Most businesses are already finalizing budget distributions around this time of the financial year. If your company has not decided on allocating on which specific areas of your managed IT services need funds then you might want to consider focusing on getting funding for moving some or all of your IT systems onto the Cloud.
More and more Australian businesses have been adopting cloud computing and it is expected to grow even further up to $780 million by year 2020, which is considerably a rapid growth rate as compared to almost $340 million in 2015.
Moving onto the Cloud does not necessarily mean moving all your work load off-site. There are cases wherein certain applications perform better or work faster on the cloud and there are situations where having on-site systems would be preferred. Your managed IT services team can help determine if it would be better for your enterprise to move systems fully onto the Cloud or if it would be more beneficial to opt for a Hybrid Cloud system.
One of the benefits of using the cloud is being able to shift the cost of IT from capital expenditure to being an operational expense. The shift in IT infrastructure budget onto a cloud structure would free up resources and valuable time that can be used for other applications that could add more value to your core business. Your enterprise’s managed IT service team would have better flexibility if you chose a cloud model.
Your company can cut down on costs for buying, maintaining, and running onsite IT equipment on-site. You can ask your managed IT services team for recommendations on dependable cloud service providers. Numerous MSP’s that offer managed IT services packages also offer cloud computing solutions.
Moving your company’s workload onto a cloud would bring up concerns like what new skills need to be learned for the cloud shift, what will happen to the existing IT equipment, and how will this affect software licenses. It is best to converse with prospective cloud service providers that your managed IT services team recommended as different provider would have varying pricing structures. Asking these questions will give you and insight on how their set-up runs and if they are capable to scale up if your company would need it in the future.
The guidelines that Australian Department of Finance has set out on allocation of budget for cloud deployment is also a good reference point for better understanding of the cloud service contract commercial construct. Especially when it comes to consumption costs for monitoring and management.
Once you have calculated the cost and future savings of moving some or all of the company workload onto a cloud, it is time for you and your managed IT services group to decide which of your company’s workload and applications will run better on a cloud server. The NAB also set out guidelines for a decision making framework to help businesses determine the different workloads that would run better on cloud servers. Workloads that are process-oriented, administrative, and can run on automation are best suited for the cloud. E-commerce and online tools, E-mail, CRM business applications, ERP, business analytics, website and website apps are the most common of workloads that most Australian businesses have shifted onto the cloud with the help of their managed IT services teams.
Your managed IT services partner can help ensure that interruptions to business operations will be at a minimum since workloads and legacy applications can be moved in small chunks, similar to removing a few lego pieces and rebuilding them on another location a few pieces at a time.
Security is of course a major issue. It would be best to choose a cloud service provider that has the same, if not a higher level of security standards than that of your current managed IT services team to make sure that valuable business information will be well protected during and after the shift onto the cloud.
Support services should also be considered should the need for assistance arise. Often times, companies with dependable MSPs providing excellent managed IT services do not even notice systems slowing down or service interruptions since the managed IT services team promptly communicates with the cloud service provider to resolve the issue.
