Cloud computing has enabled scalability, flexibility, and efficiency in managing day-to-day tasks and business operations. It provides you with better data security, storage, and management capabilities. This makes the business processes smoother, offering more organizational visibility while allowing collaboration and better decision-making. Amongst the many benefits of cloud management, some downsides are also attached to it. 

Any business that wants to implement cloud management will face these challenges. When these roadblocks are handled expertly, enterprises can develop, grow and scale rapidly in the market as companies do not just use the cloud for storage or security purposes. They utilize various offerings for different functions with the help of business applications and development environments to support their infrastructure. However, the cloud could be better than you may think. Here are some challenges you face when using cloud management. Furthermore, we have provided solutions to its challenges so you can expertly handle them, making them work effectively for your business. 

Cloud Management Challenges and Their Solutions

Technological advancements have enabled companies to deploy hybrid cloud strategies. These are helping companies to scale and become flexible, but they come with a set of challenges. So while your IT infrastructure becomes resilient and high performing, there are some challenges mentioned here that you should pay attention to.

 

1. Data Security & Breaches 

As systems are becoming complex, utilizing hybrid cloud models and keeping up with security is becoming a pressing matter for companies.  The data security concerns come from the cloud service provider needing help to provide effective control tools and access management. Data misuse, cloud configuration, and data leaks with a cloud provider are risks. Moreover, you will always have a threat of remotely hacking your system, making the cloud less secure than on-premises data storage. Not all managed service providers are reliable enough to manage and secure your data. Any negligence in their management can cost you a lot.

 

Solution

When selecting a managed service provider, firstly research them. Talk to their customer and view their feedback. Go for a reputable provider with strong security controls and cloud configuration. Then keep your hardware and software updated so they can efficiently prevent data breaches. Ensure your system has all the tools to fight off cyberattacks, such as firewalls, antivirus, and high bandwidth for cloud management. 

2. High Cloud Costs

Businesses save a lot when going for cloud-managed services. They save extra hardware and infrastructure support costs by investing in cloud services. Although if costs can also get out of hand with poor data and usage calculation. When all departments use cloud services, the cost of usage increases, and so does the bill from your cloud service provider. You can easily over-provision resources to meet your company’s demands. This causes the costs of cloud services to rise, making them quite expensive.

 

Solution

The are a few ways in which you can solve this problem. All the extra costs of the cloud can be avoided by planning. Start by planning the capacity of your usage. You can work with your cloud service provider to estimate your use. Ask your provider for all the extra costs attached to services. This can entail your provider charging you for extensive data transfers from the cloud system. In that case, use incremental backups rather than full ones. Moreover, monitor your costs and keep track of how much you are spending. For this, you can use the tools from the cloud provider to budget, forecast, and control spending. 

3. High Network Dependant

Unsurprisingly, the cloud works best with a robust and reliable network. If you have less bandwidth, your cloud services operations will be faster and more disruptive[1]. You will need a consistently functioning network with high bandwidth and sound signals to have a properly working cloud. This will increase the speed of your operations, significantly boosting your transferring rates and performance. 

Solution

Install a network with high bandwidth and coverage. Get regular wireless site surveys to ensure your networking performs to its total capacity. Ensure your access points are placed strategically to give you the full range. 

4. Complex Multicloud Environment 

Muiltcloud environment can become quite complex and challenging. If it is managed well, then its challenges can be reduced. With a multi-cloud environment, organizations utilize a combination of clouds from different providers, giving rise to implementation and usage issues due to their complexity [2]. These are configuration errors, weak data governance, lack of security patches, complex access controls, and less visibility of the multi-cloud architecture. Tracking a multi-cloud environment’s security, access, and usage is challenging. Moreover, applying governance to this model is difficult, as you must implement policies across various boards. 

Solution

You do not need to jump into this model if you are a small to medium-level company. You can start by getting different cloud services from one provider and work up once your processes are streamlined and sophisticated. For bigger enterprises, multi-cloud solutions work much better as their processes are already streamlined. Once they deploy it, their environment becomes more sophisticated and complex. They also need to plan a multi-cloud security strategy. 

5. Lack of Resources

IT skills are quite common, and there are numerous courses and programs helping people become experts in them. People prefer to go into various IT fields, but companies still need more cloud deployment and migration skills. To help companies grow using cloud management, IT experts who excel in cloud architecture, service platforms, application programming interfaces (APIs) [3], cloud security, data migration, and languages are required. 

Solution

Companies must invest in their employees and help them excel by providing cloud training programs. This way, they can retain IT employees and give them new challenges and projects to work on developing the company’s cloud environment. Furthermore, companies must plan their resources and infrastructure to implement cloud services successfully. They can also outsource cloud migration and implementation to a managed service provider. 

Conclusion

Cloud management helps businesses scale, grow and make better decisions. It has several challenges: data security, cloud costs, high network dependence, complex multi-cloud environment, and lack of resources. Although these challenges are managed well, they can be an excellent investment for your business. This management entails preparing for these challenges. This can be done by planning, considering the resources you require, forecasting the need, calculating the budget, analyzing security strategies, and going in prepared. All of which will help you in successful cloud service implementation. 

FAQs

1. How can businesses overcome cloud computing challenges?

Start by thoroughly researching cloud management and checking the different services available. Plan ahead of the resources, infrastructure, budget, and security you will require considering your business needs. You can also work with the managed service provider to help you navigate cloud services and their implementation. 

2. How can businesses overcome cloud migration challenges?

Assess your current IT infrastructure and environment. Identify all the issues and dependencies that you may face during cloud migration. Plan the migration process with the IT department. Outline all the steps you need to perform in the migration. Then select a reliable cloud service provider that fits your business requirements. 

3. What is the major challenge that stops companies from going towards cloud management?

The major challenge companies face is the skill gap. Before going for cloud services, companies assess if their team has the skills required for cloud migration and operation. To overcome this, they must invest in the teams and provide them with cloud-related training programs. Companies also need to have a resource strategy before getting cloud services.

4. What are the cloud management solutions available in the market?

There are three types of cloud management solutions available. These are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). In IaaS, companies control their infrastructure by our having it on the site physically. With PaaS, companies have a framework to build custom applications. With SaaS, a third party manages your internet-enabled software. 

Reference:

[1]https://www.tribuscomputer.com/low-bandwidth-means-slow-network-performance/#:~:text=We%20know%20that%20low%20bandwidth,Streaming%20videos%20on%20YouTube%2C%20Netflix

[2]https://www.nutanix.com/info/multi-cloud-environment

[3]https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/what-is-an-api#:~:text=Many%20people%20ask%20themselves%2C%20%E2%80%9CWhat,data%20within%20and%20across%20organizations.