Inflation is high, energy costs have escalated and war in Ukraine has added further uncertainty to a world in recovery from the global pandemic. Against this less-than-favourable economic backdrop, businesses are looking to contain costs whilst preserving growth. Many ask if migrating all their technology to the cloud can help them achieve these goals.
Over 60% of global businesses already have cloud migration strategies in place, according to a recent report by Microsoft1, and this figure is growing. But what are the commercial advantages of cloud migration and how can they be realised?
We’ll start with these five…
1. Improved performance and shareability
In the office, at home, in between - the cloud allows you, your employees, and your clients to access, share and monitor real-time, secure data from any device, at any time. This, together with tailored analytics and dashboards, can help drive accurate data reporting, innovation, and operational efficiency. Even if a device fails, data will remain accessible; all that is needed is an internet connection. The result? Customer needs are met, and revenues can be retained or increased.
2. Reduced IT Costs
On-prem technology can incorporate IT infrastructure, physical data storage, software updates, onsite IT technicians and more. All this can weigh heavily on budgets and time constraints. By migrating to agile cloud infrastructure, software, and services, you can negate the need for expensive onsite maintenance and storage and reduce IT complexities. This can free you up to concentrate on core business and revenue generation and to align IT spend with business goals.
3. Effective employee collaboration
The pandemic revolutionised working practices, creating disparate, remote workforces. In a post-pandemic world, cloud technology can enable your geographically diverse staff to collaborate, pool their skills and work as a team. They can share best practice and communicate across different business disciplines. The cloud can enable them to access the very latest IT functions as soon as they become available too. All this can translate to increased productivity and profitability.
4. Better scalability
Because the cloud platform is scalable, it allows you to exploit modern technologies and services and integrate legacy systems as and when your commercial priorities change. This provides the flexibility to launch new products to the market and move technology to the cloud seamlessly, within a timeframe that suits you. Cloud-based services take hours rather than weeks to be implemented, in contrast to onsite IT infrastructure. All this is critical to agile business growth and competitiveness in today’s uncertain economic climate.
5. More Control
A managed cloud platform can provide optimum choice and control over the features you use, so you only pay for what you need, when you need it. Managed cloud services, bought on a subscription basis, can be 100% compliant, multi-regional and multilingual - and they can include 24/7 access to support.
Cloud Migration & Modernisation: Trends for 2023
