Posted by Cóbhan PhillipsonCloud computing is no longer a new field in the current digital landscape. In fact, unlike several years ago when moving to the cloud was an optional business decision, today, most established businesses that conduct a significant portion of their activities online, whether they are a technology-based company or not, are almost expected to have already implemented some type of cloud storage solution due to the convenience, efficiency, and cost-savings it provides (when done right). And for those companies who have not yet made the switch to the cloud, the transition is imminent.But moving a business to cloud storage is not something to be taken lightly. It affects a number of different components of the business itself, from information and personnel management, infrastructure, expenses, security, performance, and more. Fortunately, with appropriate research, most businesses can mitigate many of the risks that come with making the move to cloud storage. But just because you’ve read up on a few articles on cloud storage and cloud computing, doesn’t mean your business’ cloud infrastructure is invincible.As a provider of cloud-based solutions, we wanted to know more advanced tips on how businesses can ensure a move to cloud storage is as smooth as possible, and also how businesses can make the most of cloud storage once it is implemented. To do that, we asked 37 business cloud experts the following question:

What’s the number one mistake large companies make when moving to cloud storage?

We’ve collected and compiled their expert advice into this comprehensive guide to effective cloud storage tips for businesses. We hope it will help you improve and protect your company’s cloud storage infrastructure, and ultimately take your business productivity to the next level.

Meet Our Panel of Cloud Experts:

Emil Sayegh

Emil Sayegh is the CEO of Codero Hosting and is a pioneer of cloud computing. He is credited with launching the very successful cloud computing and hosting businesses for HP and Rackspace. He is also known as one of the “fathers of OpenStack,” having created the open source software. Emil joined Codero in 2012 and recently introduced a hybrid cloud solution.The number one mistake large companies make when moving to cloud storage is…Picking a monolithic storage solution such as an old fashioned SAN. First and foremost, those solutions are very expensive. Secondly, nowadays there is a plethora of excellent storage solutions that are optimized for the exact use case and performance requirements of an application. Archiving, as an example, should be done on an object storage solution, while demanding applications such as databases require the highest Input/Output performance per second (IOPS) possible so they need an Elastic Block Storage solution that delivers guaranteed high-performance. Large companies need to be able customize the amount of storage and IOPS to meet their performance and availability needs rather than get stuck with an old fashioned, and expensive, monolithic solution.