Five Cloud Computing Mistakes Businesses Make
IT departments of companies, both large and small, seek flexibility managing their IT networks and the cost savings that cloud computing promises. This isn’t just unfounded hype; the IT industry now has facts and figures that prove that cloud computing is here to stay. It’s estimated that nearly 78% of small businesses will fully adopt cloud computing by the year 2020.
Interestingly, according to the softwareinsider.com, almost all the companies surveyed actually used SaaS (Software as a Service) applications while not even being aware of it.
1. If you have to move to the cloud, it better solve your problems
Most businesses find business agility – responding faster to business needs – an important factor and is a major driver for cloud computing. An InformationWeek survey reports that over 65% of companies surveyed confirm this fact. Responding quickly to business requirements actually makes a lot of difference in the way the business functions and makes profits.
2. The Cloud Won’t manage itself; you have to do it
If you thought that moving to the cloud would enable you to wash your hands off anything to do with Information Technology, you are wrong — the cloud allows you to let vendors manage the infrastructure, run data centers and manage everything else from data storage to even core functions such as CRM (netsuite.com) or accounting. The takeaway here, however, is that these functions won’t auto-function. You will still need to work on your business; it’s just that you work on the cloud instead of investing heavily on IT and spending precious man-hours managing technology when you should be working on your business.
3. Due diligence
Doing your “due diligence” starts with taking inventory of what you need for your business – An overview of your IT needs, an account of IT related assets you have, what business functions you would like to see moving to the cloud – sales and marketing, lead generation, data storage and management, accounting and finance, and even inventory management in some cases. Research your cloud solutions, cloud computing vendors and take a decision. If you would like some help, we are standing by to talk to you.
4. Picture costs, then execute
It isn’t just that cloud computing can bail you out if your business suffers from a plunging bottom line. Think about how the individual services might add up, check with your running expenses long term will amount to, etc. Think about the cost-benefit analysis of your own data center vis-à-vis that of a cloud computing vendor. Take an account of some of those untapped resources you might have, in-house capacity that remained unused, etc. Picture everything before you pin it down.
5. Not researching vendors for utility and enterprise support
Cloud computing is a service heavy concept. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has no meaning without fanatical support from the vendors, enterprise support at all times with Service Level Agreements (SLA) in place. Avoid long-term contracts, needless commitments, and conduct your research on vendors to see if they can troubleshoot your problems, reputation in the industry, their level of paranoia when it comes to customer service.
Serrera, for instance, makes SLAs mandatory. We are available around the clock for our customers while allowing you to reach out to us in multiple ways — all the way from the ubiquitous email to live chat on our website. We also kick it up a notch with Sererra’s NetSuite Admin Services.
