Making a technology change can seem daunting if you attempt to go it alone. But with the right information and an experienced vendor-partner on your side, it can be a lot easier than expected.
Looking back 5 to 10 years, the cloud seemed like a mysterious entity that most people just could not understand or wrap their heads around, despite using many cloud-based services at the time. Like swiping your credit card at the store, buying something on Amazon, listening to music through Pandora, or checking Facebook. Heck, even your cable TV subscription at home is a cloud-based service.
And around that time, companies began to make the shift from managing their own email with an on-premise Exchange server to subscribing to a “Hosted Exchange” subscription in the cloud. This also opened the door for the Microsoft Office suite of programs (aka Office 365), cloud storage and backup options, as well as a host of other web-based applications. And phone systems too…
It’s odd to look back to that former, traditional model. You remember… owning everything and having to maintain it, ponying up for expensive add-ons. Then being forced to spend more money to replace it when it became obsolete.
Today we’re blessed with the convenience and ease of the subscription model by moving these ‘products and services’ to the cloud.
For example, at IDeACOM, we no longer maintain our own email server, accounting software, phone system, or other business applications that once took up a lot of space in the rack with multiple servers and equipment that needed power and Internet to function, along with ongoing and expensive software upgrades, regular updates, and maintenance protection. All applications now live in the cloud, and all data is securely stored and backed up in real-time. And we can access everything from anywhere, securely.
If you’re not there yet, here are some things to consider:
- What are the essential, mission-critical, business applications that we are currently using?
- What’s our cost to maintain them – in terms of initial acquisition, annual licensing, software updates, hardware replacement, add-on’s, and ongoing support for internal and external resources?
- Who needs access – how many users?
- Are you relocating, or right-sizing?
- What’s it costing us to not have remote access – in terms of lost opportunities, client attrition, employee satisfaction & retention, and just plain revenue?
- How easy is it to add new users to our current configuration?
- What internal resources need to be involved for add-on’s, and how much time does it take to complete?
Reviewing these questions will help you gain a better understanding of your current picture. Now you’re in a position to talk with IDeACOM about potential solutions.
Assuming there are some areas of improvement, IDeACOM can provide you with recommendations, pricing, implementation ideas, and some estimated timelines.
It all starts with you. Let us know how we can help.
Recent Comments