So much of what we hear about the cloud makes it sound like a mythical place where everything connects and works together with ease. Those of us in charge of facilitating these outcomes know that the reality is very different. The cloud can bring many benefits to your business, but success is not guaranteed if you neglect to create and execute upon a strategic plan. These five steps are a great starting point for setting your business up for success in the cloud.
A confluence of market, technology, and customer needs are driving the push to cloud. The cloud:
Start-ups and the largest enterprises have it easiest when it comes to cloud. Start-ups are able to pop up quickly and look like a big business with the help of the cloud, while the largest enterprises have deep enough pockets to sustain running their own data centers, phone systems, and enterprise networks. As Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Blank puts it, the in-between businesses are “frozen in the middle” because they are being told that they need to move and adapt as quickly as a start-up and, at the same time, be as proven, robust, and secure as an established enterprise—and these are two incredibly conflicting operating models. Striking the right balance between the two is a delicate but incredibly important task.
The demands for cloud are now originating outside of IT, which is causing many IT departments to struggle with addressing executive pressures to reshape their consumption models.
According to Gartner, top considerations for moving to private cloud managed services include IT modernization, cost savings, better application performance, and agility. Interest in the private cloud model comes from a desire to emulate the benefits other businesses have realized. While it is important to address these considerations, there is a caveat: instead of adhering to overall trends, you must determine how these considerations apply to your own business. What matters most to other businesses is not necessarily what matters most to your business.
Building off the last point, no two companies are the same. What your transformation to the cloud looks like depends completely upon the nuances of your business. You need to work with a partner to devise a custom-tailored solution—technologically, operationally, and financially—that sets you up for a successful transition to the cloud. ConvergeOne doesn’t create cookie-cutter solutions, because we know you’re not a cookie-cutter business. We solve your communications and data challenges so that the technology integrates seamlessly.
Identifying the path to success is an important first step—but even more important is being able to effectively execute upon that plan. Get the full story on guaranteeing your successful cloud transition by accessing the on-demand playback of our webinar, “Guaranteeing Your On-Premise to Cloud Transition.”