Should I buy cloud services directly from the provider?

From reducing IT costs to accelerating innovation, there are many compelling reasons to embark on a cloud migration journey. 

The idea of migrating your data to the cloud may sound like a copy and paste task, but in reality, there are challenges, pitfalls, and many things to consider. This article defines and provides an overview of the cloud data migration process and suggests the best practices to turn it into a value-increasing opportunity for your business.

Сloud business process services

There are many cloud solutions. Most of them are designed to meet specific business needs, so cloud migration is always a flexible and business-tailored process.

With every year that passes, it becomes ever more apparent that migrating to the cloud is the only way for companies to truly compete and remain relevant in the long-term.

A growing number of businesses, from freshly-launched start-ups to Fortune 500 giants, are adopting cloud computing, meaning CIOs and business owners alike are met with an overwhelming number of providers, features, products, services, hybrid solutions and training options to consider.

Every organization has its own technological fingerprint; its own distinct set of requirements, goals, and operational nuances that need to be taken into consideration.

Let’s take a closer look at the top three names in the industry: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

AWS: Pros and cons

AWS jumped into the game early as the very first major cloud vendor in the space around 12 years ago, claiming an impressive 33% of market share and generating $1.4bn for Amazon in Q1 2018 alone.

The biggest strength AWS possesses is undoubtedly its maturity and dominance in the public cloud market, with its success and popularity linked to the sheer scale of its operation.

Today, it stands tall as the most established and enterprise-ready vendor, offering perhaps the richest of capabilities when it comes to overseeing a massive number of resources and users. 

Microsoft Azure is gaining ground as the preferred service for existing Microsoft customers, with Google’s offering entering the cloud battleground relatively recently as a ‘leader’. While other formidable competitors such as Alibaba Cloud and Oracle Cloud have increased in popularity over the last few years, AWS remains a strong front runner in the cloud computing industry, with competitors Azure and Google Cloud carving out their own modest share of the market.

Microsoft Azure: Pros and cons

Microsoft showed up on the cloud scene a little later than AWS, but certainly made up for it by adapting its existing on-premises offerings for the cloud.

Seven years since its initial launch, Azure is a strong competitor to AWS, providing businesses with a great range of features, robust open-source support, and straightforward integration with other Microsoft tools.

As a Microsoft product, Azure no doubt benefits from user familiarity with the brand, which creates an immediate preference for Azure among loyal Microsoft customers.

While Azure is indeed classed as an enterprise-ready platform, in its aforementioned Magic Quadrant report, Gartner noted that many users feel that “the service experience feels less enterprise-ready than they expected, given Microsoft’s long history as an enterprise vendor”.

Users also cited issues with technical support, training, and DevOps support as some primary pain-points when using the provider.

Google Cloud: Pros and cons

As a latecomer to the cloud market, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) naturally offers a more limited range of services and doesn’t command the same global spread of data centers offered by AWS and Azure. 

It does, however, give customers a highly-specialized service in three main streams: big data, machine learning, and analytics, with good scale and stable load balancing, as well as those famously low response times. Google’s container offering provides users with a significant advantage as it developed the very Kubernetes standard now utilized by competitors AWS and Azure. 

Customers tend to choose GCP as a secondary vendor in a hybrid solution, though it is becoming increasingly popular with organizations that are direct competitors with Amazon, and ,therefore, cannot use AWS. It’s important to note that GCP is very open-source and DevOps-centric, and as a result, does not integrate as well with Microsoft Azure.

Why and when do you need to migrate to the cloud?

Moving to the cloud is a choice most modern companies are having to make. Below are some examples of when a company may decide to move to the cloud.

-Move from a legacy system. 40% of companies that migrate to the cloud from a legacy system do it to improve the security of their data. Cloud data migration also allows a company to deal with legacy system tech limitations.

-Get a competitive advantage. Migration to the cloud is also an opportunity to create a competitive advantage because of the possibility of cutting costs and making employee workflow more flexible. Time and money can also be redirected to other tasks aimed at business growth. Moreover, cloud migration creates new opportunities for businesses to leverage more efficiency when employees are working from home. In such an environment, using the cloud for data management is the best choice.

