When you are proposing to move your small business to the cloud for the first time, you may experience a setback.
A small part of this resistance is the opposition that change always brings. People like the status quo more often and do not want to change the way they work. Most of it, however, is due to some persistent myths that give rise to preconceived ideas about moving a company to the cloud.
If you find yourself asking questions and assertions based on these preconceptions, arm yourself with the facts below and you will be able to resist resistance and bring your business closer to the cloud.
Myths about moving your business to the cloud
Cloud computing is a phase of passage
From websites to SEO, QR codes, and location marketing, companies are used to being bombarded with the latest and greatest thing. From this perspective, the cloud is no different. It's just the last buzzword in a sea full of them.
While it's easy to dismiss the cloud, the numbers show that cloud computing is here to stay:
- According to a Microsoft study on SMEs, 78% of small businesses will have adapted cloud computing by 2020.
- An IBM survey of 2,000 mid-sized companies reveals that 66% of mid-sized companies plan to implement cloud computing projects in 2017. 75% plan to do so alongside upgrades of the IT infrastructure.
This level of investment indicates that the cloud is gaining ground for the long term and that it is here to stay.
The cloud is less secure
Security is one of the main reasons why companies have decided to move to the cloud. This is understandable: once your data is outside the firewall, you feel that the protection is out of your control.
The statistics tell yet another story:
- Businesses recorded a 51% higher security incident rate in local data centers than in the cloud.
- 94 percent of SMEs benefited from unprecedented security features in the cloud with their old on-premise technology approach, such as system updates, spam management, and antivirus updates . .
What is the driving force behind these statistics? The answer is the expertise. Cloud providers and service providers maintain teams of experienced security professionals available to staff to monitor your data. Small and medium-sized businesses would find this level of protection difficult to match.
The cloud is not reliable
While large-scale cloud breakdowns have made the news, these events are far from regular. That said, they happen so much can the reliability of the cloud be assured?
The answer is very reliable. In a survey, 75% of SMEs reported seeing an improvement in the availability of services since migrating to the cloud. In addition, 61% of SMEs reported that the frequency and duration of downtime has decreased since the move to the cloud
Consider that when your internal technology encounters problems, it will probably take some time before your IT team or external vendor is on site and working on the problem. If the problem can not be resolved quickly, the cost of downtime will start to affect your bottom line.
A cloud provider or service provider however has a team of IT professionals in place, ready to solve any problem. In addition, they have internal resources to switch to a backup server, so that downtime is limited during repairs.
The performance is worse in the cloud
Today, businesses need – and demand – the fastest application performance they can afford. Nobody has time to wait for applications or services that are moving slowly. This is why latency, or slower systems, is a concern when applications and servers are moved offsite and into the cloud.
Indeed, this may be a concern, but is mitigated by two points:
- Cloud computing and service providers are constantly upgrading their infrastructure to the latest, most powerful hardware. This activity, which SMEs can not hope to emulate, will keep your business up to date.
- Features such as geolocation and latency-based routing, both of which are used regularly, can also improve application response times.
If a company moves to the cloud, everything must go
This myth is absolutely not true. In fact, moving everything in the cloud at once can be a recipe for disaster.
Whenever you move one of your business functions to the cloud, a cost-benefit analysis must be performed. Migration should only occur if the benefits outweigh the costs.
In addition, your on-premises infrastructure can be used in conjunction with the cloud for years to come. The integration of both is called Hybrid Computing, and it's a very popular approach in today's business world.
Cloud migration is too complex
While this may be the case, this should not prevent your company from reaping the benefits of moving to the cloud.
What we need here is a cloud partner, who brings expertise from the outset and then continues to support your ongoing efforts.
Companies lose control of their technology in the cloud
Although this is true for the most part, unless you're working in the IT industry, migrating to the cloud will free up your business from the time it takes to maintain a technology infrastructure.
This will allow your company to focus on the service and satisfaction of your customers.
The cloud is not cheaper
One of the first claims in the field of cloud computing was that switching to the cloud was less expensive than maintaining your on-premise infrastructure. And, the first time this statement was made, there were opponents who raised their voices to deny it.
While the debate continues to rage, there are certainly steps you can take to minimize these costs, so the initial allegation is true.
We do not need data analysis
To be competitive in our rapidly changing world, a small business must be smart and that intelligence must come from the data.
In the past, data diving was an expensive proposition. Through the cloud, with cheaper storage tools and online tools, data analysis has become the financial reach of SMEs.
Is it worth it? Consider these two statistics:
The cloud is not adapted to compliance
If your business needs to comply with HIPAA or PCI regulations, switching to the cloud may seem like a legal nightmare.
Fortunately, many service providers and cloud computing support these regulations, so a simple pre-sales qualifier can solve this problem.
For more information on moving your business to the cloud, visit Meylah, a global cloud services provider, for more details.
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