Cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Docs are becoming increasingly useful, numerous, and popular. You can work with your information – documents, photos, videos – from any internet-connected computer (including your phone) and trust that the information is backed up and secure.
However, when it comes to university data, additional considerations come into play. Are these services compatible with issues of privacy and security, federal and state law, and university policy?
OIT has published a document to help guide faculty and staff in the use of cloud services for UCI business. Highlights include three fundamental ideas you must keep in mind while using cloud services, a list of business situations for which cloud services are almost certainly inappropriate, and links to further reading.
Cloud services promise to save us time and money, and offer us the ability to share information and collaborate with unprecedented ease. However, in the university business context, additional prudence is in everyone’s best interests.