Conclusion

When looking for the right cloud vendor for your enterprise, be sure to consider your particular requirements and workload, and remember that the answer could indeed lie in a combination of two or three cloud providers.  Migrations as a whole, whether from a legacy system to the cloud or from a cloud to another cloud, can be hugely beneficial. 

While providing many notable benefits to do with efficiency and business infrastructure, one of the most notable advantages comes in the form of improved security, more compliant security, and cheaper security. Outdated legacy systems in the form of private servers are costly and require a lot of attention to maintain the level of efficiency and security of advanced cloud solutions. Popular cloud providers, on the other hand, have built their cloud from the ground up with state-of-the-art security and many other notable benefits.

So one might wonder how to choose? Book a free consultation with us and we will help you figure out all the intricacies.

What are migrations and how can they help businesses cut costs on cloud protection efforts

Migrating to the cloud is often overwhelming for businesses. There are concerns about stability, cost, and most importantly, security. For many organizations, a successful migration actually reduces operating and protection costs, promotes scalability, and reduces the risk of cyberattacks that could potentially sink a business with improved ISO compliance certifications. 

By migrating, businesses can help reduce operational costs while improving IT processes and utilizing more efficient data platforms. Moreover, many organizations identify the ability to cut cloud security costs as a key benefit when deciding whether to initiate a migration strategy or when choosing between suppliers.

So, let’s jump straight in with defining what migrations are and how they can help cut security and business protection costs.

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the process of transferring digital business assets, operations, and data to the cloud. Unlike a real, physical move of tangible objects, it involves moving these digital processes and goods from one data center to another. Just like moving from a small office to a larger one, cloud migrations require in-depth planning and advance considerations and often ends up being worth the tremendous effort, leading to cost important savings and flexibility.

Commonly, “cloud migration” describes the move from physical, on-premises infrastructure, also known as legacy systems, to the cloud. However, the term can also refer to migrating from one cloud to another cloud, usually from one provider to another.

Cloud-Cloud Migration

When talking about migrations, it’s important to remember that moving on-premises applications and data from physical data centers to the cloud is not the only scenario. What does an organization do when it already stores its applications and data in the cloud but wants to move them to another service provider’s cloud? How can a business utilize a multi-cloud strategy without affecting integral operations? These are just two examples of why cloud-to-cloud migrations can be so beneficial.

Organizations may consider a migration such as this for scaling, security, or cost reasons. Cloud-to-cloud migrations allow businesses to switch providers without first moving their data and applications to in-house servers. Being able to transfer easily between cloud providers is a critical consideration when selecting a new provider. 

The cost of a migration should not outweigh the advantages – if properly considered, migrations can help cut costs.

Cutting Security Costs with Migrations

By moving to the cloud or to a new cloud provider, organizations can help to reduce operational costs while simultaneously improving IT processes. Security is one prominent area that benefits from migration efforts, requiring fewer financial resources than legacy systems.

Switching to the cloud also means only paying for actual storage used, with no need to maintain expensive data centers when important processes and data are hosted in the cloud. A large percentage of SMBs have reported reduced costs as a result of embracing cloud technology, with the majority reinvesting the saved capital back into the business. 

Cloud providers offer the required hardware for web servers with maintenance, security, and upgrades usually included in the agreement. Many public cloud providers also charge under a “pay as you go” approach, with no lengthy contracts which can be useful for rapidly expanding enterprises. 

If we were to look at the legacy system alternative, the cost of running and maintaining a data center includes more than just an upfront investment. Businesses will be accountable for ongoing support, security, power, maintenance, cooling, and staffing, which can all be costly in modern business environments. 

Organizations are increasingly resorting to cloud infrastructure to increase flexibility and reduce pressure on their finances. Businesses and professional service companies spend the majority of their yearly IT budget on internal maintenance. Just as in other areas of the business, cloud migration allows organizations to benefit from economies of scale. Prominent cloud hosts and providers, including Google, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle can keep their maintenance, upkeep, power, cooling, and staffing costs down when measured per server unit, compared to a private data center.

Cloud vs Legacy System Security

This all becomes more impressive and necessary for organizations when we understand that cloud security is actually considerably better across the board than legacy systems.

