Change can be very stressful. And sticking to your traditional way of doing business is a comforting path of certainty. When we’re talking about a beginning cloud migration, you’re initiating a change in the way you do business, and that’s not something to take lightly. Here are some overused cloud cliches we can agree to let go by the wayside.
1. “It’s Not Trustworthy”
Encryption
Whether you’re binge watching your favorite TV show, managing your checking or savings account from your phone, the cloud is an integral piece of your productivity for your personal life. That’s no reason to fully trust just yet. The livelihood of your business and personal life are two completely different coins. But surely, benefits from the cloud for your personal life can deliver 10 fold in the business world.
Encryption for business data in transit, industry leading solution like Azure from Microsoft transports your data seamlessly between users and devices. And for data at rest, Azure data centers offer a wide range of encryption capabilities for extra stronghold on security, using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Control
Perhaps the best feature of a unique hybrid solution is controlled. Azure takes control seriously and it will let you decide what information gets stored on-premises and what goes to the cloud. You can also filter information back and forth to on-premises or cloud, at your convenience.
2. “All cloud is the same”
On the surface level, yes, but clouds are all built for the same purpose. Digging deeper we can start to differentiate areas of opportunity where the cloud makes the most sense for your business. Azure, above all, provides an excellent way for your business to acclimate to certain elements of the cloud. The Azure Hybrid Solution debunks the assumption that “all or nothing” is the only way your business can adapt to cloud functions. With an Azure hybrid solution starting small with email migration or data backup and recovery is best practice before forcing a complete overhaul.
3. “We’ll Have to Change all of our Applications”
Moving any sort of application into a cloud will require some level of re-design to the solution. But Azure supports the broadest selection of devices, operating systems, databases, languages, frameworks, and tools. The beauty of leveraging hybrid cloud is that the same Hyper-V Virtual Machines (VMs), for example, that is running on-premise or through another third party cloud can easily be moved to Azure and will run without needing to make modifications on Azure VMs. You can leverage the free 30 day trial of Azure Site Recovery to migrate your customers’ on-premises physical Windows/Linux servers, on-premises Hyper-V VMs, and/or on-premises VMware VMs up into Azure with ease. If they are migrating on-premises VMWare VMs then Azure Site Recovery will convert the VM to a Hyper-V as part of the migration.
4. “A cloud IT environment doesn’t have enough transparency to manage”
To make sure your cloud transition goes smoothly, there are highly dedicated tools and resources that are developed to oversee your entire business and users in the cloud. Hiring a cloud service provider to help scale adoption of the cloud is the most sure-handed path to a successful migration.
The truth is, there is MORE transparency with off-premise servers and workstations, and you may not even know it, but a lot of critical applications inside your company and your life are utilizing off premise data storage at this very moment. Banking, Christmas shopping, and many apps we use today are perfect examples of the clouds effectiveness to manage bank accounts, transfer large data when and where we need them. Partnering with a cloud service provider to manage off-premise solutions means less worry to what could happen to your systems that are on-premise and clear expectations of how your business will operate daily with the a unique small business cloud solution.
5. “The cloud and cloud hybrid model is too complicated for our business.”
Major benefits of a hybrid Manage IT support model that you could start seeing right away include:
1. Reducing Cost: No more “sunk costs are sunk” when it comes to technology expenditures. Typically, most businesses working with a Managed Service Provider start seeing a more energy efficient machine that could lower your energy costs in weeks. A proactive approach to IT can also help predict your future technology downtime, forecasting to prevent issues. Proactive = freeing up human capital with repairs and also cash resources.
2. Focus on the Core of your Business: A balance between internal and external IT Managed Support means more attention to your core business. Let your internal personnel focus on workloads that need the most attention and then pass tasks such as help desk to your Managed Service Provider.
3. Stay Upgraded: Cloud migration, network upgrade, and software patches can take a painstakingly long time. A diverse team of experts that are certified and focused in certain areas of technology for your business will keep you running at where YOUR business should be. Keeping up with industry changes will help your business solve technology problems faster.
4. Network Health: Managed IT support should require a Network Security Specialist to be at the helm. This is going beyond your regular firewall and anti-virus products. Your Network Specialist can offer a wider range of disaster and back-up solutions to quickly respond and detect any threat to your health.
This page was originally published on July 18, 2017 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy and comprehensiveness.
