5 reasons to delay migrating to the public cloud

Grazed from HealthCare IT News.  Author: Benjamin Harris.

With all the talk about switching from data centers to cloud-based computing, it seems like the cloud is an etherial magic bullet for every problem that healthcare IT might face, from reduced costs to improved flexibility. Not so fast, says Steve Jacobs, president of Velocity Data Centers, a firm that provides private cloud solutions.

While "there are some definite business advantages to operating in a cloud IT environment, the risks are very real and concerning," says Jacobs. For all of the pros of cloud-based solutions floating around, he points out that some of the cons can be big nails in the coffin for any organization that relies as much on data as healthcare does.

Here are four reasons providers should consider delaying making the jump to the cloud…

1. Data security. While proponents of cloud computing tout government- and industry-level standards of encryption and security, that doesn’t mean an organization becomes impenetrable once they migrate to the cloud. Mighty as a cloud company’s barriers might be, Jacobs notes that data breaches and security failures are all too common. Should the unthinkable happen, the healthcare organization – not the cloud provider – is going to have to take the hit.

"When a breach occurs, the responsibility to handle that fallout falls upon the healthcare provider," says Jacobs. "Even though the public cloud was the one that had the breach, it’s the hospital that has to stand there and say, ‘Oops, we messed up.’"…

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