By storing data, applications, and processes centrally, the cloud provides significantly better security than conventional data centers. The majority of mass cloud providers also provide impressive built-in security features, such as in-depth analytics, cross-enterprise visibility, and periodic updates. 

Moreover, most cloud providers handle tougher security issues like keeping defined and unwanted traffic from accessing a companies’ virtual machines as well as ensuring automatic security updates to their systems to stop vulnerability to the newest security threats.

Amazon, for example, also has many of the leading compliance certifications, including ISO27001, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and AICPA/SOC. This means that if a business has specific compliance requirements because of their sector or stored data, they can be confident knowing that their data is completely secure in the cloud.

The cloud consists of networks, systems, and applications that must be routinely and securely configured, updated, and maintained by following the integral “shared responsibility” model. This model ensures each provider is responsible for their part in securing the cloud as a whole. 

As part of their “shared responsibility”, organizations such as Google have designed and created their cloud and offering from the ground up with security as their primary criteria. This means that Google’s cloud was designed with privacy and security in mind, unlike other networks commonly used in legacy systems to house data. Moreover, because data is in the cloud, it can be accessed regardless of what happens to physical machinery, adding another layer of protection.

Conclusion

The process of moving digital business assets, operations, processes, and data to the cloud or between clouds is known as migration. Migrations as a whole, whether from a legacy system to the cloud or from a cloud to another cloud, can be hugely beneficial. 

While providing many notable benefits to do with efficiency and business infrastructure, one of the most notable advantages comes in the form of improved security, more compliant security, and cheaper security. Outdated legacy systems in the form of private servers are costly and require a lot of attention to maintain the level of efficiency and security of advanced cloud solutions. Popular cloud providers, on the other hand, have built their cloud from the ground up with state-of-the-art security and many other notable benefits.

Healthcare Data Migration and Cloud Solutions in the Medical Industry

It’s been a long time coming, but the medical industry is finally embracing the cloud and all the benefits that come with it. For hospitals, migrating to the cloud wasn’t as straightforward as first thought. Considering the highly confidential data they handle, the effectiveness of cloud security has come into question. Moreover, the complex nature of cloud migration tools such as GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) may have caused further confusion, putting many off adopting this new technology due to misunderstanding and worry. 

In terms of technological progression, healthcare is more often than not at the forefront. Consider nanotechnology or 4D ultrasounds, for example. On the other hand, development and investment in IT infrastructure usually falls behind other sectors. Cloud computing solutions are a prime example. The healthcare industry has famously been one of the last industries to take the leap. Until a couple of years ago, that is.

Medical organizations looking for a flexible yet secure solution for storing and accessing large collections of data are steadily shifting to cloud data migration.  

While increasingly lower setup and support costs are now big attractions of cloud storage, medical institutions can also benefit from the versatility that cloud data migration can offer.  

Community health management, value-based care, and an ever-growing mobile user base require a storage infrastructure that can scale easily without requiring cumbersome investments into time and capital.

To take advantage of the cloud, however, companies need to correctly plan for this data migration process. Creating an effective and efficient data migration roadmap involves deciding which datasets and applications need to be moved to the cloud and what tools are available to facilitate the migration process.

The challenges of cloud migration for the medical industry

The cloud is far different than what IT leaders and executives are used to deploying in their legacy infrastructure environments. Medical organizations should begin with a solid understanding of the processes involved and skills required at all stages of the migration journey, including management and maintenance requirements.

Security and privacy

These have always been the main objections put forward by healthcare organizations when things like EHRs (Electronic Health Records) are at stake. However, the success and safety of online banking, for example, has quashed privacy concerns about the online storage of confidential medical records. Today’s leading cloud providers, including Google and Amazon, employ highly advanced protection and security far beyond that used by typical hospitals to keep their client’s data secure.

The confidentiality and privacy of medical information are, obviously, of paramount concern here. To learn more about medical privacy and the cloud, read our recent blog post discussing the benefits of cloud computing and effective cloud security solutions here: https://ostridelabs.com/medical-privacy-and-cloud-computing-security-solutions/

Data location and ownership

While there are strict rules relating to the use of the cloud for healthcare data, regulations preventing its use have slowly been relaxed. Today, there is an open market where healthcare providers can choose where and how they manage their data online.

