Creating a Roadmap to the Cloud with Cloud Managed Services

Transitioning to the cloud is one of the biggest, most all-encompassing moves that a business can make. Your roadmap is going to determine how successful your transition is. Here’s how a cloud managed services provider can assist with developing your roadmap.

Creating A Path to the Cloud

While every migration is different, there are five stages that every organization can plan for. Here is how a cloud managed services can provide insight in every stage:

• Planning. You will need to analyze your current setup and the needs of your system. Prepare your managers and your employees for the transition at this time — transparency is one of the keys to successful change management. A managed service provider (MSP) can help you develop any necessary contingency plans and determine how each department can best utilize their new cloud services. They can also help you decide on a migration strategy: there are multiple strategies, ranging from instantaneous switchovers to structured rollouts.
• Setup. How will you go about setting up new hardware and software? How will you train employees to use these new systems? What sort of timeframe can you expect for setup? An MSP can help answer all of these questions.
• Migration. Can you migrate all at once, or should you move in stages? What will that look like? Again, an MSP can help you determine which makes sense and plan accordingly.
• Optimization. A cloud managed service provider can give you an idea of what type of customization will need to take place post migration and what that will entail.
• Maintenance. Maintaining a cloud-based infrastructure is obviously a bit different than running a traditional on-premise stack. An MSP can give you an idea of what to expect here.

The better these stages are planned out, the more successful your transition will be. As noted, there are multiple transition strategies that an organization can choose from.

Better Planning With Cloud Managed Services

In addition to helping you with many aspects of your services, an MSP can help you plan your cloud managed solutions. It is best to engage with an MSP from the very beginning, as they can give you a comprehensive roadmap to follow. MSPs will help you:

• Determine which cloud tools will best meet the needs of your company. Every company is unique in terms of resources, budget, and specifications. Not only do you need a solution that will give you what you need today, but you also need a solution that will grow with you tomorrow.
• Provide insight into how to complete your transition securely. Digital security is a major concern for today’s businesses. It’s likely that you will need to transition financial information, personally identifiable information, and IP-related information to the cloud.
• Find the fastest path to the cloud. An MSP is an experienced partner with knowledge of multiple cloud migrations. They can help you find the fastest, most secure path to the cloud — as well as the path that will cost you the least.

Through expertise, an MSP can help you develop and plan your cloud strategy, as well as planning ahead for potential issues or complications. Cloud-based technology is on the rise for a reason: it’s necessary for many businesses to remain fit and competitive. Need to get IT fit? Contact Red River today.