Cloud within the business world is evolving rapidly and is being seen more and more as a standard practice for many enterprises. Businesses are becoming aware of the opportunity to transform and to create greater value throughout their value chain, and see it as a good way to evolve and grow their business.
However, with the growth of cloud services, a new set of question swill need to be answered: there's such a broad range of options available, and many things to consider about cloud providers for your business, but which option or combination of services is right for you?
A new type of advisory service has been created off the back of this engagement of cloud within enterprise: that of the cloud advisory specialist,where a cloud advisor engages with a business to help create a cloud strategy. The advisor then works with the business to select the cloud service that meets their needs, while helping them to understand risk management and other implications. After all, there is a huge choice of cloud-based services available and a customer will need to assess and decide on many parameters.
There are many questions that will need to be answered, such as do you choose a shared SaaS cloud vendor, or a privately hosted vendor? Is data sovereignty important? Does the cloud vendor support API integrations with other vendors, and what information is exchanged in the API? How reliable is the API?
Other things to consider are the level of customisation that you get and how scalable the provider's solution is. You also need to consider how safe your data is and how it's backed up, as well as how it's restored and if there are any fine print issues. If you have a lot of big data, you may need to consider how long it will take to access your data. Cloud storage solutions from Amcom are an excellent option for your business.
As a business it's also important to think about whether the cloud vendor has client side integration and if so, how transparent and accessible is your provider? You should think about how the potential provider manages the risk of you data on your behalf and how they manage their clients - can you insure your data if it's on someone else's system, for example?
These examples are just a small portion of all of the things that must be considered when looking to transition to cloud, and you will need professional and expert advice on many more things still as cloud integration evolves and your business needs develop and change.
Cloud solutions are clearly the way forward, because they solve many immediate business problems and also reduce financial headaches and risk management issues for businesses. However, businesses need clear guidance to identify the right strategy and cloud solution set for their business. A poor cloud strategy will result in far higher costs and disruption, while an aligned strategy will ultimately reduce business costs and risks.
The services offered by Amcom include impartial expert advice and tailored solutions. The team have combined years of experience within the IT and cloud sectors and are happy to answer any questions you may have.
