As more and more federal agencies and companies in the private sector ramp up their use of both private and public clouds, the Fed Cloud Blog thought it would be interesting to look at potential pitfalls they should try to avoid.

Lucky for us, Information Week has put together a list of ways companies can fail in the cloud. It says, “CIOs underfund or ignore six major areas: integration, security, connectivity, monitoring, continuity planning, and long-term staffing.”

According to an Information Week survey, less than one-third of companies thought about the impact of the cloud on their architectures before considering using it. Knowing your bandwidth and calculating your usage and volume over several weeks can help determine if the cloud is right for you.

The website says a lack of cloud monitoring systems can also be harmful. According to the survey, only 20 percent of companies have put monitoring systems in place to watch their network data flows.

Michael Healey, who writes the article, also says having a good backup system can’t be underestimated. He says companies need to discuss, “What is the plan for the business if there’s an outage? When do you implement the failover plan? Who makes the call?”           

Do you agree with Information Week’s assessment? What did Healey miss? Take a look at the full article and then post a comment here or email the Fed Cloud Blog.