The database from which the information was stolen was managed by a third party vendor that has been linked to other hacking incidents, including one involving McDonald’s. Another security concern associated with public cloud services is that because access can be granted from anywhere, employees might put sensitive company data at risk by accessing it over an insecure network.

The many risks associated with the public cloud make some people wonder why businesses don’t simply stick with on premise, private clouds. In addition to being much safer, private clouds provide opportunities for agility, elasticity, cost control, and optimization.

However, the private cloud also has several significant drawbacks. Data access is often more limited due to the lack of web or mobile interfaces to existing systems as well as the tendency to keep mission critical systems isolated in an effort to avoid risks. In addition, enterprises are entirely responsible for their own security when using a private cloud and do not always have the support of a third party vendor’s security measures.

By implementing a hybrid cloud solution enterprises can choose to be more granular about which data is shared on the public cloud. That way a business can reap the cost-saving benefits of the public cloud without putting mission-critical data at risk.

Despite security concerns, the public cloud has numerous benefits. It operates on a pay-as-needed basis so it has a higher utilization rate and it offers endless elasticity so organizations will never run out of capacity, which can be a concern when using a private cloud.
More and more businesses are moving towards highly customizable systems like the hybrid cloud that allow them to personalize functionality based on the needs of their business and even individual users.

For example, while some users may need the full functionality that an office productivity suite or terminal emulator offers, others may only need a simplified feature set, which can be delivered through a browser for much cheaper.

This trend toward more customized IT strategies has caused the hybrid cloud to become incredibly popular. The hybrid cloud computing strategy is still fairly new so not very many enterprises have implemented the solution yet, but interest is high. According to Gartner nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.

Although the hybrid approach has many enticing benefits, businesses should carefully consider all the cloud deployment options before making a decision.

Cloud computing strategies are deeply personal and vary from business to business based on an organization’s individual needs. Working with a vendor or IT professional that has a comprehensive understanding of all three options will help executives make the right choice for their business.

Sam Morris is director of product marketing at Attachmate/Novell.