Selecting the correct implementation strategy for a particular new application you are considering can be daunting. Many organizations today are adopting a “cloud first” strategy when deploying new applications, but what makes sense for your business? When thinking about the answer, questions about approach and security will arise. Answering these questions will help set a strategy for your company.

What is the Cloud?

First, what is the cloud and how do you move your organization to the cloud? In its most generic definition, the cloud translates to an offsite service provided by a specialized expert organization. The product or service must be geographically agnostic, resilient to infrastructure and software failures, and delivered as a rented service. Defining the key aspects of cloud-based software will establish what implementation strategy best fits your business strategy. The “cloud,” in general represents an ever-changing ecosystem of services and service providers. Given its transformative nature, the consensus about cloud software’s chief benefit is the it offers. Cloud-based software readily allows businesses to change the way they create, develop and organize. While use of the cloud will vary between industries, it always significantly affects businesses.

How Does the Cloud Help Your Business?

The answer starts with how a cloud-based software functionally differs from on-premise software. Primarily in service delivery, the end-user’s experience does not rely upon data being in one place at one time. Companies will offer cloud services but only have one or two data centers. Without being truly geographically agnostic and having real-time site failure resiliency, the software in question cannot be considered cloud software. Moreover, this has become a standard in the business world. Cloud software also enables collaboration across different locations. Using a cloud platform also allows a business to deploy updates in service or a product faster. With seamless communication and updates, cloud inherently supports expansion and growth.

Who Uses Cloud Software?

“We don’t really need it.” “We’re already set up and trained with on-premise.” These are a few common objections about using the cloud. Namely, that the benefits of using cloud-based software sound nice but are not necessary for certain businesses.  Accordingly, the information technology (IT) landscape has experienced a significant trend in migrating from on-premise software to cloud software. One of the results of this trend is a variety of industries. Cloud companies range from transportation such as Uber and Lyft to telecommunications companies like Vonage and Ring Central.  From eCommerce (Amazon) to enterprise software (SalesForce), the kinds of businesses using cloud software shatters expectations.

How Did We Get Here?

Revisiting the growth of cloud migration answers why we care so much about it today. Starting in the mid 1990s, companies would build and operate a space for other companies to house their servers.  Overtime, these technical skills became widespread within the IT workforce, prompting more competitors to enter the market. Why do we care about the IT market in the 1990s? It drove down costs and broadened access to server hosting capacities across the globe. Given how the marketplace propelled systems that support cloud platforms, that migration to the cloud is the new standard.

What Do You Need to Switch to Cloud?

As stated at the beginning of this blog, any significant change in an application your business is considering, is daunting. To help you get started, these are the first items that should be addressed:

• Current service catalog of your organization’s applications
• Road map for the life cycle of each application in your service catalog
• Defined strategy for cloud adoption
• Discussion of the challenges that each application owner experiences and considered how they could be addressed by thoughtful system placement?

Overall, using cloud-based software offers companies flexibility and ability to scale. Even for companies that do not envision scaling, migrating to “the cloud” still allows them to improve upon current processes. In this way, transferring to cloud computing is an opportunity to reassess and re-organize your business.  As cloud platforms become the new standard in computer software, the question of migrating from on-premise to cloud demands consideration. If you need assistance or help getting started, Solver has a team of experienced professionals that can help your company.

Solver enables world-class decisions with BI360, a leading web-based CPM suite made up of budgeting, reporting, dashboards, and data warehousing, delivered through a web portal. Solver is reinventing CPM with its next generation solution. BI360 empowers business users with modern features including innovative use of Excel in the model design process. If you’re interested in learning more, our team is excited to hear about your organizational needs and goals.