Securing the data is what every business is concerned about. You cannot ensure optimal decision-making for your business if your business data is not stored at a secure location and is available 24/7 without any tampering. Cloud computing has become the go-to option for businesses to store and process their data. Cloud platforms promise to keep your data secure from cyberattacks, ransomware and data breaches. 

But the question still remains unanswered. Where is your cloud data stored? How is your data 24/7 available on cloud platforms without any risk of data loss? How is it possible that you can access data from anywhere in the world by simply logging into your cloud platform? The sole purpose of cloud platforms is to store your data on a wide range of cloud servers instead of storing it on your devices. 

Cloud Storage 

Consider a common scenario where you purchase standalone servers to store your data. Securing, storing, and managing all the ins and outs of your data are your responsibilities. Any failure in the server can lead to a complete breakdown of your IT infrastructure simply because your data is stored locally in standalone servers. The same goes for system upgrades. You have to ensure that your servers and applications distributed throughout the network are updated for optimal performance.  

But this is not the case with cloud storage. Let’s assume a situation in which you plan to acquire the services of a cloud storage platform. You consume some storage space to store your business data and the service provider is responsible to ensure the security of your data. You have access to your data, but not physically. All of your data is stored in the dedicated servers located in server farms. The more you store data on the cloud, the more space allocated to you in those servers located in the server farms. To conclude this data flow, it can be stated that your data is stored across different servers in server farms. 

Data Sovereignty

Please can we add a section talking about the ability to choose where, physically in the world, your data is stored.  This is often important for things like Cyber Essentials, GDPR and ISO accreditations.  This should be the main focus of the piece.  Cheers!

Is Your Data Stored in One Server?

This is where cloud computing excels compared to conventional data storage practices. Your data stored on the cloud platforms is distributed across different servers. The reason for this dedicated distribution is to ensure that your data is accessible even if one of the servers fails. That’s why you never witness any breakdown or data inaccessibility issues while storing your data on the cloud.