1. “I’m not sold on the cost savings.”
At first glance, reducing costs is one of the most immediate and tangible results from the cloud. You get out of the data center business and pay a predictable monthly fee based on the resources you use. No more buying the whole server rack when you only need 19 percent of its power and capacity. It’s somebody else’s job to pay the electric bills, keep hardware and software up to date, and recruit and pay expensive IT people. Scaling to meet changing market demands is faster and more efficient.
Seasoned IT pros understand that’s not the whole story. Shifting from CapEx to OpEx makes excellent sense for many companies who are looking to reallocate their IT resources and focus on growth.
The key is figuring out how the cloud can serve the distinct requirements of your marketplace, customers, vendors, and everybody else you do business with. You don’t have to push your whole IT organization to the cloud. Many companies use a hybrid cloud architecture that mixes and matches private and public cloud technologies.
Of course, that’s a lot to figure out on your own. You might be better off partnering with a managed cloud provider who can answer your questions and help you tap opportunities you might not be aware of. That’s how OnX has earned engagements in every industry across Canada and the U.S.
2. “We’re not seeing the ROI for our business.”
Where’s the return on investment if you’re not investing in data centers? It’s a fair question.
The answer lies in reframing your definition of investment. Owning a data center forces you to design system architectures, acquire real estate, buy machines that rapidly become outdated, pay the electric bills, hire and train IT people, and support IT users across your organization.
All those things represent fixed investments that must happen regardless of your business conditions or marketplace demands. Unfortunately, maintaining a data center and IT operations become ends unto themselves in many organizations—divorced from business realities.
Your IT people have been trained to use technology to boost efficiency, improve customer service, and, ultimately, secure the future of your business. Why not invest in their innate desire to solve complex IT challenges?
Partnering with a managed cloud provider who understands your business and has mastered cloud technologies is crucial to delivering a favorable ROI. All the IT chores you outsource still have to be done by somebody. It’s best to work with experts who understand that.
3. “I don’t see how the cloud benefits my people or my customers.”
It’s easy to think of the cloud as a great place to store data and run IT workloads. Sometimes, though, it’s harder to see all ways cloud technologies help everybody you do business with.
Think of the cloud as a hub that connects anybody with an internet connection. Cloud-based applications, best known as software as a service (SaaS), enable people to share documents and communicate by text, video, and phone calls. SaaS apps form the backbone of unified communications, which provides a wealth of tools to collaborate with business partners and support customers around the world and around the clock.
The cloud also enables expert developers to weave together a web of APIs and other connective technologies to ensure that your systems can communicate with any other system. That can streamline every facet of your technology operations, including billing, ERP, logistics, warehousing, and real-time customer support.
Moreover, all your cloud activities generate data you can plug into advanced analytics software to visualize how well your business is functioning and zero in on inefficiencies.
4. “The cloud isn’t secure enough for us.”
You should worry about the security of data outside the physical boundaries of your business. The trouble these days is that you need to worry even more about the data stored on your premises—and within all the mobile devices your co-workers carry.
Cloud providers understand the skepticism on security. Their business model obliges them to address security risks to a much greater degree than other IT operations might
Also, bear in mind that cybercriminals are opportunists seeking the easiest path to valuable data. Though any site can be hacked under the right circumstances, cloud providers have a financial motive to make their sites extremely difficult to break into. They also can encrypt all valuable data and deploy advanced intrusion detection to flag potential breaches.
Put yourself in the shoes of a hacker who spends weeks or months finding a backdoor into a SaaS site, only to discover the valuable data is encrypted and therefore worthless. Wouldn’t you seek out softer targets?
Of course, these generalizations have exceptions. Each cloud provider must be carefully scrutinized to ensure their data-protection policies and programs are robust enough to suit your needs. Working with a managed cloud provider can help you assess the security of cloud companies you’re thinking of doing business with.
5. “The compliance team won’t let us use the cloud.”
Yes, regulatory requirements may force your hand on the cloud. If the law says you must store certain sensitive data within the bounds of your business, then that’s what you do. It’s not worth the risk of getting fined or suffering a breach resulting from a compliance violation—which could produce extremely costly litigation.
Then again, compliance is immensely complex. You might be able to store a wide variety of data types and IT workloads in the cloud without inviting regulatory scrutiny. The challenge is avoiding the minefields and staying in the clear.
Managed cloud providers see these compliance challenges every day. The best providers take the time to understand the spirit and the letter of the law, and can actually improve your stance on compliance and regulatory requirements.
The cloud requires tough decisions
It’s simple to overcome your objections to cloud technologies. Matching them to your unique needs is the complicated part. When you hand off data-center duties to a cloud provider, you still have a lot to think about: containers, virtual servers, apps, APIs, permissions, compliance, and much more.
As bandwidth and storage become ever more economical, many companies find it makes sense to assign their cloud operations to managed services providers who handle everything:
- Designing the system architecture.
- Managing the migration.
- Supporting cloud apps and configuring APIs.
- Monitoring systems for security breaches and system crashes.
- Providing 24×7 technical support.
With three decades of data center experience in Canada and the U.S., OnX has the know-how and the experience to manage the intricacies of a cloud migration and maintain support systems 24x7x365.
We’ll explore your business challenges in depth, analyze your current IT infrastructure, and customize a cloud solution that matches your unique needs. After the migration, our cloud experts work around the clock to keep your systems running at optimum performance.
Talk to us today and let us help you find the best cloud solution for your business.
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