than private clouds.

Public clouds seem less secure. To date, according to statistics, most of the information security incidents with clouds occur in cases where the sources of problems were found, including in internal data center companies, and cases where the sources of problems related exclusively to the public nature of clouds can be counted on fingers. Any cloud provider guarantees a certain level of service for its services, while security is a self-evident part of the contract with the client, and there is no reason to believe that public cloud providers allow a lower level of guarantees in this area.

Myth 7: Clouds - Not for Critical Applications.

If necessary, cloud functionality can usually be customized by the provider, due to which the level of service can be achieved (by load, fault tolerance, etc.) sufficient for the functioning of the company's critical applications. In addition, a hybrid approach can be applied, combining the use of a company's local data center and a public cloud. In other words, it all depends on what requirements the company makes to the functioning of its critical applications, and how far the cloud provider can go in the field of customization of its services.

Myth 8: Public cloud is a replacement for the company's internal data center.

Cloud strategy should not assume that the company's internal data center automatically ceases to exist. As noted above, in some cases, some types of applications (old, not optimized for remote use, business critical, etc.) are not efficiently transferred to the public cloud. Therefore, cloud strategy should be based on a detailed analysis of what makes sense to transfer to the cloud, and what should be left in the company's internal data center.

Myth 9: A simple server transfer to the cloud will automatically give “all cloud benefits” to a business.

It is necessary to distinguish between server transfer to the cloud (“re-hosting”) and application transfer (usually with a corresponding restructuring of business processes). The set of benefits will be different. For example, in the case of “re-hosting” the company will be able to increase the efficiency of the equipment budget. In the second case, you can really get a full set of advantages of clouds (service on request, payment for using the service, flexible scaling of the service, etc.).

Myth 10: Virtualization = Private Cloud

Virtualization technology is widely used to implement cloud services. However, clouds can be built without it. In some cases it is even more effective to do without it. As a consequence, this myth is a matter of confusing terms. In formulating its business objectives, it should be clearly described what exactly the company's goal is to upgrade data center technology or a new business model for providing IT services.