Some technological revolutions in the professional world have been very visible. Computers were once too large to take anywhere. They were massive structures that could only be owned by major corporations or research institutions. It took another couple of decades before computers were user-friendly and affordable enough for the average conusmer. Now, there’s a smartphone in the pocket of billions of people. Everything is now portable, on demand, and accessible through the internet.
Some technological revolutions in the professional world have been very visible. Computers were once too large to take anywhere. Now, there’s a smartphone in the pocket of every professional. Mobile phones migrated from being a rare privilege in the 1980s to becoming absolutely intrinsic to the way business operates today. One of the most important technological revolutions in business is happening right now, and it’s completely invisible. Companies worldwide are migrating their work to the cloud. Chances are there are at least a few reasons why it would be a smart investment for your company should move there, too.
From storing and backing up important data to allowing your team to access project files while on the go, cloud storage and file management are driving a new revolution in how we work and how we service our clients. If you are a business that’s considering moving some of your
1) Start Small Or Do Research F
Whether you work at a startup company or a large enterprise that must carefully vet each step of the cloud migration process, it’s important to make the cloud a part of your workflow as early as possible. One way to start immediately is with a cloud-based file hosting service like Dropbox, Google Drive or Box. These services make sharing files easier and faster, expediting the sending of files through email, text and other communication. By creating a special sync folder on your desktop, sharing files is as easy as placing the file in the folder, and right-clicking it to get a link. Then, just share the link like you would any URL.
It works the same for files that are very small or quite large. And it completely eliminates the upload time for large email attachments that you send frequently: just place in the sync folder, keep the link handy and paste it into emails whenever necessary. The best part is that the file is now available anywhere on all of your devices, one of the primary benefits of moving your work to the cloud. This small introduction of a cloud service into your workflow will help concretize some of the primary benefits of migrating to the cloud: your work is backed up automatically and available anywhere. These jobs shouldn’t be done by amateurs though, they are jobs for system admins and other IT professionals that are trained to avoid any errors or security risks.
2) Which Parts Of Business Data Should Be Stored In The Cloud?
While cloud storage and cloud computing services are a tremendous resource, they may not be suitable for all of your data. By law, some information cannot be stored online, including credit card numbers and other sensitive information entrusted to you by clients and employees. As this particular area of the research process entails making many legally significant decisions, it would be wise to involve your legal team as well as a qualified technology consulting firm with expertise in cloud services. Once you have determined which parts of your company’s data can be safely and legally kept in the cloud, then determine how much data you have, and which parts of it will need to be accessed most frequently. For instance, your company may have digitized records for work done over five years ago that are only kept for archival purposes. Since those projects are finished and they will only need to be accessed on rare occasions, a slower, cheaper cloud storage option would be most appropriate. In contrast, data for current projects will need to be accessed much more frequently. To best service those clients, it will be worth spending more for faster access to projects stored in the cloud, until the project is complete and can be migrated to
3) Find Top Cloud Solution Companies & Pricing Schedules
Now that you have an idea of what data you’d like to keep in the cloud, you can explore the cost of moving your data to the cloud as you research cloud storage providers that may be a good fit for you. Some self-service cloud storage solutions may seem adequate at the
It’s important to find out what those limitations are, what your access options are in the event the cloud goes offline temporarily, or in the case of a service company’s failure, permanently. It is crucial to find a company that fits your needs now and will grow with you. As the potential cloud solutions to myriad ways of doing business increases, so
4) How Fast Do You Need To Access Your Data & What Is Their Network Response Time?
Some of your data may only need to be accessed rarely, if ever. There are some cloud solutions tailored to these needs, including the aptly named service from Amazon called “Glacier.” This service is suitable for storing data for long periods of time that you will rarely need to access, and when you do, you won’t mind waiting hours or even days to retrieve the data. This is obviously not suitable for backing up active projects that change by the minute. When clients ask for information, it usually isn’t ideal to make them wait hours or days for the answers. Make sure you choose a solution that is best suited to your client’s needs as well as your own. Find a provider with a solid reputation.
Let’s say you own a website like EvokeWinery.com or
5) What Kind Of Support Does Your Potential Vendor Offer?
If issues or unique circumstances arise, what kind of customer support does the vendor you are considering
6. Availability Levels
Do you know the availability levels of your current IT systems? Knowing the answer can be a good base for starting your cloud journey. It will also let you know the level of commitment you need from your cloud service provider. Do you think the level of availability is decent and enough for your business or clients? As you migrate to the cloud, the expectations shoot upwards as well. Knowing the availability levels will help you to cope with it. SLA levels The promised uptime from the cloud service provider should be much higher than what you are getting from your in-house setup. Uptime is a multi-factor feature which can tell you the probability of a connectivity outage, downtime due to server maintenance or server upgrades etc. You need to calculate what you will gain by availing the cloud service.
7. Disaster Recovery (DR) & Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Do you use a DR for your current in-house setup? How about a BCP? Do you use that too? As you need to carry both these to the cloud, make sure that you can move them to the cloud, you have that expertise. Will the cloud be able to help you minimize or reduce the time taken in case of a failed DR? Migration cost, time and effort Have you calculated the time and effort you need to move to the cloud? This is no little time, I assure you. What if you are unsatisfied with the cloud? Can you afford to move to another cloud? Or, can you afford to move back to local resources? Do you have the time, effort and money required for each situation that could come up?
8. Tech Support
What type of support will they provide? Will they support you over a phone call? Or will they use email, or live web chat or ticket escalation? How available is this help? Is it 24-7 service or only office hours on weekdays? Exactly why? These are also important things to consider ahead of time, before a possible problem.
9. Major Motive
Finally, why do you really want to move to the cloud? Are you doing it to save costs? Are the operational expenses and not capital expenses is the key influencing factor for you? Are you moving to the cloud for easy scalability, hire new servers when needed and use them as per requirements? The answer to all the questions above should be considered cumulatively before you really plunge into the cloud in hope of deriving benefits of cloud computing. While cloud migration is truly a brilliant concept, whether it fits your company’s need or not is another discussion altogether.
We hope you like this post on the major factors you need to consider before migrating
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