4 Common Mistakes in Transiting to Cloud Computing

Everyone is hopping onto the Cloud bandwagon in a hurry – and for good reason, because Cloud computing is evolving every day and infiltrating various aspects of our lives. In business, speed is king, and in the rush to make decisions, they often neglect important factors in transitioning.

Service Level Agreements

Cloud Service Providers should always furnish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which details the following, at the bare minimum:
– Specific parameters and minimum expected levels for all aspects of service, such as uptime
– Remedies, be it in compensation or otherwise, for failure to meet the expectations
– Confirms that your data still belongs to you, and explicitly states your rights in getting your data back
– States the notice period for discontinuation of service, or for upgrade of service

These are based on the most important factors in Cloud solutions: availability, performance, security, reliability, disaster recovery, customer support, and visibility (into data centre location, key performance metrics, etc.)

Spring Cleaning Your Data

Cloud solutions are often powerful insofar that it allows you to pay only for what you use, minimizing unused resource and allowing you to scale quickly. However, this can be a double-edged swords: in organizations where data has been accumulated over a long period of time, there could be many excess files that have no real usage or relevance still stored in the system. When migrated and stored within your Cloud storage, this takes up extra space and ends up in you paying the premium for keeping unnecessary data. The best way to circumvent this? Spring clean before migrating your data onto your Cloud solution. It’s a good opportunity for you to tidy up the system, too!

Reducing IT Labour Resources

A reduction in the amount of labour required to maintain data and systems has often been marketed to be a big advantage of Cloud solutions. However, immediately cutting back on IT labour resource could be a hasty decision, one that might cost you dearly. Cloud solutions are still deeply technical in nature, even with the millions of guides and tutorials on the Internet. When it comes to self-provisioning services, there would still be a need for you to have a few technical experts inhouse to migrate your data in the initial stages, and manage or fix as necessary thereafter. A reduction in labour costs, however, might be feasible with Cloud solutions that come in a package withManaged Cloud Services, where an account manager is assigned to help you with migration, maintenance, and to offer support for any issues you may run into. Even so, having a small team of IT professionals working with your managed services team will give you peace of mind knowing that your technical solutions are well looked after.

Discarding Equipment

For businesses converting their CAPEX (on-premise) to an OPEX (off-premise) setup, the amount of secondhand equipment you have might not be completely useless. Many simply dispose of them or leave them sitting in cold storage for years. Put them to good use by selling them to companies that take in second-hand equipment for reselling – it might even pay for a few months of Cloud services!

The journey of moving your enterprise onto the Cloud can be an exciting one, even if the transition period is hectic. Take note of the above considerations while moving onto the Cloud, and enjoy the journey there!

Acclivis Technologies and Solutions, parent company of Pacific Internet, is now offering a one-month trial of Commercial Cloud. Reach out to us and experience the power of Cloud computing for yourself!