Funding models

Funding models continue to be an obstacle, with hospitals and organizations working on ways to more easily procure cloud technologies. In a lot of cases, an IT policy may mandate a strategy that looks to incorporate cloud technologies, but the procurement department will not approve such purchases. Until these barriers are defeated and the benefits of cloud migration can be easily communicated on a larger scale to entire organizations, hospitals’ pathways to the cloud will stay blocked.

Cloud Migration Solutions

Simply, data migration includes:

• Transferring data from legacy systems to the cloud.
• Restructuring data for PII/PHI separation and encryption. 
• Making sure the systems are made to be cloud-native.
• Ensuring security via efficient network isolation controls with the least privilege. 

The migration process can be viewed as numerous iterative cycles where each application and its data is moved from its origin to its new cloud destination, one by one. To ensure a smooth transition, a tactic employed by many cloud solution providers is to use machine learning to find errors or misplaced data points when collecting data from multiple applications. 

Similar automation can also assure compliance with corporate policies and security standards established by the CTO, CIO, or CISO for the company. The DevOps team can also include phase gates to make sure policies are obeyed throughout the data life cycle.

For compliance purposes, PHI/PII data has to be physically isolated from the rest of the operational data. With the appropriate application of data encryption and least privilege combined with physical separation of data per tenant in the case of multi-tenant systems, the chance of data being held at ransom can be reduced. This also significantly reduces the absolute damage in case of a breach.

Furthermore, an open API standard system enables a security team to view how interactions are taking place between data repositories and how APIs are interacting with various databases. To allow applications to interact while remaining separate and secure, the mechanism working the API system needs network isolation control and the enforcement of least privilege. This provides the ability to observe the interference between databases and analyze possible threats.

Lastly, encrypting all communications is important. No organization can expect consistent vigilance from those using internal or external communication channels. At some point, patients, employees, or providers may share sensitive information. Encryption ensures that this information can not be retrieved by a wrongdoer.

The keys to a successful cloud migration

Cloud migration is complicated but necessary for healthcare organizations. Proper planning and consideration of workloads, applications, and the future of the industry, allow organizations to embrace the cloud for eventual data expansion and flexibility. These five key considerations can also be thought of as an effective roadmap to successful cloud migration.

1. Choose The Right Cloud Service Partner 

While some medical organizations already have the internal technical expertise to successfully perform a cloud migration, the majority will have to procure the assistance of external partners. When selecting the right partner, it’s important to examine their past experience on similar projects, previous clients, and their readiness to address inquiries or concerns specific to your cloud migration. 

2. Create a Long-Term Migration Strategy

Data migration should not be employed as a quick fix. While it may solve immediate problems, healthcare organizations should be making projections for at least five years in the future when making important decisions. For example, in the case of cloud migration, it is crucial to plan for future capacity requirements and forecast tech trends. Without considering long-term needs, healthcare providers will most likely have to engage in another expensive data migration in the next couple of years.

3. Define the Data for Migration

Not every cloud migration demands a total relocation of all applications and data available. In a few instances, some legacy systems and data might be left in their place or transferred to a different location from the other data assets due for cloud migration.

Because of this, taking a comprehensive inventory of all current data assets and determining whether or not to move them is necessary. When data has to be transferred, the selected destination must be identified and defined. Above everything, this will limit delays and confusion when the migration reaches a critical stage and changes become more expensive and challenging to implement.

4. Keep Data Integrity

This ensures that data stays consistent, accurate, and reliable while migrating between systems. Sufficient error checking and validation methods must be in place to make sure that data is not changed or duplicated during the transfer.

The majority of the work needed to maintain data integrity should be done at the pre-planning stage. It shouldn’t be assumed that there will be a direct relationship between fields and data types. For example, mistakes could occur that would leave patient records inaccessible or incomplete. Implementing a manual check to monitor the success of an electronic migration process is essential.

