Risk of being in Cloud

Cloud, cloud and cloud. That is all we hear about these days. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have just announced their earnings and the cloud revenue is growing like crazy. Most of us are moving to the cloud. It is all good when things go smoothly. But what if things don't go as expected? What if you don't have access to the cloud. What if the Microsoft service is down? Scary? Huh?

I woke up this morning and opened my OneNote. I use OneNote to organize my tasks and have a daily to do list. I get the following dialog. 
 
 
 
Then the following dialog.
 
 
 
I opened Microsoft Word and got a similar problem. My document wouldn't open. I tried to open my Outlook and it began giving me problems. 
 
I panicked. This has never happened to me before. I checked my Internet. It was fine. I have all my notes stored on Microsoft SkyDrive. I thought something went wrong with my licence. After doing some R&D, I discovered there was an issue with Microsoft's cloud service.
 
What to do
 
So how do you make sure you don't run into this kind of situation?

First, make sure to keep a local copy of your data and documents, at least those you’re currently working on or may need in the near future.

Second, make sure you have a full backup of your data and documents. Just in case, you do not have access to your cloud for a while.

I highly recommend, from time to time, disconnecting your Internet to ensure you can still access your important software, data, and documents.
 
Good luck!


Mindcracker
Founded in 2003, Mindcracker is the authority in custom software development and innovation. We put best practices into action. We deliver solutions based on consumer and industry analysis.