Digitization reaches small businesses. But what does that actually mean? For many companies, cloud computing sounds like a dream of the future. You can already benefit from the numerous advantages and make your company fit for the future. Cloud Transformation is more than a gimmick for start-ups, but has the potential to bring your company forward. And the way to the cloud works quite simply – at least, if you have a strong partner at your side.
Cloud computing in the enterprise – what does that mean?
The IT department in the company should ensure that all processes run smoothly. The older and slacker the hardware gets, the harder it can be. Classic methods of corporate IT have fallen off the clock in today’s high-performance computers. Because with an armada of PCs and a middle-class server, you can barely handle the complex demands on IT.
Cloud computing is the ideal solution for small and medium-sized businesses. They rent a part of the computing power of high-performance server farms. So the cloud does not hover over you, but is stored on computer servers at an external IT service provider. The computers in your company do not run on their own, but are connected to the powerful computers in the cloud. These give your hardware the power to work faster, more efficiently and more securely.
Instead of your own, expensive server, you pay a monthly fee for the services. You determine flexibly how much power you need and what additional services you book.
With Cloud Transformation, you can first run individual parts of your system through the cloud (such as mail services or databases, and of course web pages) or send the entire enterprise IT to the cloud.
10 good reasons to move to the cloud
- The cost of operation and maintenance of your systems are rising and coming unexpectedly
- You do not have enough qualified employees to handle the IT or you are not sure about your service provider
- The investment in a completely new hardware is beyond your budget
- Most of all, you do not want to deal with corporate IT at all, but rather manage your day-to-day business
- They have several locations that ideally should be networked together
- Your employees enjoy working out of the home office or traveling a lot for business
- The utilization of your IT is very different seasonally – sometimes you need a lot of computing power, in other months hardly anything.
- Your business needs to meet high privacy requirements – or has IT security requirements
- Her colleagues complain about slow systems and unexpected failures
- In the event of an emergency, such as a fire, a flood, or a hardware failure, your business would be facing huge challenges.
Switching to the cloud – how complicated is that?
SMBs are about effectively processing customer orders and not touching for a long time. As a month-long phase of the IT restructuring would disrupt massively.
At first glance, Cloud Transformation looks like a complex, overlong process. It is not that difficult at all. With a detailed roadmap and measures tailored to your business, the journey to the cloud takes a few weeks to months. That depends on how big the company is and what individual solutions are implemented. The process is always the same:
- analysis
- planning
- connection
- migration
- Testing
- optimization
First, of course, you have to think about what you need. Is it up to you to network the department or do you see any need for improvement in IT security? Do you have high demands on your hardware or does it have to be fast? Do your employees work with complex programs or graphics applications? An analysis brings all topics to the table. Based on this, the planning is done. The modern cloud solutions work modularly and can, therefore, be considered individually.
When the plan is up, the design of the infrastructure starts. Sometimes you can work with the means that you have. If you have invested little in your IT so far, a complete conversion of your systems is worthwhile. Although this is a one-time extra effort, it pays off in the long term. A new system from a single source is sometimes even more useful than a grown infrastructure with many small items.
When migrating the data travels from your hardware to secure external server and the new features coming to the company. It usually makes sense to proceed staggered here and introduce the innovations gradually, so as not to disturb the workflow too much. Hand in hand with this is the training of the employees.
The cloud is flexible and adapts to your requirements. Once the foundation is in place, optimizations and enhancements are relatively easy to implement.
The way to the cloud is easy – with the right partner at your side
Of course, the transition works perfectly in the overall package: if all the wheels mesh, the cloud can give your computer systems a boost. Even individual packages can help to reduce your IT costs and enable you to work more flexibly.
We stand by your side during the process and accompany you on your way to the cloud transformation. Any questions? We are ready to help explain the cloud computing for midsize businesses.
Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.
