We know for many that the events of the last year has turned the world upside down. Every organisation has had to rapidly extend their technical infrastructures to enable remote working and the situation has accelerated the need for cloud transformation. Yet how have organisations faired? Mark Lloyd of Nouveau Solutions takes a look.
Operating a business successfully involves controlling many different metaphorical dials, switches, levers, and buttons that can often have a very definite and swift effect on your business. More growth. More success. More decisions. Yet each one, and all combined, can lead to either unfortunate setbacks or see your business soar.
Many recognise that technology is playing an increasingly important part in our daily working lives and Nouveau Solutions has decades of technology experience and expertise in helping a range of organisations. Yet now, we believe it is even more important to get your technology strategy right as it is critical to business success.
Businesses hit particularly hard have been those with legacy systems operating a range of servers, networks, laptops and PC’s, onsite back-ups and often hosting a combination of bespoke and generic software. The pandemic has compounded the pressure on these IT departments to enable anytime, anywhere access to applications and through a plethora of new devices.
For some with legacy systems the past year has been fraught with difficult decisions, stretching internal knowledge, skills, and technical resources. While others, such as cloud-first organisations, didn’t even break step and were able to pivot quite quickly to ‘working anytime and from anywhere’.
Cloud transformation may have been up there on your list of things to investigate and explore. Be encouraged, for many businesses adopting cloud in their organisation has proved to be more flexible, scalable, and secure as well as offering enterprise grade computing without buying infrastructure or hiring trained staff.
According to Office365 statistics:
94% of SMBs report security benefits after moving to the cloud.
59% of SMBs using cloud services report significant productivity benefits from IT, compared to 30% of those not yet in the cloud.
82% of SMBs report reduced costs as a result of adopting cloud technology. 70% are reinvesting the saved money back into their business
What to consider when moving to the cloud?
You may have started the journey, but Nouveau believes it is now all the more important for organisations to accelerate cloud transformation plans.
Andy Trafford, senior account manager, at Nouveau Solutions said: “Moving to the cloud usually leads to a lot of unknowns, and raises questions, such as what are the costs? Can I move bespoke applications? How can I protect my data? Is it safe and secure? Will I still have a level of control? Can the cloud actually handle the volume, size and nature of files we produce and share?
“You always start each journey with an initial step. At Nouveau, we can help you to understand and advise you on the best approach to cloud transformation based on your unique starting point. We can scope out what is needed and carry out a full assessment that will identify the best way forward. Cloud based computing offers a different commercial model moving costs from capital expenditure to operational expenditure and enabling you to invest more ways to grow,” he said.
Now is the time to capitalise on recent investments in your remote working, by making it more secure and robust to deliver a higher return. Cloud computing reduces or eliminates the need for businesses to purchase equipment and build out and operate data centres. It also increases productivity, improves communication, and provides much more flexibility and scalability.
Building business-led technology is in Nouveau’s DNA and we are able to manage, support and secure every element of your IT estate to give you complete peace of mind. There are also many different cloud models and at an overall company level, there is not a one size fits all approach. Very few will be just on-premise, only public cloud, or only private cloud. In our experience, implementations will most likely lead to a combination of a public cloud and a private environment that remain separate entities but connected, which is known as hybrid cloud. Hybrid cloud can take many forms, such as a combining private and public cloud or public cloud with on-premise resources and Nouveau offers a colocation model to all of our clients.
“Although moving to the cloud provides many benefits it doesn’t completely dissolve you of all control and responsibility. Most cloud providers operate a shared responsibility model, where the provider is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all of the services offered, but the customer is responsible for data protection and elements of security,” continued Trafford. “This debunks the myth that your data is completely safe in the cloud. This is not the case as many public cloud providers are responsible for the environment, but you are still responsible for the security of the data and applications that reside in the cloud. There are other practical considerations such as data back up and protection. Our advice would be to read the small print.
“Security is another area that is constantly changing with many more threats appearing every day. Protection still falls to you in setting up the right security policies, but also ensuring end point security. Again, in the current situation, employees being allowed to use their own personal devices to access corporate networks and data presents a security risk. This could well be compounded if this practice is continued, but not effectively controlled post-pandemic. At Nouveau we can offer an eyes-on fully comprehensive security information and event management (SIEM) solution which will proactively monitor your IT estate, as well as security awareness training to ensure that everybody in your organisation is Cyber Security aware,” concluded Trafford.
As more software application providers are themselves adopting ‘cloud-based delivery models’ many more organisations are operating a hybrid model.
Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner, suggested in November 2019 that: ”The cloud managed service landscape is becoming increasingly sophisticated and competitive. In fact, by 2022, up to 60% of organisations will use an external service provider’s cloud-managed service offering, which is double the percentage of organisations from 2018.”
A more recent Gartner insight also suggested that “by 2024, more than 45% of IT spending will be on system infrastructure, infrastructure software, application software and business process outsourcing will shift from traditional solutions to cloud”.
They also noted that: “Organisations embracing dynamic, cloud-based operating models are primed for increased competitiveness, especially in today’s rapidly changing business environment.”
It you have experienced the benefits of remote working recently and are ready to find out more about cloud transformation, we can help you to make the journey.
At Nouveau, (now part of the Axians UK Group) we can design, configure, secure and maintain cloud solutions to meet your specific business needs. Whether entirely cloud-based, or a mixture of on-premise and hybrid, we can provide you with a range of cloud solutions to help increase productivity, better management of IT costs and improve your operational resilience.
For a no obligation chat call 01189 699290 and speak to one of our cloud experts.
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