Why cloud is important and what are the risk factors?

Technological improvement has changed our lifestyles, eating habits, and shopping preferences. As customers continue to identify new options for technology, customer expectations and services are improving, and the demand for new experiences continues to grow. 

With the introduction of virtual assistants, AI and customer self-service industries that include hospitability can deliver improved customer engagement. 

In 2015, as per a Bloomberg report, Federal agencies spent $2.4b on cloud computing infrastructure, support, and software implementation. The figure was up to $4.3 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $5 billion in 2019. 

Cloud computing is about collaboration and efficient management where the employees need to communicate proficiently through it instead of traditional methods. 

However, such implementations require improvement in several areas to empower businesses of all sizes to create and elevate the customer experience. 

It is a Software-as-a-Service, providing users with a better way to manage, store and share documents. Applications on it can be accessed through an internet connection and are particularly beneficial for SMBs struggling to manage data stores or everyday customer transactions. 

It provides fully functional applications, which can be gained for a subscription and upgraded with new functionalities effectively without cost. 

Advantages of Cloud 

It offers options to reduce the cost of operation and provide better services. The implementation may require initial investments but provides a competitive edge to the companies. 

The progression in the artificial intelligence sector, where people are concerned about the impact on their profession and in reducing workload, is changing rather than evolving at each stage of development. 

The companies need to integrate the latest versions to support the business operations better to fight the new competition, as it can get positive customer interactions and help improve customer service.  

Risks 

Several financial organizations are keen on moving to the cloud, but the complex regulatory requirements widely restrict such transitions. A study by a Finastra survey on UK banks found that 43 per cent of the banks were keen to go on it but could not take advantage of it due to regulatory restrictions.  

It offers a safe alternative to conduct business, but security issues have been a major problem. The leaders in the market include AWS, which holds 32.3 per cent of the market share in Q4 2018; other companies involved are Azure, Google, Alibaba, and IBM. Many of the providers host SaaS-based services on the same platform. It mainly aims to spread the risk factors as the security aspect is not as strong as desired. 

Symantec's Cloud Security Threat Report states more than 53 per cent of the workload has shifted to the cloud. However, 93 per cent of the firms said they were storing data in more than any environment, and 69 per cent said they were still storing data on-premises.