Cloud Storage: Evolution of Real Estate on the Information Superhighway

The fact is, “SSL” and “encryption at rest” is no longer sufficient to users.

The cloud is disaggregating

Wikipedia lists 57 players in the consumer cloud sync and backup space. While not all of these are household names, many are finding their niche by targeting one specific user benefit and perfectly solving the problem: backup, sharing, or photos, for example.

What’s perhaps even more interesting is how many other companies offer cloud storage only as a feature of a greater user experience. Almost every service has a cloud storage component, and often times the end user may not even consider it. Facebook, Instagram, Basecamp, flickr, Evernote, even Walgreens Photo have cloud storage capability built in. Indeed “the cloud” is becoming a set of service offerings, not a single application silo.

The big question is–how safe and secure are all these services? How are they managing and protecting user data? Building a great app is one thing, but building and architecting your infrastructure to keep user data safe and secure is an entirely different beast. Trusting each of these services to do that for you could be a risky proposition.

Large investors have entered the field

Google, Apple, and Microsoft have all made significant moves with their consumer cloud offerings. Long gone are the days of 3rd-party integrations with the likes of Dropbox or Box, instead they see the strategic value and are doing it themselves. Unlimited photos, uniform cross-platform experiences, and a more natively integrated cloud offering are becoming the trends.

There is a war for customer data, and the device manufacturers, net­work operators, and ISVs all want to own it. There is one thing in common here: for these companies the cloud is a piece of their strategy for both cus­tomer acquisition and retention. In all cases the cloud is used as a loyalty card; ensuring users come back again and again to buy more computers, phones, and software.

However, many consumers are waking up to understand that “free” isn’t really free. Take for instance the backlash over Google’s Photos ToS, which states that uploaded photos are the property of Google, Inc. Is this really how users want their precious memories protected? The services that privately and securely store user data are increasingly winning out, even if not “free”.

All in all, it is becoming clear that security and privacy standards for the consumer cloud storage industry are changing. New players that tout better than average security and privacy have an opportunity to win user trust, and secure that user in their ecosystem as a customer for life.