As a business owner, one of the most difficult choices to make is whether you should completely abandon your physical server and switch to a cloud server. But considering how you’re having this dilemma, migrating to the cloud probably did wonders for your business when you tried it. Unfortunately, your troubles won’t end there.
Eventually, there will come a time when you’ll need to abandon your current cloud server and switch to a new one, so how does this happen? Before answering that question, you might want to start by understanding how a cloud server works.
What Is A Cloud Server?
By now, you’ve stumbled upon the term ‘cloud’ countless times. So, first of all, it’s important to emphasize that a cloud server isn’t the entirety of the ‘cloud’ but simply a part of it. Think of it as the counterpart of websites. The internet consists of countless websites, the same way the ‘cloud’ consists of numerous servers.
These servers, however, play a major role in organizations as it allows them to streamline existing operations, such as web hosting and data storage. Some businesses also use it for something more specific, such as to enhance the performance of a business VoIP system. On that note, cloud servers have become prevalent simply because, unlike physical servers, any information stored in the cloud server can be accessed remotely.
When Will You Switch To A New Cloud Server?
However, it’s worth noting that cloud servers aren’t entirely virtual. As it turns out, cloud servers still rely on hardware, although it doesn’t have to be on-site.
Suppose you’re using Facebook. You can access their platform virtually anywhere you want, given you have an internet connection. But the fact that they have hardware running the server all around the world remains. For that reason, just like how physical servers can crash due to hardware failure, cloud servers can also suffer the same fate, forcing the user, which in this case is you, to switch to a new cloud server.
But it’s important to mention that deteriorating hardware isn’t the only reason why you should switch to a new cloud server. There are many other reasons to migrate to a different server on the cloud.
Below are four signs that you probably need to switch to a new cloud server:
- You’re Receiving Unexpected Credit Transactions
Over the past few years, there have been many instances of non-authorized cloud users gaining access to the information of authorized users by hacking into the cloud. As a result, the victims suffered from all kinds of cybercrimes, one of the most common is identity theft. Below are signs that an individual is suffering from identity theft:
- Unknown accounts are included in the credit report
- Unexpected collection calls from unknown accounts
- Denial of credit services
- Inquiries from unfamiliar businesses
- Credit card bills stop coming
If you or one of your employees are suffering from these signs, it’s most likely that the cloud server your company is using has already been compromised, and all kinds of information, such as credit card details, identification number, address, and digital signature, whether it’s yours or your employees, have been leaked to the community of cybercriminals.
Naturally, this would be a great time to switch to a new server, preferably one that consists of anti-virus software, monitoring, host intrusion protection, and firewalls, which are different ways to prevent security breaches. You might also want to renew your credit cards and the likes.
- The Server Has Become Unusually Slow
When you first migrated to the cloud, you probably looked into the different types of cloud services. Generally, there are three types of cloud services:
- Public Cloud: As the name suggests, a public cloud is when multiple organizations share the same resources. Since it’s cheap, it’s the most common type of cloud service.
- Private Cloud: Private cloud is when all the resources are dedicated to only one organization. This costs a lot more than public cloud services.
- Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud is a type of service carrying the characteristics of both types. Thus, it may carry the advantages and disadvantages from both sides.
If you’re currently using a server from a public cloud service provider, you’ve probably noticed that the server has become a lot slower compared to your first few days of cloud integration. If that’s the case, then the server is most likely accommodating more users than it can handle. Since more users are now sharing the same resources, the server will naturally get slower over time. It’s also possible that the downgrade of performance has been caused by a security breach. Either way, nothing good will come from staying in that server.
Your best bet would be to switch to either a relatively new server with a few users or pay the extra bucks to get into your own private cloud. Besides, migrating into a private cloud can bring other benefits aside from increasing the server’s performance.
- You Intend To Turn Your Business Cloud-Based
A public cloud server is often regulated by a single entity. This particular entity is responsible for managing cloud resources and maintaining the server. In short, they’re in control of everything, which also means you have no control over anything. It may not be a problem at the moment, especially if you’re using the cloud server for simple operation, but there might come a time when you decide to turn the majority of your business operations cloud-based.
For instance, if you want to make your customer relationship management (CRM) system cloud-based, you’d have to make a lot of changes. For instance, you have to migrate all the tools you need into the cloud. Your database containing customer information should also be transferred completely.
Since working on the cloud is different from what you’ve been doing originally, you also need to create a new CRM software. Unfortunately, these tasks require absolute control over your server, so staying in a public cloud server is obviously not a viable option. Hence, you can either pivot to a hybrid cloud server or a private cloud server.
- Errors Are Becoming More Frequent
Errors are normal in servers, especially those that you don’t regulate. They’re usually not very harmful, but they do become a bit annoying as you encounter more of them. However, as a server grows in userbase, more inputs are received by the server, so errors will become a lot more frequent. In public servers, you can’t do anything to minimize errors since you’re not the one handling the cloud resources. The service provider is the one who should address this issue.
The bad news is that some cloud service managers are a bit laid back, so it might take ages before they resolve this issue. If it reaches the point where the errors happen too frequently that it’s no longer tolerable, it’s high time to pivot to a new cloud server.
Conclusion
More and more businesses are transitioning from physical servers to cloud servers with each passing day. This only serves as a testament that cloud servers bring a lot to the table, but that’s not to say your problems will simply disappear upon migrating to the cloud.
In fact, you might switch from one cloud to another from time to time, so it’s essential to know the signs indicating that the time is right. With this guide, the transition should become a lot smoother.