The short answer to that question is – YOU
The real question may be “Do I have full control of my data with on-premise servers?”
If you are still in the IT closet, managed by an expert IT team, trust me when I say that at every security patch, they are praying that on the restart, the system doesn’t fail. If it fails, your dependent client/server software stops cold, your intangible assets vaporize, and your handy disaster recovery plan kicks into high gear (where technology meets religion). Tick Tock….
Cloud technology lays those risks to rest. In our last article, we talked about several benefits of transitioning your company to the cloud.
Here’s a significant benefit to add to that list: Redundancy.
What that means is that throughout multiple data centers, in different geospheres, Microsoft is hosting your company’s environment in a redundant architecture. This involves deploying multiple instances of a service on geographically and physically separate hardware. The “Microsoft Cloud” delivers high availability, with built in resiliency and redundancy. Their engineers start with the assumption that the underlying infrastructure will fail at some point.
Built in resiliency and redundancy
Here’s an example: Microsoft is storing your digital assets (data) in a primary data center in California, and during a natural disaster such as a major wildfire, that data center burns down. As that center goes offline, the secondary center, perhaps in Utah, continues running. You, the client, have lost no communication or data at all. This switch is so seamless, you may not even realize that it happened. This is resiliency. Your subscription, along with thousands of others, pays for these expert teams to protect your data.
Imagine the peace of mind of walking out of your office and knowing your intangible assets are safe and that all your work will continue on time tomorrow, even if your IT closet catches on fire. Not only for you, but for your thousands of employees.
Coming out of the (IT) closet
During the past few years, transitioning to the cloud has gained considerable momentum – more and more companies are realizing that the sheer size of their operation dictates the need for better control over their enterprise. With hundreds or thousands of employees logging in to do their work in today’s world, downtime is simply not an option.
In the last article, we talked about how transitioning to the cloud lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT. The cyclical money pit: Keeping an on–premise server means capital allocations for required upgrades, new servers, faster switching…this investment runs in the $10’s of thousands per server. Additionally, firewalls, switches, routers, and other security appliances that manage your security face a similar 5yr life expectancy. So, what now? You’re 2.5yrs into the term on your latest upgrade….
Time to consider the cloud approach – a monthly subscription, pay as you go. Start with a hybrid architecture and step out your adoption strategy with your team. Allow Microsoft to bear the expense of all the hardware and extras. When you understand how the cloud works, it makes more sense to migrate than to hold onto your in-house IT closet.
Safer than storing your data on-premise
Secure data means you control your own data
What Microsoft has created throughout its complex cloud is a trust center. Layers of security, redundancy, synchronicity. They’re in the business of providing security assurances, so that you don’t have to worry about your data. It’s available to you on-demand, memorialized, catalogued, tracked.
How does a “data leak” happen? The truth is – data leaks are primarily “inside jobs”, where someone from inside your company decides to take proprietary intellectual property from your network. This may happen whether or not you’re in the cloud. However, in the cloud, all that activity can be tracked. You’re covered if a risk incident occurs – background AI auditing is not only able to notify you of the incident, but also able to figure out what, how, when, and by whom. Risk mitigation is built-in to your cloud environment, and when properly setup, incident tracking is easy.
Fully HIPAA Compliant
Is the cloud HIPAA compliant?
Microsoft is heavily invested in insuring trust for your regulatory compliance. Whether it is HIPAA, FedRAMP, PCI or other compliance standard, you can trust that Microsoft has assembled an expert team around the environment to ensure your data is protected on their side.
Settings for your corporate policies for information governance, archive, and data retention are available in the compliance center – all these regulatory policies are detailed with implementation dates, test dates and notes. This is an important testament to your compliance incentives in the case of an audit. The compliance manager is interactive and user-friendly with targeted guidance while scoring your setup effectiveness, with resolution recommendations, assisting you with closing the compliance loop for your organization Again, you have full control as you build your compliance on top of Microsoft’s impeccable compliance measures.
Your Microsoft Partner
Where does Prone 2 Dream Technologies fit in?
As a Microsoft partner, we provide cloud migration services including compliance manager set up. Whether you are looking to move into the cloud for the first time or would like an assessment of your current tenant, we have the experience to guide your team. Contact us today for your complimentary consultation: Call 469-294-5233 or email ContactUs@prone2dream.com