When it comes to cloud computing, we often get asked “what is the best approach to cloud computing?” and “what recommendations would we make to a business thinking about cloud computing?”. Here are a our top 5 tips in no particular order:
- Make a plan. You need a strategy, a road map, even a simple one to start with if need be. Start to tackle your biggest IT pain points first. Is it email and mobile syncing? Is it document collaboration and availability? Are you lacking a professional business phone system? Make a list and formulate a strategy.
- Look for solutions that play nicely with others. Whether it’s a CRM (customer relationship management) application, messaging suite (email/calendar/contacts), document storage or business phone system, the solution should have a good reputation for integration. It’s no longer good enough to be cloud (on-demand), the solution needs to work with other apps to create a more seamless experience for the user. Don’t tolerate having to switch back and forth between apps.
- Make sure the apps in question are mobile. PC sales are shrinking, while smartphones and tablets are growing. Any serious cloud app should work on PC/Mac, within any browser and work on any mobile device (iOS, Android)
- Buy only what you need today. Cloud computing services should allow you to scale as your company grows. That’s one of the biggest advantages that cloud has over traditional on-premise systems. Move up to higher license levels and added functionality as you need them. Look at return on investment and total cost of ownership.
- Talk to a consulting company specializing in cloud solutions. Consider a cloud computing consulting company to help with all of the above. There are hundreds of apps to choose from. A good cloud broker will help you navigate the cloud and can save you time an money from learning the hard way. Leverage their expertise.
Perpetual West is a Calgary based consulting company that specializes in cloud solutions and services for small and medium sized businesses.
Call us today at 1 (877) 388-6400 to see how we can help your business develop and implement a cloud strategy.