Moving to the cloud is a big decision and changes the way your business will operate. As a business decision maker, you know the cloud is critical to your business success for a number of reasons. Here are some of them.
The cloud is not new. In fact, we experience it every day, many a time without even realizing it. For instance, while updating your Facebook status or checking your bank balance on your phone – all this involves accessing data and programs over the cloud.
While there are several companies offering such cloud services, Microsoft is one of the leading players with its Microsoft Azure. Launched in 2008 this cloud computing service which is more commonly known as Microsoft Cloud or Azure Cloud, was created for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.
The Azure cloud is extremely popular and has several companies using its services. According to Microsoft, a whopping 96% of Fortune 500 companies are already on their cloud services. Now, that is saying a lot.
So, if you are not already on Azure cloud, we give you eight reasons why you should:
- Enhanced Security – Considering data is the new gold, protecting it is extremely essential. And while in general, cloud is less susceptible to data breaches than on-premise storage solutions, there are a few cloud suppliers who go the extra mile to make their cloud offerings even more secure.
Microsoft is one of them. It not only invests over $1 billion annually on cloud security, but also analyzes data from more than 300 billion user authentications per month, one billion Windows devices, and 200 billion emails for spam and malware. It is unlikely that your company’s security investment or capabilities can match this.
Another aspect of cloud security is ensuring data does not reach the wrong hands. There are instances of employee devices being stolen or lost. For a company, this could be alarming, not because of the costs involved in the loss of hardware but about the sensitive data stored in it. With the cloud, your data and work are not lost and can be accessed irrespective of what happens to your device. - Reduced costs -On-premise storage solutions involve various costs related to infrastructure (software, hardware, and networks) and people (IT staff salaries and training costs). This is comparatively higher than Azure cloud, where you can pay as you consume via a subscription model and scale easily, allowing you to cap your expenses and improve cash flows.
This is one of biggest benefits of having an ERP in the cloud.
- Better collaboration – Enhanced teamwork and innovation – Before the Azure cloud, multiple people working on the same document meant back-and-forth email exchanges, resulting in version control chaos. With the Azure cloud, teams can access, edit, and share documents anytime and from anywhere, enabling everyone to see one version of the truth.
This further enhances the scope for your teams to not only do more together, but to also spur innovation. - Work from anywhere – The cloud helps you in implementing the new normal of remote working, empowering your teams to access data from anywhere and from any device. While the pandemic has made working from home the new norm, several companies have already realized that this norm will not be situational and could be made permanent, to save on real estate costs.
Hence, going forward, some, or most or may be even all of your employees could be working from remote locations, making it absolutely necessary to adopt the cloud. - Leverage your IT staff on value offerings – By moving to the Azure cloud, your IT staff spend lesser time on administrative tasks such as hardware management. This gives them the bandwidth to focus on strategic or higher value activities.
- Stay compliant and agile with software updates – With the Azure cloud, you need not worry about updates as it is mostly done automatically by the cloud solution provider at regular intervals. This reduces your risk of being non-compliant with regulations and ensures that your teams stay current with the latest capabilities for productivity and mobility.
- Disaster recovery – Keeping essential aspects of your business functioning despite disruptive events is extremely essential. Traditionally, this was far from reality considering it required a high capital investment and expertise. However, with the cloud, you can implement cloud-based backup and recovery solutions with a third-party providing the expertise, helping you save time and huge up-front investments.
- Remain flexible and environment friendly – Businesses have varying data storage requirements. The cloud can help meet such fluctuating bandwidth demands by increasing or decreasing the cloud capacity initially allotted to you. This helps you to remain flexible while reducing your carbon footprint by utilizing only the energy that is needed.
All benefits come at a price
Amid such benefits of the cloud, the question is no more, “Is the cloud ready for my business?” BUT “Is my business ready for the cloud?”. However, do remember that this is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution and that ERP cloud migration is a big decision and changes the way your business will operate. And as a business decision maker, you should know that while the cloud can be critical to your business success considering it offers so many benefits, it comes at a price. You will need to evaluate if by leveraging these benefits, you can attain more than what you pay for.
sa.global can help you with a structured assessment of your business needs and align it with the cloud.. Leveraging over 30 years of experience in implementing business management solutions, most of which are now on the cloud, we have processes and best practices to prepare your transition to the cloud with minimal risk and complexity, while enjoying maximum possible benefits.
Speak to our experts to learn more on how we can help you with your journey to the cloud.
More importantly, what matters is also your existing ERP solution. For instance, if you are currently running on an on-premises Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP version, the ideal way to have your Navision in the cloud, would be through an upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Learn why.
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