Much has been said about the growth of the cloud, and with good reason: it is one of the areas of IT that is set to permanently change the way that companies today do business. If you are looking for ways that you can go about optimizing your business for the cloud, there are some important things that you must know to make this process easier:
Reorganize Your Business Departments
Before you start panicking and visions of thick company policy books being thrown in the trash start flashing before your eyes, understand that you do not have to go through a thorough departmental reorganization in order to go about optimizing your business for the cloud.
Instead, you will want to think about which parts of your business will work best together in the cloud, even if they are not currently tied together at all. For example, if you are going to be using cloud services for invoicing as well as shipping, you may want to think about ways that you can more tightly unify these two departments as you prepare to deploy a new cloud platform as effectively as possible.
Educate Your Team
While switching to a cloud-based platform is something that must be experienced in order for you to truly understand it, there is no harm in talking to your team members about what they can expect once you switch to the cloud.
It will be especially beneficial for you to educate the specific employees that will work the closest with your cloud interface. For example, if you already have employees that handle the day-to-day technical needs of your business, it is smart to get them acquainted with your new cloud platform earlier rather than later.
Optimizing your business for the cloud through increased knowledge is one of the best ways to better prepare for transitioning to the cloud
Devote Time Towards Planning
As the old saying goes, when you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. It is important that you get your organization as prepared as possible for switching to the cloud by holding meetings that will help different sections of your team learn about what they can expect once the switch is made. If possible, you should attempt to document your planning so that your team has a hard copy to refer back to in case they have any questions about optimizing your business for the cloud.
Talk To Your Clients
One of the main challenges of converting to the cloud is that some of your systems or processes may go down or stop functioning the way that you or your clients are used to. While this may cause some anguish for your clients, it is nothing that cannot be minimized if you are able to talk to them early enough and let them know that you may be experiencing some issues due to the switch to the cloud.
Optimizing your business for the cloud can seem like an insurmountable task, but if you break it down into smaller steps and prepare early enough, it is very possible to overcome this transitional period and reach new heights of productivity and profitability.