Five Reasons to Use the Private Cloud for Collaboration Apps

by Darryl K. Taft

For many industries, a leading concern with public cloud services is often related to security. Hosting any sensitive business data in a public cloud raises concerns about lost data and the growing number of cyber-attacks. In a private cloud, data security is completely under the control of the business’ IT department as opposed to the lack of visibility into security measures placed in public cloud environments.

A major benefit to moving to the cloud is that it saves businesses money, compared with owning expensive hardware for data storage. However, if your business needs the ability to scale at accelerated rates, then the cost benefit of a public cloud service is eliminated. Hosting a collaboration or productivity application in a private cloud, whether on-premise or not, allows for business-specific configuration so these limitations can be avoided.

A great value of leveraging cloud-based collaboration tools is the ability to mobilize data between users and locations, thus optimizing the way remote teams work with each other. With a private cloud deployment model, administrative and security measures are in control of the business to help ensure that all Web, voice over IP (VOIP) and video conferencing data is transmitted over encrypted connections, end-to-end.

Regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 were established to protect data and ensure businesses are using the correct measures when accessing data, especially when it comes to personal information of their customers. By placing applications in a private cloud, a business can lower the risk of violating compliance standards, as the data stored in public clouds may potentially be intercepted or fail to meet security guidelines. When services are placed in a business’ private cloud, organizations gain administrative control so they can configure specific applications in order to remain compliant with their respective industry standards.

As with any public utility, public cloud users may suffer from service outages that can disrupt business as usual. With a move to the private cloud, businesses have deeper control over collaboration apps and the variables that drive them; this enables businesses to act quickly when an issue has been identified and alleviates any downtime.