The pros and cons of cloud computing were laid bare as members of the Tunbridge Wells business community gathered for a seminar by IT specialists First Office.
Hosted at the Salomons Estate and timed to coincide with breakfast, First Office director Nick Brandon gave a detailed account of what a company should consider before moving its IT onto the cloud.
He said: “Moving onto the cloud has its benefits but there can also be some drawbacks.
“Benefits include reduced IT infrastructure costs, no need to spend thousands of pounds on repairs and upgrades and switching IT from capital expenditure to a current expenditure.”
The cloud also brings more flexibility, by allowing users to be added or removed in minuets or work remotely. It also provides secure backups for files which can be accessed from anywhere.
But there can be downsides too, with his colleague Adam Walder explaining: “You need to ensure you have a constantly fast and reliable internet connection and the cloud relies on a global network. There can be disruption anywhere along the chain. It can be surprising how many suppliers are involved.”
It can also be hard to switch providers as you no longer have full control over your data he added.
