Productivity

Your present office IT Setup can be turned into a Private Cloud

By Nick Tang

August 19th, 2024 @ 2:16 PM GMT+8

There are many known public cloud storage services available in the market, such as Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. These public cloud storage services are known as a “Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)”.

In a recent meeting with a company, the management was looking for a solution to have their documents and files available online for their employees. Given the confidential nature of their business, they needed options other than the SaaS Cloud Storage services available in the market. They consulted us on their need to allow their employees to work away from home without exposing their documents publicly.

We assessed the company’s present IT setup, and they shared on how they wanted the system to accommodate their business operations. With the consolidated information gathered, we recommended the relevant modification in line with their budget to turn their existing IT infrastructure to Private Cloud.

Other than manageability and security, there are benefits of Private Cloud worth considering:

1. Data Location

Companies know exactly the storage location of their master files and documents. This covers them from the physical access issue, without surrendering their data to an unknown location, and there could also be an unknown technician who could possibly have access to their data.

2. Owned versus Shared

Private Cloud is a dedicated environment, where the infrastructure is exclusively owned by one organization, which reduces the risk of data breaches or unauthorized access. There is no risk of “noisy neighbours” or other tenants compromising security.

3. Enhanced Security

You can implement tailored security policies, such as advanced firewalls, encryption, and access controls that meet specific compliance requirements. For example, company can adopt VPN to authorize the genuine users and company devices to access the files. Each user access is locked and logged, providing an audit trail to the IT Administrator for investigation.

4. Flexible to Support Business Operational Needs

Every company is unique, and the IT required to support its’ business operation is different too. The ability to scale and customize technology to streamline its’ operation would contribute to its success, with complete control over the entire environment, including the operating systems, applications, and data management. This allows for greater flexibility in configuring the environment to meet specific business needs.

5. Meeting the Regulatory Compliance

Many industries, such as finance, healthcare, and government, have strict regulations regarding data processing and storage. A dedicated environment allows you to comply with these regulations easily, as you have complete control over where and how data is stored and processed.

While the entry point of adopting public cloud services may be low, selecting the right technology to support business operations is crucial. Implementing new technology within a company can be challenging, but the real difficulty arises when that technology cannot be upgraded or adapted to meet evolving business needs.