Compare between IT in-house and Cloud computing

1. Risk Management

In cloud computing, risk management calls for changes to be carried out in the organization and workload profile, since moving data to cloud platform often comes with significant risks. Some of the risks experienced in cloud computing include cloud failure and data security. Risk management, in cloud computing demands that one should revisit assumptions of risks. An organization or enterprise interested in moving its services to cloud platform needs to first, understand the changing risks as well as account for their emergence and then it should include risk management in its cloud computing. There are numerous risks in cloud computing as compared to in-house while viewing security data. Majority of organizations have involved high breed system making use of infrastructure with a public cloud while at the same time, controlling sensitive in-house data.

Data security and governance has also been a road block a well as risk to the computing platform. There are mitigation strategies which can be applied against these risks and they include the use of private cloud rather than a public one. Additionally, the provider of the cloud must be trustworthy. Though a platform of cloud computing is seen as cheaper, majority of IT personnel choose to stick to in-house IT due to concerns of reliability, security and performance in the cloud platform.

1. Backup Management

In-house infrastructure lacks the efficient backup system that is found in the cloud platform. With in-house infrastructure, there is also need for hardware schedules and backup. There is also increased cost for in-house computing terms of costs for off-site storage, tapes and discs. Use of cloud computing to back the data gets rid of such costs. This is even more applicable for larger files where the vendor needs to only upload the files needed and not the entire database through use of deltas. In cloud computing, there is also enhanced disaster recovery as well as planning in the continuity of business. With in-house computing, there is also data redundancy, which can be eliminated within cloud platform. A major benefit of the in-house backup over cloud is the speed and majority of companies have chosen to make hybrid of the two backups in order to combine strengths.

With cloud platform, there are issues related to amount of bandwidth used while transferring the files for backup. This can easily be avoided through provision of incremental backups by cloud service provider after the first complete backup. However, the data that needs to be archived should be non-critical so as to enhance real time objectives since there is a limit to the amount of data that can be moved over the network. In-house IT then becomes efficient in backing data up that always changes disks and tapes.

1. Security Management

One of the top concerns whenever it comes to moving cloud platform for the majority of enterprises is security, despite the fact it is more secure when compared to what a large number of these organizations are presently using. The level of cloud computing security depends on the cloud provider and the organization. An in-house IT infrastructure might prove to have security that is better when it comes down to applications that are mission critical because of geographical location issues and control of resource data. These applications are ideal for server virtualization or internal clouds. The external cloud providers, often private ones are supposed to demonstrate some level of security needed for these programs to operate in such a platform.

There have been instances of security breaches in the platform of cloud computing. It becomes easier for hackers to acquire information online, such as those stored in cloud compared to information that is in an in-house infrastructure. Moving of information to the cloud also has some negative impact on majority of organizations. Such organizations move sensitive data to the cloud platform hence losing responsibility for it. Often, they lack the necessary knowledge on providers of the cloud service before they move the data. Cloud service providers who have already used security measures such as data fragmentation and data encryption over different servers are the ones with increased security for the data they store. The only way to make sure data is secure in a cloud for the organizations is to make sure the security measures that are applied before the data is transferred to third parties is secure. Data encryption is supposed to be applied before the data is transferred to the provider of the cloud service and what is more the provider should apply the encryption to the data provided.

1. Privacy

Among some of the numerous risks that cloud computing platform faces includes data privacy. Majority of the organizations use internal clouds more compared to external ones as a result of this. The back office application and database is used in-house since it regulates and provides data privacy.

There exists concerns about protecting personal information, especially whenever such information is available online. Cloud computing, at least two parties are involved in the transaction and these are, the agency using the cloud service and the provider of the service. One of the concerns that arises is just how effective control of such information can be when it leaves the owner of the information to get to the provider of the cloud service. A cloud service provider therefore should make sure they enhance the privacy of information through use of good security measures like data encryption and data fragmentation across different servers.

Once the information belonging to an organization leaves in-house infrastructure, the organization no longer has responsibility over that information. In order to maintain privacy of the data, an organization is supposed to keep its sensitive information within a private network.

1. Recovery Management

The cloud computing is a platform that is better for recovery management compared to in-house infrastructure since it reduces costs and prevents organizations from deploying effective recovery plans. Deployment of recovery plans can be likened to replicating a log file into database. In the instance of in-house infrastructure, data recovery or disaster recovery can be quite time consuming and tedious, and often, organizations can spend weeks before they go back to normal routines. In the world of business, two possibilities exist and this means they either fail completely or alternatively, they never fully recover. In-house infrastructure with backup that is tape based lacks to deliver what can be delivered by a cloud platform since it does not have any data recovery strategies that are comprehensive.

Incorporation of recovery management as part of cloud computing platform helps to greatly reduce the process need and power usage needed within shared environments. In the end, the initiative does not need a large amount of infrastructure and as such, there is benefit of scalability to flexibility and grow. In cloud computing, data recovery is cost effective and the best for attainment of governance goals as well as compliance.