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With the rise of applications like Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Spideroak and the like the question for many IT departments is not whether a business should move to the cloud, but when the transition should take place and with which provider.
Interestingly, even though the cloud is talked about constantly in many industries and the media, a majority of IT professionals are not involved with any planning for the movement of their company’s computing and data storage to the cloud. In fact, more than half of IT professionals surveyed in 2014 reported little or no involvement, while only about 11 percent reported a solid role in planning for cloud-adaptation strategy.
Distrust Needs To Be Addressed
When your business’s handpicked IT department is unfamiliar with the advantages the cloud can offer the transition may be slow in coming. Suspicions about the seemingly-exotic technology can run deep, even among those you are relying upon to advise you about the pros and cons of moving your data and processing to the cloud.
Perhaps the problem is rooted in a fear that the cloud is inherently insecure. Maybe your IT team feels it will be supplanted if you move to a cloud based platform. Whatever the concern it is likely not based upon the current evolution of cloud based services. Your business may be well served by the innovation and flexibility offered by the cloud and it will be to your advantage to ensure you are receiving unbiased and up to date information as you consider a move.
The Added Stress of Mobile and Personal Devices
Your IT department is already stressed by the amount of data that may be at risk because of the use of mobile devices and home-based computing. Your company’s decisions to allow staff to work remotely may really be begging for a cloud based solution, but your in-house specialists may be struggling with how to ensure that the business’s needs for security are met.
Training for your technology staff will make these issues more manageable and may actually lead them to accept a cloud-based platform. An enhanced understanding of how the cloud can bolster security rather than expose your company to unnecessary risk will make the technology more attractive to your IT managers.
How to Make Informed Decisions
A business owner needs to determine what is needed to assure that a move to the cloud will not expose the company to unreasonable chances of a security breach. In order to make an informed decision your company’s IT department needs to seek competence in cloud computing. To guide them through the process you may seek training for your existing staff or hire new IT partners with cloud knowledge and experience.
You may want to investigate consulting with a managed service provider who is familiar with cloud services if you feel your IT division is not up to the task of helping you decide whether or not to move to the cloud. Getting a different perspective may be easier if you use this approach, minimizing organizational inertia and aiming toward a balanced view.