Be Sure to Count the Costs of the Cloud

Cloud computing is a hot business technology. Research firm Gartner surveyed businesses worldwide and found that 60% have increased their budgets for cloud services through 2014. Gartner also predicts that the cloud services market will increase 18.5% this year. Are you looking to migrate over to the cloud? Here are a few considerations before your business goes cloud crazy.

Due to cloud computing being such a hot topic, you are likely getting bombarded with different messages about the cloud. Cloud advertising promises that your business will see savings from cloud services that sound almost too good to be true; and then there is another marketing message that says you need to migrate as much of your IT infrastructure to the cloud as possible.

As is the case with the implementation of any new technology, the more time that you take to understand the cloud, the better that the technology will be able to meet your needs. When you break cloud computing down, there are multiple models and different types of cloud services. Cloud computing is also not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business has unique computing needs and migrating everything over to the cloud in one fell swoop may not be the best approach for every company.

Before you talk with a cloud service provider, you will first want to know what your IT needs are. You will also want to peer into your IT crystal ball and have a good understanding of your company's upcoming technology needs. This is because many cloud services are offered as a contract, and once your needs change, then you will have to renegotiate your cloud contract.

Many of these contracts charge by how much data is used. This means that you will need to have some measure of control in place in order to regulate how much data your company puts into the cloud so as to not go over budget. To save costs and space, you will also want to make sure that the data you're storing in the cloud is necessary and not redundant.

If you are poised to fly into the cloud, and this is your first trip up, then we recommend that you take a hot air balloon and move over gradually; instead of taking a supersonic jet and immediately going all-in. One way to make this gradual transition is to migrate over only the right data and applications. Generally, cloud computing is secure, but for company data that is ultra-sensitive, if you do not feel comfortable having a third party store it, then save yourself the anxiety and just store it in-house. You will also want to consider the performance of certain applications. If the application does not run well on your in-house IT infrastructure, then it may perform even worse in the cloud.

When it comes down to it, switching over to cloud computing is a major move for any organization. For major technology decisions like this, call Preferred at 708-781-7110 and let us be your trusted IT advisor. We can recommend solid cloud computing companies that will be a good fit for your business, as well as assess your IT needs so that you will not overpay for cloud services. Cloud computing can greatly benefit every business; let Preferred navigate you through the fog of the cloud so that you can see your technology needs clearly!