Cloud Computing Facts Continued

A NATIONAL HARRIS INTERACTIVE SURVEY OF 597 COMPUTER USERS CONDUCTED FOR IMATION, CORP. REVEALS

“Nearly three out of five personal computer users have lost an electronic file they thought they had sufficiently stored.”
“One in four users frequently back up digital files, even when 85 percent of computer users say they are very concerned about losing important digital data.
“82 percent keep a hard copy of important documents they've also saved electronically”
“Thirty-seven percent of the survey's respondents admitted to backing up their files less than once per month”
“Nine percent admitted they have never backed up their files”
“More than 22 percent said backing up information is on their to-do list, but they seldom do it.“

KEY CAUSES OF DATA LOSS

78% Hardware or System Malfunction
11% Human Error
7% Software Corruption or Program Malfunction
2% Computer Viruses
1% Natural Disasters
1% Other

OF THOSE COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN THE 2011 COST OF DOWNTIME SURVEY

46% said each hour of downtime would cost their companies up to $50,000
28 percent said each hour would cost between $51,000 and $250,000
18 percent said each hour would cost between $251,000 and $1million
8 percent said it would cost their companies more than $1million per hour

THE 2011 COST OF DOWNTIME SURVEY ALSO FOUND THAT “AT WHAT POINT DOES LOSS OF DATA THREATEN THE SURVIVAL OF A BUSINESS?”

40% of companies in the Cost of Downtime Survey said 72 hours
21% said 48 hours,
15% said 24 hours
8% said 8 hours
9% said 4 hours
3% said 1 hour
4% said within the hour

BUSINESSES ARE BEING BREACHED

According to the Computer Security Institute's most recent survey, 4 out of 10 organizations experienced an incident such as a malware infection, bot net, or targeted attack in 2010; another 10 percent didn't know if their networks had been breached.

THE IPAD & IPHONE ARE HERE TO STAY

More and more workplaces these days resemble a geeky party that's strictly BYOD (bring your own device). The problem? Many IT departments either never got an invitation or failed to RSVP.

May 2011 surveys by IDC and Unisys found that 95 percent of information workers used self-purchased technology at work -- or roughly twice as many as executives in those surveys estimated. IDC predicts use of employee-owned smartphones in the workplace will double by 2014.

Nathan Clevenger, chief software architect at mobile device management firm ITR Mobility and author of "iPad in the Enterprise" (Wiley, 2011), says the iPhone and iPad are the catalysts for the consumerisation of IT. Tech departments can either enable them to be used securely or risk the consequences.

"Unless IT supports the devices and technologies users demand, the users will simply go around IT and use personal tech for business purposes," Clevenger says. "That is a much more dangerous situation from a security standpoint than supporting the consumer devices in the first place."

Tech departments need to steer a middle course between attempting (and failing) to keep consumer technology out of the workplace, and allowing unfettered access to the network from any device, notes Raffi Tchakmakjian, vice president of product management at Trellia, a cloud-based mobile device management provider.

"BYOD is a scenario IT departments are learning to live with, but they struggle to manage them from a security, cost, and operations perspective," he says. "It becomes very difficult to ensure compliance to corporate standards and still meet business needs. They need a management solution that ensures corporate data security and allows them to manage costs with minimal impact on IT operations and infrastructure."

EVEN WITH THE BEST TECHNOLOGY YOUR USERS WILL NEVER SUPPORT THEMSELVES

It's the dream of every IT department. If they could only get those needy users off their backs they might get some actual work done. But despite investments in online knowledge bases and automated support solutions, the notion that organizations can ditch their help desks is still the stuff of science fiction, says Nathan McNeill, chief strategy officer for Bomgar, a maker of remote support appliances.

"IT can deflect a big chunk of common issues -- like password resets -- with self-service, but it will always be more cost-effective to have humans handle the one-off and more complex issues," he says. "Even if the technology miraculously works 100 percent of the time, users won't be able to figure it out 100 percent of the time. As long as technology keeps evolving, humans need to be around to evolve IT support."

Instead of self-service, organizations would do better to invest in remote assistance solutions, says Chris Stephenson, co-founder of management consulting firm Arryve.

"Many organizations build a database of questions and leverage workflows to help drive end-users to an online answer," he says. "In reality, end-users are more frustrated when they finally talk to a support person. The investment in self-help support would be much better replaced with remote assistance in many situations where the support staff can gain access to the user's computer immediately and solve the problem directly."