by Angela Guess
Prat Moghe recently wrote in The Next Web, “Enterprises have been slow to move big data processing to the cloud, but not for lack of trying. Most companies now use the public cloud in some form, often for SaaS applications. But enterprises have been slow to migrate big data and data warehousing to the cloud, despite cost, scalability and elasticity benefits. According to a 2014 Gartner survey, less than half of organizations with big data programs reported using the cloud in any form. This raises the question – why aren’t more companies using the cloud for data processing, especially since concerns over security are easing and more services are available than ever before? There’s a simple answer: It’s challenging – especially for enterprises. To paraphrase investor Ben Horowitz, ‘It’s not checkers – it’s … chess’.”
Moghe goes on, “Much of it depends on how your infrastructure grew up. Many digital natives, with their businesses entirely online, built cloud-based systems from the get-go. But for established enterprises with significant investments in on-premise data centers, using the cloud requires that they learn, maintain, and integrate two environments – technically, culturally, and operationally. One CIO recently shared more with a memorable analogy: ‘It took us about eight months to create a new data warehousing environment in the cloud. We hired someone, sent a few people to training, and brought in consultants. Now it’s live, but it’s like accessing a space station. Getting data up there and using it requires a significant effort – a major mission every time. So, cloud is not part of our normal processes and it’s not saving us money yet. We’re barely using it’.”
Photo credit: Flickr/ Muffet