Lack of Data Security When utilizing the cloud, your data is in the hands of a third party. According to Partrick Cunningham's article "A Walk In The Cloud", it is hard to know what the cloud vendors do with your data. He claims that even when data is deleted, it is possible to retrieve it from the cloud's hard drives using data forensics. (Source: A Walk In the Cloud, Patrick Cunningham, Information Management, ARMA Internationail, Jan-Feb 2009.) More over, Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US and Bill 198 or Budget Measures Act in Canada should be considered. "This legislation was created to prevent corporate frauds" and it "requires manamgement to create internal controls to provide more reliable financial statements and protect the organization's assets." (Gemino, 208) Therefore private corporate data cannot be placed in the cloud, in the hands of a third party corporation. HYPE ALARM SaaS is not always the cheaper alternative. A $3000 IT investment over more than three years could be more cost effective than $10/month subscriptions. Access to Network Internet connection is a prerequisite of any activity in the cloud. Finance Point of view Dangers of Investing in Hype and the experience of the dot com bubble are something to consider about "Cloud Computing". The current hype and investment in the concept may just be a bubble.  source wikipedia |