The Cloud… Sounds great doesn’t it? Like a mysterious, magical place where all your worries are transported away. It seems like everyone is switching from physical servers to cloud hosting. And maybe for some businesses it is just what they need, but not all.
How do you know if the cloud hosting environment is right for you? The price is usually presented as cheaper than on site servers, or even off-site. So, saving money always is a good thing in business, right? But saving money here might really end up costing you in the future.
A Lift and Shift Cloud Migration generally is a quick and easy way to eliminate the expense and overhead cost of maintaining your on-premise servers. By means of moving a business’s application to a cloud environment, the business can normally operate with little to no interruptions. This way business owners can avoid the high cost of having to rebuild and redesign their IT systems.
But a cloud migration could mean that some of the applications that are running now may not be built to run in the cloud at their full potential, thus negating some of the initial savings because of their inadequacy.
Don’t forget that when you shift to the cloud, everything is pulled there. That means your insecure configurations and malware. Therefore, make sure that you are taking the appropriate precautions to protect your business. Once your business migrates to the cloud all your information is placed in danger throughout the method of migration. If the information is leaked, your business will experience harm whether price or name, or other. But with the correct skills and knowledge of your IT company, a cloud migration can be a safe experience for you and your business.
As you are researching what cloud vendor might be the right fit, do not be overwhelmed by the number of suppliers. As cloud support becomes the new “thing” there will be more and more business adding their hat to the ring. You need to pick the one that has the product and experience that will compliment your business, one you can develop a harmonious relationship with. You will be working with each other for many years, so make sure that you are both on the same page.
Before you go down this road, one last suggestion. Have your IT company preform an IT audit. You might be surprised but what they find. Duplication, outdated records, zombie servers, to name few. These all add up to extra IT cost that you might find shocking. Removing these costs will lower your long-term running cost which might then make a lift and shift not as money saving as expected. So, do you and your business a favor and have an IT audit.
As more business are taking the plunge to the cloud migration talk to your IT company and see which choice might be the right one for you.