Top Three Fears
In my technology role, I have come across a lot of fear about the cloud. Here are the top three reasons:
- Security
- Lack of knowledge and understanding
- Lack of control
Fear 1: Security
What’s more secure, an unencrypted USB stick or Google’s servers?
What do you think?
Of course, the USB stick is not a secure option. It’s so easy to lose or break a USB stick. Chances are the person that you’re talking to about cloud security is a USB stick user.
After we’ve had this conversation, I’d probably go on to explain that:
Google will not sell or share any data that educational establishments place on their servers. If you are a G Suite for Education user, whatever goes into your Google Drive stays there.
Fear 2: Lack of Knowledge and Understanding
It’s to be expected that colleagues will be nervous about a new system that they are not experts at using. They are worried their students will find them out. This is a legitimate fear and definitely one that I can relate to.
However, what I would say is this: you have been using Google already for a pretty long time as a search engine. So there will be some familiarity there. It’s quite intuitive.
Fear 3: Lack of Control
Google Drive is a good example of something that causes this fear. It’s so easy to share documents and collaborate on them that my colleagues sometimes are worried that they’ll share things without realising and lose control over their documents.
The fix for this is a simple one really. It is all about professional development.
The way I work with my colleagues to help them understand how to control their documents and how to navigate their Google Drive. We look at how to use “shared with me”. The only solution to this fear is training and support.
When colleagues see the benefits of using a cloud-based system, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the benefits are far greater than the concerns they have.