HootSuite has multiple backups across other Amazon servers, which allowed the company’s engineers to minimize data loss and deal with the outage more quickly than most. As for security concerns, HootSuite ensures user passwords and other credentials are never stored in its cloud, allowing the social media services it integrates to handle the authentication process on their own servers instead.
Mr. McEvoy is using his past experience in the application service provider industry – a forerunner to cloud computing – to help businesses leverage cloud services.
A CA Technologies survey from last December, for example, showed that 62 per cent of Canadian business executives were confused by the concept of the cloud. Mr. McEvoy hopes to demystify some of the industry’s jargon and terminology.
After all, it’s not enough to jump on the cloud computing bandwagon based on hype and buzz alone. At HootSuite, for example, the company’s rapidly growing user base necessitated more storage and computing power than a local set of servers could provide. If potential cost and performance benefits are to be realized, startups and businesses must identify similar needs and goals.
“Make a technology decision around it,” Mr. Holmes cautioned. Otherwise, “you put your IT people in a position of trying to force a square peg into a round hole.”
Cloud considerations
Moving software applications or data to the cloud can save your business time and money. Here are a few things to consider:
Variety: Amazon and its ilk offer infrastructure-as-a-service, often in the form of raw computing power. Other companies, including Freshbooks and Shopify, provide applications-as-a-service, which are more focused products. Know the difference, and what best suits your needs.
Privacy: Any time, anywhere availability is one of the cloud's greatest qualities, but it can also be a huge security headache. Put strategies in place to keep data safe, and use multiple levels of authentication where possible. Remember that Canadian law does not protect data stored on servers in the United States, and thus providers such as Amazon have different standards for government and law enforcement access.
Security: Cloud services will protect your data no better than the server down the hall. Implement backup and redundancy practices, just as you would with internal systems. Should disaster strike, it pays to be ready.
Ryan Holmes of HootSuite— Kris Krug
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