5. Consider using a Hybrid Cloud Solution

Utilize using a cloud-based storage solution to augment your on-premises storage, instead of relying on one or the other. The majority of cloud service providers now offer better overall security and access restrictions than the best equipped internal IT teams can provide. Cloud infrastructure allows healthcare organizations to swiftly acquire more storage and computing resources as needed.

While regulatory compliance rules require healthcare providers to have in-house servers for the storage of sensitive data, most patient health records can actually be stored and managed in the cloud. Using a hybrid system that incorporates both internal servers and a cloud infrastructure may prove to be the best solution for large healthcare providers.

Conclusion

Migrating data and applications to the Cloud is not just a new, interesting initiative. There is actually a pressing urgency for healthcare organizations to move their data to the cloud and to make their systems cloud-native. In today’s technological environment, however, these providers must take a broader view to ensure lasting security and efficiency.

Healthcare organizations will gain plenty of advantages from the cloud once their data is successfully migrated. It will make their data more readily available while lowering operational costs and maintaining privacy. However, it’s important to carry out comprehensive planning before undertaking a cloud migration.

Medical Privacy and Cloud Computing Security Solutions

Cloud computing is a relatively new technology that is expected to transform the healthcare industry. It has many advantages such as flexibility, cost and energy savings, resource allocation, and faster distribution, which are becoming more crucial with the emergence of highly efficient bioinformatics technologies that are increasing the volume, variety, and velocity of data substantially. In this blog, we look at the use of serverless solutions like cloud computing in the medical industry and different cloud security and privacy challenges. 

The centralization of data in the cloud raises many concerns relating to safety and privacy for individuals and healthcare providers. Notably, it provides the attackers with a single hot-zone to steal data and capture data-in-motion, and transfers data ownership to cloud service providers. Therefore, individuals and healthcare providers lose control of sensitive data. As a result, privacy, security, efficiency, and scalability worries are preventing the widespread adoption of cloud technology in this global industry.

Confidentiality and Privacy of Medical Information

When it comes to the healthcare industry and patient-professional relationships, few things are as important as privacy and confidentiality. This is an act of ensuring that patient data is kept completely disclosed to unauthorized organizations and users.

First, to ensure protection from unauthorized access or misuse of private patient medical information, establishing identity ownership is required. The ownership of healthcare information can be protected by a combination of encryption methods that lead to protected healthcare information that can be sent, accessed, or removed without the joint consent of all parties involved in the ownership/creation of health information.

Patients may allow or refuse to share their personal information with other healthcare providers. To facilitate the seamless sharing of patient data throughout the healthcare system via the cloud, the patient may assign rights to healthcare professionals according to the role or qualifications held by the appropriate user to share certain information with that user.

However, transferring data control to the cloud leads to an increased risk of data compromise, as data is available in an additional number of places to multiple groups. Due to the increasing number of groups, devices, and applications involved, there is an increase in the data being compromised. Moreover, the threat of data breach can damage patient/professional relationships and interfere with proper medical diagnosis and treatment.

To make this relationship work, it is necessary for the patient to trust the healthcare system to protect the privacy of their data. If a patient feels that the information they are providing to the doctor is not protected and that their privacy is threatened, they may be more selective about the information they provide. Of course, privacy and confidentiality can be achieved with reliable cloud security solutions with robust access controls and tight encryption techniques.

Benefits of Cloud Computing for the Healthcare Industry

Cloud computing is a new technology that will have a huge impact on society as a whole. With increased accessibility to computer resources and infrastructure, the healthcare industry is expected to adopt an information-centric model, while facilitating communication, collaboration, and communication between various healthcare providers.

Additionally, the cloud could help the healthcare industry provide more value. It can offer faster, more flexible, and less expensive applications and infrastructure. This exciting technology would also assist in maintaining, managing, protecting, and sharing electronic health records, laboratory and pharmacy information systems, and medical images. Overall, patients will receive better care due to updated health records and ongoing communication between different healthcare providers. Aside from the lack of standards, regulations, and interactivity issues, major barriers to large-scale adoption of cloud computing by healthcare providers are security, confidentiality, and reliability issues.

The cloud has many benefits.

