Dilemma over travel class: Deciding between premium economy and economy for your data allocation
In the realm of data management, businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of treating their data as a valuable asset, warranting protection and investment akin to first-class data. This article explores the key differences between hosting business-critical data in a managed private cloud (first-class data) and a public cloud (economy data).
A managed private cloud offers exclusive infrastructure, enhanced security, control, and tailored Service Level Agreements (SLAs), making it ideal for business-critical data where compliance, privacy, and high availability are paramount. Typically, managed private clouds provide customized, stringent SLAs with guaranteed uptime, dedicated support, and faster incident response due to exclusive resource control. Security is bolstered by advanced measures like firewalls, intrusion detection, encrypted communication, and restricted access to approved users. This isolation reduces the risk of data breaches and supports compliance with strict regulations.
On the other hand, public clouds emphasize cost-efficiency, scalability, and standard SLAs, fitting for less sensitive or "economy" data but may fall short for stringent data protection needs. Public clouds usually provide standardized, multi-tenant SLAs with good availability but less customization, potentially resulting in less predictable performance for critical workloads. Although public clouds invest heavily in security, there is a higher attack surface due to shared resources and broader access scope, which may not meet the needs for sensitive or regulated data.
Choosing between the two depends on the organization's regulatory requirements, risk tolerance, budget, and need for customized support. Hybrid models can combine these benefits, managing critical data in private clouds while leveraging public cloud flexibility for less sensitive workloads. Both environments benefit from modern practices such as automated data discovery, real-time monitoring, and integrated incident response to enhance data security and compliance.
The new European data privacy framework demands robust data protection, and soon organisations will need to inform citizens when they lose their data. Processing transactions involves taking responsibility for peoples' financial data, which is a highly sensitive undertaking and complex. Therefore, it is essential to consider the best possible environment for business-critical data and for highly regulated industries, such as local authority payment systems. All classes of data must be able to move across environments interchangeably for flexibility in supporting high traffic events.
In the world of cloud computing, hosting data in a managed private cloud is equivalent to traveling first class. It offers benefits such as guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs), high levels of security, resilience, redundancy, optimum performance, and uninterrupted availability. Conversely, the public cloud, or economy class in the context of data management, provides affordable access to on-demand resources and is ideal for non-business critical, low risk data scenarios.
Notably, the hybrid cloud approach allows for immediacy of local access to data, unlimited storage in the cloud, and procurement of services without big capital investment on-premise. Buckinghamshire County Council, a Civica customer, embraced a hybrid cloud approach as part of its 'cloud first' strategy and ambitions to be infrastructure free by the end of 2015.
In conclusion, businesses must consider the value of their data and whether they need to invest in and protect it like first-class data. The choice between a managed private cloud and a public cloud depends on the organisation's regulatory requirements, risk tolerance, budget, and need for customized support. Hybrid models can offer the best of both worlds, combining the benefits of exclusive infrastructure, enhanced security, control, and tailored SLAs with cost-efficiency, scalability, and standard SLAs.
Data-and-cloud-computing technology plays a crucial role in the protection and strategic investment of business-critical data, with managed private clouds providing benefits such as exclusive infrastructure, enhanced security, and tailored SLAs, making them ideal for first-class data where compliance and privacy are paramount. In contrast, public clouds focus on cost-efficiency and scalability, offering a more affordable solution for non-business-critical, low-risk economy data.
