Is The Cloud a dangerous place for the SME?

Every generation has its fashions or fads. These can range from language (modern slang) to technology to fashion to, well, almost anything.

One of the latest technology fads is The Cloud. Wherever you turn, there it is, on offer as a banner or as an email from a marketing company or just an ordinary advertisement on the wall of a tube station.

New technology is imperative, we cannot live without it, the wheel has to keep turning but the question is, at what or if at any cost?

Why am I sounding so negative ?

It is because we are being asked to pay to put our whole business lives in the hand of another. Someone unknown. 

Would you do this in any other area of your life ? Most people are petrified just to give their credit card details on an email. They get very concerned about giving out any personal data for fear of cloning or other misuse.

YET, handing over our client database, accounting information, business ideas/secrets etc.. NO PROBLEM... let’s give it to a third party.

Yes, the Cloud operator will give all sorts of guarantees, both technical and ethical.

So what happens when the operator of The Cloud is unable to provide the service for whatever reasons? What reasons, you may ask? Well, here are a few:

1.   Technical failure by the operator or one of his service providers. When one of your PCs goes down, you still have the others. With the cloud, it is all or nothing.

2.   Internet connectivity failure, either yours or the Cloud contractor’s, even if for only a few minutes

3.   Disagreement, disputes or any other form of contention with the Cloud operator. They have the upper hand, they control your business lifeline.

4.   The operator decides to implement new systems which may not suit you or even increases fees beyond your budget.

5.   The contractor goes bust and your “Cloud is blowing away into the hands of the receiver”

I am sure there are many other reasons I could come up with but the ones above are sufficient to make me seriously concerned, if not scared.

Progress must. That is for sure. The Cloud may be the future, however I think unless you are a large company with muscle, the cloud is a very dangerous place for the SME.