Why should your business move to the Cloud First approach?
For starters, it can be a challenge for SMBs to store expensive hardware and applications that consume your IT budget. You’re also limited on how many users can access the application, not to mention how much longer it takes to get application updates. Cloud computing costs are typically more reasonable than locally installed applications.
Simplify your IT costs by outsourcing your expensive servers and software with a Managed Service Provider like Align Right Technologies. Your business may already be using the cloud without knowing it with services such as WordPress, Gmail, Skype, and GoToMeeting. Migrating to cloud-based applications will allow your company many benefits which include:
- Scaling up or down on demand
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Accessing data at any time from any device
- Easy upgrades
- Replace heavy IT costs with predictable and simple operational expenditures
Taking the First Steps
If you investigate cloud services for your SMB and find it to be a worthwhile
endeavor, you need a plan for implementation. Like any fundamental change to
the business, a strategy for moving toward being a cloud-based business should
be taken in steps. If you start down the cloud road without a clear
understanding of your existing infrastructure cost and anticipated future
needs, you may wind up costing yourself more than the cloud can save you.
- Evaluate your
current position. There is more to IT
expense than meets the eye. You need to account for what you spend running your
server or renting space elsewhere, hardware costs, and how much you spend on
mission-critical applications. Otherwise, it’s impossible to calculate whether it’s more
cost-effective to buy and manage an application outright or procure it on a
subscription basis in the cloud.
- Establish priorities. Don’t
get sucked into thinking you have to move all operations to the cloud all at
once. A good rule of thumb is to start with applications your operations
depend on least in order to get a real-world feel for how processes work and
are billed in the cloud. Cloud-based backups are good jumping-off point as your
business isn’t dependent on backup recovery to run the day-to-day processes.
- Equip your employees. Preparing employees is an important part of a cloud-based migration. How will their job functions change? Do they need additional training? Be sure to have a change management strategy in place for your people.
Scaling
Growth is something that every small business both desires and fears. We are thrilled with the idea that we’ve become desirable in our business niche and need to expand to meet demand. At the same time, the increased overhead and the difficulty in making a seamless transition to a larger business model can be terrifying and expensive.
However, when you employ a cloud computing company, you immediately rule out the need for potentially expensive upgrades like more databases, more processing power and extra hardware. Your cloud computing vendor can expand your processing power, available memory, or software needs in the blink of an eye and the press of a button. This is really useful if your upgrades and expansions are only for a select time of year or a special offer, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. If you offer great deals that mean your web traffic is going to double over Black Friday weekend, you can upgrade to more bandwidth and possible connections for your site for a few days in the cloud, then drop back down to your normal capacity when it’s over for a minimal price increase during those 100 or so hours.
SMBs have no time for complications. It’s no wonder that 90 percent of them are using cloud-based services. Save money and time today when you develop a Cloud First Business Plan with the help of Align Right Technologies today.