6 Things You Must Consider When Moving Your Business Data And Operations To The Cloud

The worldwide cloud computing market size is expected to reach a value of $947.3 billion by 2026. In 2021, this value was determined to be around $445.3 billion. That’s a CAGR of 16.3% in just five years. With businesses starting to move their data and operations to the cloud, it’s no surprise that this industry’s value will only continue to grow.

It’s expected that by the end of 2022, six out of ten businesses will move their work to cloud-based servers. That’s 57% of businesses adopting cloud technologies in their daily business operations. With time, that percentage will also grow.

If you're looking to move your business data and operations to the cloud, there's no question that this is a big deal. You'll need to make sure that your company is ready for the transition. However, before you get started, it's important to understand some things about cloud technology and what it means for your business.

In this post, we'll discuss some of the key factors that should be considered when considering moving your operations into the cloud.

Educate Staff on Cloud Technology

The first step to moving your business data and operations to the cloud is to educate staff on cloud technology. While some business owners may feel that this should be a straightforward task, in reality, it can be quite complicated.

It’s important to educate staff about what exactly cloud computing is, how it works and why it provides benefits for businesses. It’s also important for them to understand all of the risks involved with moving your business data and operations into the cloud.

You should think about holding regular workshops or seminars where your employees can ask questions about these topics and receive answers from experts.

Evaluate System Requirements and Service Levels

The next step is to evaluate your system requirements, including the processing power and memory of your business computers. You should also look at the service level agreements (SLAs) that you currently have in place with other providers, as they can help you determine what sort of uptime expectations are realistic for a cloud provider.

The most important thing to remember here is that any cloud provider will need to be able to meet your needs and SLAs if they want to win your business over. Without meeting these service levels, you should not consider them as your ideal provider.

Work With an Experienced Vendor

It's important to work with a vendor that has experience working with businesses in your industry. A vendor who understands the needs of your business and can help you to transition smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively is essential. You should also consider the long-term implications of your choice. If you're looking for future growth, it's important to find someone who can grow alongside you.

An experienced vendor will always take cautionary steps when securing your data. Take QuickBooks Hosting as an example. QuickBooks hosting providers, by default, will backup your data regularly. Their nightly cloud servers will ensure that the backed-up data is always up-to-date. That way, even if you end up losing data, their backup servers will help you regain the lost data.

Assess Security

It’s predicted that more than half of enterprise-level IT spending will shift to the cloud by 2025. At present, only 20% of businesses use cloud access security. However, as we reach the end of 2022, that rate will jump to 60%.

When considering moving your business data and operations to the cloud, it’s always important to assess the security of your data. With so many options for cloud providers, it can be difficult to choose one that offers enough protection for your business needs.

There are several risks involved in moving to a public cloud provider. However, there are also many advantages. Make sure you know what measures are available at each level of security to ensure that you have adequate protection for all of your sensitive information.

When deciding on which provider is right for you, make sure they offer robust authentication methods such as two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA). They should also offer encryption on all their servers with 256-bit AES encryption algorithms and end-to-end encryption whenever possible.

This ensures that only those who need access will have access, maintaining privacy while transferring files back and forth between devices over Wi-Fi networks without worrying about someone else intercepting them along the way.

Cloud as a Business Continuity Option

Cloud computing is also a viable business continuity option. For example, if you use cloud-based email or collaboration tools, you can switch to another provider with minimal disruption in the event of a disaster or outage.

If your organization is running mission-critical applications onsite that require frequent backups and recovery, moving those applications to the cloud can provide significant cost savings. It also helps in reducing risks by making them more easily accessible from anywhere.

Understand the Cost of Interruption

When you move your business data and operations to the cloud, you'll need to understand how much each of these factors costs.

For example, if a company has a large amount of downtime each month due to hardware failures or security attacks, it should consider the cost of that downtime. This could be anything from lost revenue in sales (if no orders are coming in), increased support costs (as customers call in with questions), or even personnel time spent fixing the problem.

Once you've calculated how much it costs on average per minute or hour of the outage and multiplied that by your average monthly downtime. This will give you an estimate of how much money is being wasted every month as a result of moving to the cloud.

In the end, moving an entire business to the cloud isn't something that should be undertaken lightly. You need to think about not only what your plans are for the future but also how each step will affect your current processes.