The general business landscape is agog with the process of migrating to cloud. Even many late adopters are beginning to consider it for their applications, and with good reason too.
In a recent survey, 62% of organisations admitted that by 2020, they will be running 100% of their information technology on cloud platform. This is good news, especially for business that want their IT and other relevant data to be safe and secure. The cloud offers this and more.
However, it is not that straightforward, and many people who underestimate the teething problems often encounter more costs and risks than they bargain for. But they can be avoided by simply being proactive and knowledgeable about what to expect.
In this post, we’ll be sharing some important things to know before you commence your migration.
- Study the maintenance time
Every business has its operating hours, and there is no guarantee that site maintenance will be carried out when it is favourable for your business. Sometimes, a downtime from an unexpected site maintenance can affect your regular business operations.
Hence, before choosing a provider, ensure they inform their clients about maintenance services ahead of schedule. Also, prepare your business when you have been informed, this will mitigate risks during the hiatus.
- How to handle upgrades
It can be difficult to manage a new app amidst cloud upgrades. People who get wind of a new application are often left starting over when an upgrade occurs. If you are unprepared, for something like an Azure update, it could mean going back to learn everything anew.
A good way to deal with this is to have a learning and development team for such situations. When a change in hosting occurs, it is part of their responsibility to learn about it and teach other employees. Assigning the task of monitoring and tutoring to a few, goes long way in bringing many up to speed.
- Terminated employee policy
In the past, when a staff member was let go, dismissing them from the network was as easy as removing their desktop access and other company privileges. But with the cloud-based storage, it will take more than just denying physical access.
You will need to effect a system for password changes that completely prevents access for unauthorised users. This should be one of the first procedures for disengaging a member of your staff, especially in the IT department.
- The cloud is unavoidable
It is not feasible to opt out of everything that is cloud based. The future is here, and we are living it. Cloud storage has come to stay. When you migrate your systems, it is critical to prepare you staff ahead of time.
Installation will naturally disrupt your services temporarily, but it can be managed. Some providers offer a minimal interruption during set-up. For best results, agree on a period of low operations such as in the evening or during weekends.
It may require some sacrifice during the period, but when all installation is complete, the results can be truly rewarding.
