Subscriptions to digital cloud services are all the rage right now, and there are a lot of reasons why. Take, for example, the ability to scale up operations from tentative prototypes to full market penetration overnight — a core capability of cloud architecture. The upfront infrastructure costs associated with cloud use are also lower, as companies are not required to invest in hardware, data centers, etc. As a result, on-site maintenance costs are lower. Software licensing costs are lower, applications are always up to date, and both the available bandwidth and storage capacity of cloud computing are superior to on-premises computing at the same price point.
Of course, there are tradeoffs. Migrating to the cloud can require surrendering control of your organization’s critical business data, infrastructure, and processes to remote third parties. Relinquishing responsibility for the operation and security of a company’s information systems typically requires a major cultural shift within an organization, which can generate strong internal pushback, leading to issues with operational efficiency and workplace dynamics.