One bad online review can damage your business’ reputation. It doesn’t matter if the reviewer is lying, people will see the review and use it to make a decision.
Filtered information enters our lives and businesses in other ways too, including IT decisions like whether your organization should move to the cloud or use on-premise servers. Like anyone, an IT provider will have a preference and you don’t want to let one person’s bias dictate the business decisions you make.
Avoid Being Blindsided By Biases about Cloud Migrations
Before starting a discussion about whether you should use on-premise servers, migrate to the cloud or use a hybrid approach, you need to know how relying on what one person knows can affect your outlook.
Veterans with 25 Years of Experience Also Have 25 Years of Opinions
An IT provider with decades of experience has extensive technical knowledge – but how much of it is current? Are they telling you not to move to the cloud because they don’t have the necessary experience to migrate your systems? Do they want you to keep your backups on an external drive or internal server because they don’t know how to back up to the cloud?
Recent Graduates have Little Business Experience
A recent graduate will be very comfortable with cloud-based backups, and they’ll either have experience with on-premise servers or cloud-based deployments. Their experience will be rooted in primarily technical issues, not business case analysis or risk tolerance. Advice they give will be all about how fast you’ll be able to work and how little it will cost.
Cheaper is rarely better when it comes to data protection or business risk.
3 Non-Technical Decision-Making Factors
Once you know the biases you’re likely to encounter, you need to have a conversation with a provider about your options. To determine which route to take, here are topics to discuss:
- Cost
- Usability
- Risk
1. Cost Involves More Than Money
Don’t let the conversation be about how the cloud is always cheaper or more expensive. Instead figure out which system offers the best return on investment and gives you an edge over your competitors.
Word to the Wise: Making the wrong decision will impact your business for years. If you invest in an on-premise server when all your competitors move to the cloud, you’ll be disadvantaged from day one and will fall behind each year you aren’t in the cloud.
2. Understanding Usability is Critical
Migrating to the cloud changes how you interact with data and systems. Small changes, like an extra step to log in, can cause your team to be frustrated by technology. Before going to the cloud, answer questions like:
- How will people use the new system?
- How will it change workflows?
- Would it be faster or slower than your current systems?
- Will remote workers have the same experience as people who are on-site?
Word to the Wise: A farmer in the field trying to connect their iPad to the network is very different than a sales consultant working from a coffee shop. Whoever designs your IT solutions needs to understand how you work and create a solution customized to your team. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.
3. Know the Risks Involved
Changing where your data is stored and how your team works introduces risks. Know if there are new data storage regulations you need to adhere to and discuss whether you need a backup connection so you aren’t dependent on one piece of copper, cable or fiber.
You need a technical background to do this, and if an expert starts with how much money you’ll save or technical details, RUN!
Consult a Team of Experts Before Making an IT Investment
Recently, a lawyer told us an attorney never knows more about the law than the day they pass the bar. By the time they have 15 years of specialized experience, they’ve forgotten everything, so firms hire recent law school graduates to bridge the gap.
There’s a parallel with IT support. Instead of relying on a single source, invest your time in a team that has the business acumen, technical background and experience in both worlds to advise you on the right direction to take.
Accelerate’s Team
We actively seek out technicians with broad experiences. To better serve our clients, we hire veterans of the IT industry and recent graduates. We’ll never pressure someone to move to the cloud and instead take a consultative approach to decision making.
Let’s have a conversation about what you want to accomplish and whether or not the cloud will help. Contact us today: 317.596.3650