In mathematical charting models, an inflection point is where the direction of a curve changes in response to an event. To be considered as such, the change must be clearly perceptible and attributable to a specific cause. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a true inflection point emerge in the number of people working remotely, and almost in lock step, an increase in the utilization of cloud computing services followed...and right now, those curves show no signs of shifting back to the pre-pandemic trajectory. Indeed, cloud computing and remote work go together like peanut butter and jelly, but now, as companies have had a few months to use and evaluate cloud resources that were initially available to them, they’ve been able to note the deficiencies and challenges of those cloud services and put together want lists for a “version two” of their cloud computing tools that are hopefully more precisely tuned to their needs. If you’re looking to settle on some guiding strategies for implementing a new and improved toolbox of cloud solutions for your organization, read on…
7 Situations to Consider as You Look to Upgrade Your Organization’s Cloud Setup
Do any of these situations sound familiar to you?
- You spend too much money on purchasing and maintaining computing hardware, facilities, utilities. One of the biggest benefits of an enterprise cloud computing platform is that you outsource your computing infrastructure, which means your organization is no longer responsible for maintenance and hardware upgrades. If it’s important for you to keep your organization focused on its core mission, maintaining your IT hardware probably isn’t among those objectives.
- You lack visibility and control over who can access sensitive business data. When working with cloud-based data, it’s even more important to establish an appropriate hierarchy of access privileges. Unfortunately, most free cloud platforms have limitations in this area.
- Your in-house IT team keeps growing. This goes back to the organizational focus argument. If IT isn’t core to your organization’s mission, it makes little sense these days to be growing your IT headcount.
- IT downtime is becoming more common. There are a huge number of possible causes to IT downtime, but again, if IT isn’t core to your mission, why not offload that responsibility to an enterprise cloud provider whose job it is to ensure you’re as close to 100% uptime as possible.
- You’re becoming more vulnerable to data security breaches. Is there a company out there that isn’t more at risk for data security breaches? By going to a full enterprise cloud platform, you’ll ensure you keep your cybersecurity stance up-to-date and able to stand up to the constantly growing list of threats.
Your people are experiencing problems remotely accessing certain types of business information and applications or using certain types of devices. This is not an uncommon scenario for organizations with complex business needs. These issues can be alleviated by moving to an enterprise cloud platform specifically tuned to your needs. - You’re vulnerable to losing data in a disaster-level event. If any of your data is still being stored in-house in either paper or digital form, you’re at risk.
There are plenty more scenarios that belong on this list. Suffice to say, not all iterations of cloud computing are created equally, and as we move into a more cloud-based business culture, it’s important that your organization is properly positioned to evolve with that culture and the expectations of your employees, vendors, and customers. Imaging Office Systems stands ready to work with your organization to ascertain your needs and put together a precisely tuned cloud workspace that meets your needs now and as we move into the future.