Are you ready to move to the cloud?

The cloud has become a vital part of many business sectors because of its business continuity benefits, growth on demand capabilities and flexibility as you only pay for the IT services your business requires. However there are many services you can migrate to the cloud, so what’s right for you?

If you are looking to migrate some of your IT services onto an external hosted or cloud environment, have you considered all of the options? You are likely to know most of the main cloud services on offer such as Cloud email, File and data storage and dedicated cloud servers for applications and software, but when is it right to utilise those services?

What should you consider before moving to the cloud?

In order to move to the cloud there are certain factors you need to consider. First is what is how good your network infrastructure is and internet speeds? As an external service, you will need a fast and reliable internet connection to make good use of the cloud. If you are running on ADSL or EFM connection, it is possible that a cloud solution may provide more hassle than its worth, as attempting to open any files will be slow and often frustrating.

The second thing to consider is what kind of service do you require? If you are looking to use the cloud to offer business continuity and quality of service you have many options. Many major providers such as Rackspace and Microsoft will offer you substantial storage and good packages for cloud services such as email and file storage, but what if you need optimal customization and fast support for any changes? if you require a fully customizable cloud offering for your requirements, then Southbank IT’s cloud offering will provide you a robust service with a dedicated team to quickly and easily adjust the cloud to suit your needs.

The Third factor is, do you need remote and constant access to your files, email and data? Because if the answer is yes, then a cloud offering can provide you with all of this as long as you have a high quality internet connection. And lastly, to consider is how much should you move to the cloud? From full cloud offerings to hybrid systems and full on-site systems, there are many setups you can consider for your company. Depending on your business objectives you should look to see what offers your business the maximum efficiency and operational benefits through the use of key IT services.

What are the benefits of moving to the cloud?

In the decision making process to decide what cloud offering is right for you, there are many benefits to consider:

1. One of the big reasons many businesses have made the change is Cost savings. When the cloud was still in its infancy, this was one of the most cited and sought after reasons for moving to the cloud. The reason for this is that for services such as Emails, Servers, File Storage and Backup solutions, you will be forced to continually buy new equipment as older hardware such as servers and NAS’s become outdated or simply break. With the Cloud, you only have to pay a monthly retainer for these services, meaning no more hardware costs, no more hassle of investigating your own IT issues and an instantly scalable IT service as you grow as a business.

2. Another reason is the speed of integration of cloud services. The time taken to commission, implement and configure services can generally  take a matter of weeks, while a company could use its cloud provider to make the change within a couple of hours. If you’re a company that needs to be a product out the door as soon as possible, or needs flexible adaptability of what its IT services can do, the cloud seems a perfect fit for you.

3. For many businesses, File collaboration between their employees is essential to their business operations. As data is accessible via VPN or other secure connection method, the cloud can offer you a service to provide your employees with their required files, emails etc. As long as they have an internet connection. This can allow for better harmony and efficiency of your workplace, which has been considered vital by many businesses.

4. IT security is another huge reason why many businesses move to the cloud. From losing a laptop – to protecting your company from a cyber attack, the cloud offers many benefits to solve these issues. Firstly as you can back up all of your data on local devices, it is possible to alleviate the damage caused by this. By backing up all your files and data on the cloud, the process of recovering and getting yourself back on track can be extremely simple and safe thanks to the cloud. Also all cloud providers offer secure IT environments, with the highest level of virus and cyber attack protection, so all data is likely to be more secure in the cloud than in a local environment.

5. The final point to consider on our list is Disaster recovery. As mentioned before all of your data, email and backups can be available instantly online. If any were to happen to your business such as your server breaking, you can have an instant failover to our cloud offering, cutting all potential business downtime. If your office were to suffer a disaster and all of your main servers were to go down, the cloud would still be hosting your emails, data and any other services you had externally, so you can still work and minimize business downtime thanks to cloud services. If you’re looking for disaster recovery options, or are looking to simple make your systems more robust, the cloud is definitely something you should be considering.

Conclusion

In Conclusion there are many factors to consider before you decide if you are ready to move to the cloud. The benefits are enticing to businesses of every sector, so if you want to know what cloud services are right for you, and want to know more about what you can do with them, then why not give Southbank IT a call? Our IT Professional’s can offer friendly advice and consultation to ensure you get the cloud services that are right for you.