Should your business migrate to the cloud?

Migrating to the public cloud is a great option for many businesses. Cloud migration helps to optimise costs for your company, increases data security, and it also gives your employees additional flexibility. Using the cloud also makes it easier for you to create a business continuity plan with the help of one-click data backup and recovery services.

What is Cloud Migration?

Cloud migration is the method of transferring your applications, data, and servers to a cloud platform, such as Microsoft Azure. The process begins with an IT team conducting a full review of your existing infrastructure, data, and applications to help make the transition to the cloud easier.

The next phase involves the relocation of existing workloads to the cloud environment. Once complete, the final stage is to optimise the cloud tenant while providing ongoing management and support. This process is part of a cloud migration strategy that is part of your overall IT Strategy for the business.

Is Your Business Ready?

Migrating to the cloud is an important decision for small to mid-size business owners. A few key signs can help you determine if you are ready to transition to the cloud. Keeping these different things in mind will give you a better understanding of why cloud migration is a great choice for many companies.

Your Technology is Nearing or is End-of-Life

One reason to consider cloud migration is if your technology is nearing or is already at its end-of-life. Migrating to the cloud is a much more cost-effective option for businesses compared to investing in expensive IT hardware. You can also fully take advantage of the latest tech available while using the cloud.

Your Technology is Not Aligned to Business Growth

Keeping up with all of the numerous demands of a growing business isn't easy. For example, dealing with a lack of storage space with on-premise devices is an all too common problem. Migrating to the public cloud is a great way to avoid this problem, as it gives you the additional freedom to scale up or down to best meet your needs.

You Don't Have a Disaster Recovery Plan

Creating a disaster recovery plan is essential for any business. Fortunately, cloud computing makes it possible for you to upload all of your critical data onto offsite servers. All of this data is easily accessible for your team, whether you need to restore accidentally deleted data or if you are recovering from a cybersecurity incident.

You're Spending Too Much on IT

On-premise IT infrastructure is costly to manage for small or medium-sized businesses.

As servers age and fall out of the initial warranty period, the business must purchase an extended warranty to maintain priority access to parts and software patching that is critical for cyber security. The post-warranty services have inflated significantly in recent years with basic cover now over €1,000 per year.

Partnering with a cloud provider is a great way to decrease your costs, as you won't have to invest in the constant upkeep of IT infrastructure. You will only pay for want you consume per month with options to fix , as you can use these cost savings to invest in many other areas of your business.

You Have Staff Working Remotely

Cloud computing gives your employees the flexibility to work outside of the office, as remote work continues to become much more widespread. Allowing your staff to work remotely is a great way to boost morale and provide a better work-life balance for all of your employees.

Benefits of Moving to the Cloud

Moving your business to the cloud provides a wide range of benefits. Understanding these advantages for your company is important if you are still undecided on using cloud services.

Cost Efficiency and Scalability

One of the benefits of cloud adoption is that it helps to improve the bottom line for your business. You can scale up or down without having to invest in expensive on-premise infrastructure. The financial benefits of using cloud technology will only continue to grow over time.

Performance and Reliability

Downtime in the workplace is a major issue that can lead to significant costs. However, cloud computing provides your business with the best performance and reliability available. Partnering with any of the major cloud providers is much more reliable than solely depending on your in-house servers and IT infrastructure.

Security 

Taking the additional steps to protect your data against cybercriminals is essential for businesses. Your data in the cloud is backed up multiple times in different data centres to ensure your information remains safe.

Around the clock monitoring and encryption technology also provide an added level of security. Automatic updates also ensure that your employees are using the latest version of an application on the cloud.

Cloud Migration Process

Cloud migration can often feel overwhelming if you try to do this process on your own. Working with an IT service provider is a great way to gain professional expertise throughout the entire process. These IT professionals will make sure everything is transferred successively to the recommended cloud platform while keeping downtime to a minimum.

Key Challenges

Lack of Strategy and Planning

One of the biggest challenges of cloud migration is a lack of strategy and planning. Taking the time to make plans with an IT service provider is a great way to expedite the entire process while helping you to avoid common problems.

Poor Cost Optimisation

Many businesses struggle with optimising IT costs. An IT service provider can work with your company to improve cost optimisation, whether it's adopting a cloud-first policy, implementing shared services, or using the latest technology to improve business operations.

Ready to Move to the Cloud?

Learning about cloud solutions for your business is key in helping your company succeed. Migrating to the cloud offers numerous benefits, as an IT service provider can guide your company throughout each stage of the process to ensure your business fully takes advantage of cloud computing.

Next Steps:

The next step in migrating to the cloud is to

1. work with a certified IT service provider who has a proven track record in successful cloud migrations.

2. perform a comprehensive review of your existing ICT infrastructure and operations, together with a session to understand your business goals and outcomes.

Once completed the IT service provider will design and present a cloud migration process designed to minimise any disruptions to your business.

Finally, a proposal for the complete transition will finalise everything and set up your company to fully take advantage of using cloud services.

We would be delighted to help you get started on your transition to the cloud, book a meeting and lets get started.