The Cloud has become a growing presence in business technology, and it’s not hard to see why. Outside of the events of 2020 – where Covid-19 forced many of us into remote working environments – Cloud services have since defined the worldwide workplace.  

For the professional services provider, that workplace is fast-moving, fiercely competitive, and dependant on the brightest minds. With the Cloud now a near-unanimous force in the modern workplace, how do professional services providers make their Cloud solution not only an enabler – but an innovator? 

Wider Reach

When your industry thrives on professionals, experts and specialists, you want to extend your reach to the industry’s best. The Cloud, being always-online, makes this much easier.  

By providing an ever-connected workplace at any time, from any connection, the Cloud sidesteps the complications of working hours and locations. For managers and recruiters, this means attracting a pool of talent from far further afield, where location, distance and even time zones are no longer part of the equation. Not only does this provide far more flexibility for your business, it makes it an attractive prospect for your industry’s top performers. 

Connecting with Clients  

On the subject of reach, consider the Cloud’s potential – if not its requirement – as a client relationship manager. When your work is time-sensitive and bespoke, you want clients to be able to view the status of their requests, and submit questions or amendments at a time that suits them.  

With the Cloud, clients have access to their documents or personal data securely at any time. Platforms such as Microsoft Azure can help speed up service requests with powerful automation tools, while leveraging comms solutions such as VoIP provides multiple ways for clients to stay in touch. Your clients expect numerous online-enabled solutions as standard, and the Cloud lets you take these above and beyond. 

Expanding and Innovating  

Technologies are forever evolving, and from engineering to accountancy, few professional services aren’t driven by rolling tech investments. ‘Evolving’ is the key word here; where software upgrades were once iterative, often requiring regular license renewals, Cloud solutions are provided as a service. The developer rolls out any upgrades as they’re available, and the user simply takes advantage of the free performance improvements.  

But let’s take this further; let’s assume you’ve a need for bespoke, automated processes that works to your company specifics. With platforms such as Microsoft Azure, businesses can actually virtualise the hardware that makes this possible and automate processes across their business software. Your technical performance improves without costly hardware investments, and your processes are completed with barely any manual input required.  

Securing Assets  

Security remains priority for businesses nationwide – as well it should – and when the Cloud first emerged, much of the scrutiny centred on its security. Prudent, perhaps; but with the backing of a layered security solution, the Cloud has proven to be the most secure method of storing sensitive data.  

Much of this is down to Cloud service providers. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are large businesses and, as such, have a budget (and expertise) for cybersecurity far surpassing the average business. For professional services providers, who handle vast amounts of sensitive, personal and financial information, this is an encouraging precedent; so too is the fact that no attempts made to compromise these services have thus far been successful.   

No business – however fast-moving – should be held back by the constraints of budget, technology or accessibility. For the professional services industry, the Cloud provides an essential service with an almost-infinite lifespan.  

Ready to make the move? We’re here to help make it happen. 

Moving to The Cloud is a no brainer for many businesses. The cost savings and efficiency gains are almost a given. But before you dive into one, take the time to consider each of the cloud migration steps involved. This will help avoid costly mistakes such as data loss or unnecessary downtime.  

Also, make sure you’re moving for the right reasons. Don’t just move to The Cloud because it’s the thing to do. Only move when you’re confident it’ll help you achieve your business goals, optimise certain processes, etc. If, however, you’ve done your research, then the following cloud migration steps will be yours to follow. 

Form the right team

Make sure all your key stakeholders are involved. This will of course vary from business to business but typically your IT heads (obviously), CFO, and CEO will go without saying. Beyond that, specific team members required will depend on what kind of technology your team will be working with. But you may also want to consider bringing together security specialists, business analysts, and relevant project managers before the migration is in full swing.  

Determine your Cloud-Readiness  

This involves doing a comprehensive business and technical analysis of your entire IT infrastructure. The aim is to determine what tech your business uses, how it uses it, and the various relative dependencies and integrations your applications have with each other. Some apps won’t be ready for cloud environments. Some apps may need small tweaks. Some may need extensive changes in their code. Some apps may be moved as they are. So, analyse everything, typically with external guidance if you don’t have the resources in house. 

Choose the right migration partner, vendor, and environment  

Do you want to go with Microsoft Azure, AWS, or another cloud provider? Do you want to go public, private, or hybrid? And who will you partner with to carry out the migration? A managed service provider can be a solid choice. They’ll have extensive experience navigating these issues and help you pick the ideal path.  

Create a Roadmap  

You’ll probably want to move incrementally so decide on the order IT components will make the move based on factors like business priority and ease of migration. Ensure as little disruption as possible by clarifying milestones and funding whilst prioritising the more business critical applications.  

Migration  

This stage is all about putting controls in place to minimise downtime and data loss. Make sure you backup your data before migrating it and test the backup to make sure it works. Migrating your data incrementally and testing accordingly can ensure nothing is lost. 

Testing, and adapting  

Once the data has been migrated and has populated you can start switching over to using it in its new environment. This should be in a test environment with test users to assess its functionality whilst its on premise equivalent remains intact. If you have a lot of complex data this test period should be taken with extra care. Make sure you don’t make the final switch and don’t say goodbye to your on-premise solution until your team confirms everything is working correctly.   

The end goal with all of these cloud migration steps is of course to optimise your business’s operations and ultimately improve your bottom line. True MSP has a proven track record of delivering cloud migrations that do exactly that. Plus IT can cause serious issues if not looked after properly.   

So, if you’d like help navigating this potentially complex field and increasing your business’s efficiency, click here to book a call with a cloud migrations expert.