The trend towards cloud computing promises much for enterprise if pursued properly. The benefits include converting Capital Expenditures to Operational Expenses, making technology deployment more dynamic, achieving significant cost-savings for dynamic workloads, and creating opportunities to developing future revenue opportunities.
Microsoft Office 365, Google’s G Suite, and Amazon Web Services demonstrate the explosive growth of cloud computing. Businesses have a unique opportunity to achieve tremendous flexibility and revenue growth in this brave new world. But you need to plan for the move to ensure your business benefits from adopting a cloud-based infrastructure. Let’s first look at these benefits, and how they can help your business operate more efficiently.
Cloud benefits: agility, productivity and collaboration
The shift to the cloud offers businesses a raft of benefits, including:
- Operational agility and capacity. Need a server or storage space? What about employee access to an application? Scaling capacity up or down is simply a matter of coordinating with your vendor rather than purchasing, installing and implementing expensive IT hardware and software on-site. Backup, recovery and security are also simplified.
- Elasticity that enables staff to work remotely and enjoy more flexible hours. This keeps staff both happier and more productive – all at little to no cost. Remote work and flexible hours can also give an organization an edge by allowing them to attract better talent from a wider pool by removing geographic barriers.
- Cloud-based services also allow for fluid coordination and communication among staff, contractors and clients. Rather than working on multiple versions of the same document, team members in different locations can now work on one version, cutting confusion and ensuring better document control.
- The ability to leverage software and infrastructure as-a-service, thus avoiding costly software and hardware purchases, and the expense of servicing, upgrading and maintaining these resources.
- Expand capacity when required with costs directly aligned to your usage.
Making the most of the cloud
The benefits of migrating to a cloud-based operation are real, but it needs to be part of an enterprise-wide cloud strategy. Take the time to develop a high-level approach to benefit from the cost savings, improved efficiency and agility of the cloud by:
- Determining which workloads would benefit from a static cloud or an elastic cloud. This step has a dramatic effect on cost because static workloads can cost 3-5x what they should if hosted in an elastic cloud.
- Defining your business case for adopting the cloud
- Listing what your core requirements are
- Identifying the core cloud technology and services you require
- Knowing how your enterprise will benefit from using the cloud
The takeaway is to carefully consider how to make the cloud work for your organization, and to implement it enterprise-wide for best effect and maximum return on investment.
*content courtesy of OneAffiniti funded by Citrix
