According to IDC, the combined public/private Cloud security market will more than double over the next few years. Cloud adoption is changing the way enterprises use applications. Increased adoption of hosted email, Unified Communications (UC), and Voice over IP (VoIP) may increase bandwidth and change the way employees access the Internet.
Many companies are moving away from routing network traffic to a centralized data center for the Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) locations, in favor of increasing traffic directly to the Internet and bypassing the data center altogether. With all of these changes, the traditional Wide area network (WAN) relying on carrier MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) network capacity may prove costly and inefficient to keep up with today’s demands.
Here are some tips to consider to ease your migration to the Cloud:
Where to Begin Your Migration to the Cloud
If you haven’t already begun your migration, consider starting with Email, File Sharing and collaboration. These popular Cloud Services offer enhanced or new functionality to your business with immediate productivity benefits. Voice and Call center services can offer savings with reduced operation costs. There are also many benefits from Cloud Backup and disaster recovery services. In some cases, these services may be available with turnkey bundles supporting a range of applications. Many companies also benefit by migrating other enterprise applications including CRM, ERP, and other mission-critical applications to the Cloud.
Network considerations include device consolidation, multi-path optimization, and network performance monitoring for better awareness and control. Taking these steps can save you money, and avoid costly delays from loss of employee productivity due to insufficient network bandwidth reliability and availability.
Revisit the WAN Architecture
The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) recently surveyed senior IT professionals about their biggest networking challenges in supporting their remote office/branch office (ROBO) location.Top responses included slow file transfer speed (36%) and cost of WAN bandwidth (32%). Additionally, 30% reported “Too Much Data to Move” as a top challenge, as reported by ESG.
Simplify network deployments with modern approaches including SD-WAN. By using business- class Internet from a range of carriers, you can save money and also provide increased reliability with policy-based failover to ensure your priority information services run without interruption.
Navigate Cloud Security Concerns
CompTIA’s 9th Annual Information Security Trends study identified system downtime/business interruptions, exposure or loss of data during file transfers to the Cloud, and concerns over encryption of data (either transactional or at rest), as top Cloud security concerns of IT professionals. To avoid these issues when migrating to the Cloud, consider encryption policies and Business continuity and disaster recovery plans available from your Cloud Service Provider.
Migrating to the Cloud will bring your business a range of productivity and cost savings benefits. With careful planning and diligence, you can avoid the hassles and pitfalls of employee downtime and unnecessary expense. Contact your trusted technology advisor to ease your migration to the Cloud today.