• Cost savings: no need to buy hardware and expensive software. Savings include direct costs of purchasing hardware and software as well as support and maintenance costs.
• Improved patient care as a result of ongoing patient communication with various healthcare stakeholders. Patient details are available whenever and wherever doctors can diagnose and evaluate them.
• Energy-saving: There is no need for expensive data centers in buildings.
• Data availability: information is available to all healthcare stakeholders such as doctors, clinics, hospitals, and insurance companies.
• Powerful disaster recovery: in an emergency, almost all cloud service providers provide timely assistance and recovery.
• Research: The cloud is a repository of data that can be used to support national research, disease control, and epidemics.
• Resolving resource shortages: doctors in remote areas can use telemedicine to conduct consultations.
• Fast shipping: software and hardware programs can be used almost immediately.

Why Effective Cloud Security Is So Important

Cloud computing offers multiple opportunities and challenges. Like all other IT systems, the cloud has a variety of security issues and concerns. Often operating in an open and shared area, it is vulnerable to data loss, theft, and malicious attacks. Weak cloud security is one of the key issues preventing the full incorporation of cloud computing in the healthcare industry. Healthcare professionals have many reasons to distrust the cloud, for example, they cannot give away power to their secured medical records.

Cloud providers often store their data in different data centers located in different parts of the world. This shows a clear advantage, because data storage in the cloud will be redundant, and in the event of attempted theft, various data centers will help to recover from disasters.

On the other hand, this same benefit can create a security challenge because data stored in various locations will be prone to theft. Generally speaking, there are many security risks associated with the use of cloud-based failures to distinguish visible users, identity theft, copyright infringement, and improper encryption are among the security concerns.

The cloud has many limitations:

• Availability and reliability: the service may be slow or disrupted depending on the strength of the Internet connection. This will greatly affect the user experience.
• Collaboration: there is a need for certain levels to achieve effective communication and collaboration between the various forms of healthcare providers.
• Security and privacy: an open and shared environment is prone to data loss and theft.
• Law and regulations: the widespread adoption of cloud computing requires laws, regulations, and ethical and legal frameworks.
• Limited control and flexibility: there is limited power to data ownership due to its breadth. Cloud applications are often standardized and custom software can be difficult to acquire.

With effective cloud security solutions from a reliable and trusted provider, these concerns and vulnerabilities will soon be a thing of the past.

Conclusion

Security is one of the major problems preventing the rapid adoption of cloud computing technology in the healthcare industry. The power and benefits of cloud computing far outweigh its dangers and threats. Security needs are difficult to meet without significant investments in infrastructure and personnel. The problem is that security equals poor consumer convenience. In other words, the more complex security measures are, the more comfortable consumers are, and as a result, will not be inclined to use cloud service.

Moreover, with specialized fields emerging that sit at the cross-section of computer science and medical research that produce vast amounts of data, effective cloud computing solutions are becoming increasingly necessary. The use of Immunoinformatics for efficient antibody discovery is a good example, as it requires efficient processing and storage of huge amounts of data, utilizing cloud computing and intensive computational methods to define new hypotheses related to immune responses.

Making digital transformation or moving organization data to the cloud is a strategic and complex decision. Before moving data to the cloud, security challenges should be minimized. Before choosing a cloud security provider, the following questions should be asked:

• Is the ISO / IEC 27017 provider certified?
• Is the provider compliant with privacy management practices?
• Are providers trained in risk management and risk management?
• Does the provider perform a periodic safety check?

To find out more about cloud security solutions in general and to understand up to date certifications such as ISO 27017, read our previous blog post here:

Cloud Security and ISO 27017

Artificial Intelligence: Why It’s One of the Biggest Competition Drivers in the Cloud Market

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the main drivers of the cloud market. Its influence is being viewed everywhere, from physical environments like logistics warehouses and manufacturing to online environments like cloud storage.

Many cloud providers are investing in AI research and development to lead the market. Some areas of interest are optical character recognition and face detection software, which will increase productivity in communications, both personal and interpersonal.

AI can benefit any business. If you have a task that can be solved by a human worker involving repetitive computation and increased complexity, it is solvable by implementing AI.

This article will dive into some common solutions AI companies are seeking to solve, how AI works, and how your business will be positively impacted by such changes.

