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Why Indian SMEs are not embracing Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing has become the current industry buzzword as more and more big corporate houses are embracing cloud technology and transferring their entire data center to various cloud platforms. Some of them are opting for private cloud model while others are choosing low cost public cloud platform.

The return on investment is enormous as they are saving considerably in terms of IT infrastructure cost, power consumption cost, office space or human resource requirements. Another big advantage of cloud service is better reliability and improved efficiency as companies can maintain redundant data centers in multiple locations in a cost effective manner. Upgrading to newer technologies has become much simpler as it is much easier to provision new technologies and services in cloud servers. Thus by adopting cloud based operations companies are enjoying double benefits as in one hand they are achieving considerable cost savings and in the other hand they are generating higher revenue through improved customer satisfaction. So it is no surprise that all major corporate houses have either shifted or have started shifting their major business operations in cloud platform.

The picture is not as rosy for small and medium sized business enterprises (SMEs). Although cloud computing offers above mentioned advantages, it has a serious problem - the security risk. As the cloud server is solely controlled by cloud service provider, the privacy and security of user data stored in cloud server are severely compromised. The security arrangements provided by cloud service providers may not be adequate enough to ensure security and privacy of user data. Standard security procedures such as encryption, isolation, access control or server backup may not always guarantee complete protection against typical cloud security threats such as co-residency risk, malware injection or third party data access. So there is always a risk of losing data to competitors which may cause loss of business or complete breakdown of service.

Only way to avoid such risk is to opt for private cloud service where business houses configure and maintain a private cloud server inside their own business premises and upload all sensitive and critical business data in that private server. However, to own a private cloud server is expensive and it is not easy to configure and maintain a cloud server as it incurs additional cost and resource overhead. The major cloud advantage of reduced cost is missing here. For small business organizations, such elaborate security arrangements are not always feasible as it requires additional financial as well as human resources. For these reasons, Indian SMEs are not opting for cloud technology as a whole.