It is quite normal for you to wonder whether cloud computing is the right business model for you. When everyone is talking about agile, scalable cloud environment that can magically transform your business and eliminate all your IT related worries you ought to be thinking about it. But before you jumping in the bandwagon you must know what you can expect from shifting your workload to cloud environment. Cloud computing adoption demands the right culture and mindset in the organization and it is very important to evaluate your current position before you make the jump of faith.
Here is a questioner that will help you decide about your cloud possibilities.
Do you feel that your existing IT infrastructure is not being able to match your growing business expectations?
Businesses are meant to grow and therefore they need an escalated IT environment where the growing needs are managed efficiently. If your business requirements have outgrown your existing IT capacity and you anticipate it to grow even more in the near future then you may have a case for cloud adoption. Cloud helps creating a scalable environment where resources are provisioned based on usage.
Is your IT budget becoming a burden for your business?
Introduction of cloud can help in converting capital expenditure to operational expenses by making your organization more resource efficient. It helps eliminating expenses on hardware and network infrastructure. Hardware, server and data storage space requirements now can be outsourced to cloud hosting service providers.
Do you want to avoid the complexities associated with implementing legacy software?
You can opt for software as a service solution where business applications are rendered over the internet to the user when the hardware, infrastructure and other associated responsibilities are taken care of by the cloud application service provider.
Do you want a better integrated organizational structure?
Earlier businesses were segregated in silos for better performance. Often applications were introduced in ad hoc manner to facilitate the working process of a particular unit. However, things have changed and now organizations demand a unified, collaborative enterprise environment that will promote efficiency.
Do you want to create a business environment liberated from software licensing requirements?
If you are tired of meeting the licensing requirements of software vendors then you ought to be considering liberating your business from the stringent licensing clauses. Saas services are offered in monthly subscription basis or per user basis. The subscription charges also include upgrade and updates of the software, and maintenance of the hardware infrastructure.
Do you want automatic solution for your backup problem?
Data backup is crucial but manually taking the backup can cause a lot of trouble. On the other hand, backup automation is expensive. Cloud computing can resolve the problem. With online software service your data automatically get stored in the web and is accessible from any internet enabled device.
About the author: Charles Smith is associated with the IT industry for over a decade now. He is a senior consultant with a California based company that offers cloud computing consultation to companies across industries. Charles has vast experience in implementing cloud computing application development and offering consultation to companies in mapping their ways in cloud environment.