Winning the AI Battle

The cloud provides the perfect environment for technology companies to leverage large amounts of data and hosting space to solve complex computational problems. Given the importance of AI in practically every industry, like the following ones:

• Manufacturing
• Logistics
• Healthcare
• Space exploration
• Education

It’s no secret the biggest companies are working relentlessly to win the AI battle, from Amazon’s automated warehouses to Apple’s self-driving cars. AI is a transformative technology that can transform the way we approach many aspects of our lives.

The race to introduce AI solutions in the cloud market has been the most significant and most decisive battle in the IT world over the last 20 years, and its winner could determine the future of IT for decades to come. The situation may seem hyperbolic, but AI is that important and that implementable.

Consider how much Apple changed, and now controls, the style and function of personal devices. Even if a company does not rely on Apple software or compatibility, you can see the “influence” of Apple’s stylistic design in competing smartphone lines.

The Importance of Optical Character Recognition

Optical character recognition (OCR) refers to the act of converting and machine-encoding scanned images of text characters, both hand-written or typed. OCR is a vital technology in many markets, from the digital restoration of rare books to scanning hand-written barcodes for small businesses transitioning to digital interfaces.

Investing in OCR involves more than only purchasing or using OCR technology. Different language formats require other software metrics and benchmarks.

While languages derived from Latin are simple to convert, Semitic languages like Arabic are not. In Arabic, individuals write words in a cursive style, with letters and vowels changing form and shape based on their word placement. Issues also arise based on the writer’s legibility.

Less popular languages will also not receive the funding and support of their more popular counterparts. If you require OCR software for your company, specializing in a lesser-known language, your software options decrease in scope and increase in cost as a result.

OCR is also essential regarding AI solutions because the AI software will have to “learn” over time. Languages change based on:

• Region
• Culture
• Writing Style
• Slang
• Context
• Etc.

Language is not easy to automate. The market leader that successfully implements a language translation and character recognition AI will most likely create the definitive solution for multiple industries.

The Fight to Win Qualitative Face Recognition

While Google leads qualitative face recognition, the market is full of competitors, including big names like Apple and Amazon. Face recognition has many uses for businesses big and small, from using facial features as biological detection markers for secure logins to tracking eye detection when an individual uses a mobile application, and more.

The key to choosing an AI solution that works for you is first to identify your business issue and then develop your business case. Once you have these two issues sorted, you will be in a better position to choose an effective AI solution.

AI face detection helps solve the following issues:

• Logging into your smartphone
• Entering secure work areas
• Determining sickness based on temperature and visible symptoms
• Catching criminals on public CCTV cameras
• Etc.

So many industries and business needs are solvable by implementing face detection software.

How AI Solves Common Issues in Computation and Complexity

AI solves issues similar to how a human would, using his or her intelligence. The difference is that AI represents human intelligence as a computer program that can “learn” based on prior feedback and the programmer’s intentions.

For some tasks, AI may run algorithms millions of times over an ever-increasing data set. For other jobs, AI may recognize objects in images in videos, add data annotation to common media types, or compare pictures of your face to determine if you should access your phone.

AI can be implemented onsite or outsourced. It can be a part of an application or its own application. If there is a computational task that a human can accomplish, AI can achieve it in a fraction of the time.

AI Is Changing the Cloud

AI has introduced many significant changes to cloud environments, which impact every business, big and small. AI is making cloud access and usability more affordable and less risky. Here are just a few of the ways it’s doing that:

• Transforming IT infrastructure needs
• Improving data mining efficiency
• Improving data access
• Automating cloud security
• Providing companies with global access to stored data

Even if you do not use the cloud much for your business, the increasing efficiencies will allow you to make better business decisions and capture better data analytics. AI is here to stay and is getting better by the day.

Start Your Automation Journey With Ostride Labs

You already know AI is a game-changer in the world of IT. Every business can implement AI to solve complex computational problems at a fraction of the time or workforce. And as AI becomes more common, it becomes more accessible and affordable. It’s not just a solution for market leaders anymore. Competitive solutions are readily available to businesses of all sizes.

Are you interested in exploring how AI and automation can improve the way you run your business? Ostride Labs can help. Get in touch with our team, and we’ll show you how you can unlock your automation potential.