Keeping your IT infrastructure in-tact while moving or relocating to a new location is a top priority at most organizations, especially cloud-centric companies. Given that IT increasingly affects every touchpoint of your business, any downtime can derail operations across the board, or worse result in theft or loss of data with far reaching consequences.
Network relocation to the cloud comes with its own set of challenges, benefits, and pitfalls that all business owners and IT professionals should be aware of. Such a movement of networks and IT infrastructure requires the services of professional move management services, who are well versed with the necessary checks and best practices that come with the process of network relocation.
In this article, we underscore a few benefits and possible pitfalls that businesses need to consider before planning a network relocation to the cloud.
Benefits of Network Relocation
On the face of it, the benefits of network relocation to the cloud seems fairly obvious and is increasingly becoming the hallmark of any cloud-centric organization.
- Easy Deployment & Adoption – Relocating your network to the cloud brings a host of benefits pertaining to the deployment and adoption of new technologies going forward.
- Unlike a traditional IT network or physical presence, the technical requirements are fairly thin, allowing businesses to curtail the substantial overheads that come with the same.
- The initial deployment is just as easy and straightforward, as it mostly involves training and onboarding team members for a new tool, instead of individually installing it in each system, or upgrading hardware to match the system requirements.
- Remote Work & Location Independence – Office relocations, work-from-home, or issues such as fires and water damages are hardly an issue for cloud-centric organizations. With data, systems, and processes hosted entirely on the cloud, disaster preparedness and the concept of going concern remains top notch.
- The value of cloud deployments was further evidenced over the course of the pandemic, when organizations across the world were forced to shut physical office spaces overnight. Having a cloud infrastructure in place helped companies maintain their operations without any major changes.
- Scalability – SAAS solutions deployed in the cloud are infinitely scalable with limitations arising from hardware specs no longer an issue.
- If an organization is continuing to scale, it need not invest and expand its local infrastructure, and can just buy additional seats with the cloud-based service, substantially lowering overheads. This is often cited as one of the key benefits of cloud computing for businesses of all sizes.
- Scaling is also a lot easier and straightforward, requiring limited technical know-how, or time requirements, as against legacy systems.
Pitfalls of Network Relocation
Despite the substantial advantages, relocating your network to the cloud comes with its share of disadvantages and pitfalls that you have to consider.
- Downtime – While cloud networks are far more reliable than a local one, working with third-party providers does involve certain downtimes, especially if there are issues with your local internet connectivity.
- Such uncertainties have to be accounted for, and result in cloud networks losing their sheen to a certain extent.
- Security Issues – Cloud-centric organizations are faced with substantial security threats such as phishing attacks, ransomware, and denial of service. All of which can turn into an existential threat for a business without the necessary protections and precautions.
- Reliance On Third-Party Vendors – A cloud-centric approach requires a third-party service provider to take care of the hosting, maintenance, and customizations required.
- Even a mere network relocation from your existing setup to the cloud requires trained professionals to expertly move your IT infrastructure. This type of reliance isn’t liked by a number of small and medium sized business owners.
Conclusion
While it is increasingly evident that cloud based systems are the future, businesses should make it a point to have a good understanding of what this entails, along with the benefits, opportunities, and limitations that come with the same, before pressing ahead.