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When you first propose moving your small business to the cloud, you’re likely to get some pushback.
A small part of this resistance is the opposition change always brings. People like the status quo more often than not and do not want to shift their way of working. The greater part however, is due to some persistent myths that breed preconceptions about moving a business to the cloud.
If you find yourself fielding questions and assertions based on those preconceptions, arm yourself with the facts below and you’ll be able to push past the resistance and move your small business one step closer to the cloud.
Myths about Moving Your Business to the Cloud
Cloud Computing is a Passing Phase
From websites to SEO, QR codes, and location marketing, businesses are used to being bombarded with the latest and greatest thing. In that light, the cloud is no different. It’s just the latest buzzword in a sea full of them.
While it’s easy to dismiss the cloud, the numbers show that cloud computing is here to stay:
- According to a Microsoft SMB Study, 78 percent of small businesses will have adapted cloud computing by 2020.
- An IBM survey of 2,000 mid-size companies finds 66 percent of mid-size companies plan to implement cloud computing projects in 2017. 75 percent plan to do this in conjunction with IT Infrastructure improvements.
This level of investment indicates that the cloud is gaining traction for the long run and is here to stay.
The Cloud is Less Secure
Security is one of the top reasons businesses put off a move to the cloud. This is understandable: once your data is outside the firewall, it feels like protecting it is beyond your control.
Statistics tell another story however:
- Businesses have experienced a 51 percent higher rate of security incidents in on-premises data centers than those in the cloud.
- 94 percent of SMBs have experienced security benefits in the cloud that they didn’t previously have with their former on-premise technology approach, such as keeping systems up-to-date, spam email management and up-to-date antivirus.
What’s the driving force behind these statistics? The answer is expertise. Cloud vendors and service providers keep teams of experienced security professionals on staff to watch over your data. Small and midsize businesses would find that level of protection hard to match.
The Cloud is Not Reliable
While large-scale cloud outages have made the news, these events are far from regular. That said, they do occur so how reliable can the cloud be?
The answer is very reliable. In one survey, 75 percent of SMBs said they experienced improved service availability since moving to the cloud. In addition, 61 percent of SMBs said both the frequency and length of downtime has decreased since moving to the cloud
Consider that when your in-house technology has issues, it will likely take time before your IT team, or outside vendor, are on-premises and working on the problem. If the problem cannot be fixed quickly, the cost of downtime will start eating into your bottom line.
A cloud vendor or service provider however, has a team of on-staff IT professionals ready to fix any issue. In addition, they have the in-house resources to fail-over to a backup server so downtime is limited while repairs are made.
Performance is Worse in the Cloud
Today, businesses need — and demand — the fastest application performance they can afford. No one has time to wait for slow-moving apps or services. That’s why latency, or slower systems, is a concern as applications and servers are moved off premise and into the cloud.
Indeed, this can be a worry, but one that’s alleviated by two points:
- Cloud vendors and service providers are constantly upgrading their infrastructure to the latest and greatest hardware. This activity, which SMBs can’t hope to emulate, will keep your business up to speed.
- Features like geolocation and latency-based routing, both of which are regularly used, can also improve application response times.
If a Business Moves to the Cloud, Everything Must Go
This myth is absolutely not true. In fact, moving everything to the cloud at once can be a recipe for disaster.
Each time you move one of your business functions into the cloud, a cost-benefit analysis should be run. Migration should only occur if the benefits outweigh the costs.
In addition, your on-premise infrastructure can be used in conjunction with the cloud for years to come. Integrating both is called Hybrid Computing, and it’s a very popular approach in today’s business world.
Cloud Migration Is Too Complex
While this may be the case, it should not stop your business from reaping the benefits of moving to the cloud.
What’s needed here is a cloud partner, one that brings its expertise to the table from the start and sticks around afterwards to support your ongoing efforts.
Businesses Lose Control of Their Technology in the Cloud
While this is true for the most part, unless you’re in the IT industry, moving to the cloud will free your business from having to spend time maintaining a technology infrastructure.
This will enable your business to focus on serving and delighting your clients.
The Cloud is NOT Cheaper
One of the earliest claims in cloud computing was that moving to the cloud is cheaper than maintaining your on-site infrastructure. And, the first time that claim was made, there were naysayers raising their voices to deny it.
While the debate continues to rage, there are definitely steps you can take to minimize those costs so the initial claim holds true.
We Don’t Need Data Analytics
To compete in our fast-paced world, a small business needs to be intelligent and that intelligence come from data.
In the past, data diving was an expensive proposition. Thanks to the cloud, with cheaper storage and online tools, data analytics has come within the financial reach of SMBs.
Is it worth it? Consider these two statistics:
- Forty-four percent of small business owners who use data analytics tools report increased sales, compared with 33 percent who do not.
- Companies using analytics are five times more likely to make faster business decisions than those that don’t.
The Cloud is Not Compliance-Friendly
If your business needs to be compliant with HIPAA or PCI regulations, moving to the cloud may seem like a legal nightmare.
Happily, many cloud vendors and service providers support these regulations so a simple pre-sales qualifier can solve this issue.
For more on moving your business to the cloud, visit global cloud services provider Meylah for details.
Digital Cloud Photo via Shutterstock
This article, “10 Myths About Moving Your Business to the Cloud” was first published on Small Business Trends