It can be difficult these days to come up with sensible reasons why businesses shouldn't embrace cloud-based productivity tools such as Google for Work or Microsoft Office 365. The benefits of the cloud are many and expanding. However, a number of common pitfalls for IT professionals exist and can have lasting negative implications on any organization.
Here are three mistakes IT professionals making a switch to the cloud should avoid:
1. Cloud means lots of support for staff
Greg Meyers, corporate vice president and CIO of Motorola Solutions, says the surest way for IT leaders to avoid the most common cloud pitfalls is to learn from others' mistakes.
[Related Feature: 4 tips to move from Office 365 to Google for Work (or vice versa)]
"The biggest mistake I've seen others make, and we've tried to avoid, was underestimating the change to employees and being unprepared to support them through the trauma that is changing the tools they have used daily for decades," Meyers says. "Be prepared to explain over and over why you're changing, stay committed to your principles, have empathy for those who won't be happy and provide overwhelming training, support and change management."
2. Limitations of cloud's one-size-fits-all approach
Finding the right tools and applications that meet key business objectives and requirements is paramount to the success of a shift to the cloud, according to Liz Herbert, a vice president with Forrester Research.
"One of the biggest challenges I see is the one-size-fits nature of the cloud," Herbert says. Simplicity and ubiquity drive many of the cloud's obvious benefits, but the change can be a "huge challenge for CIOs" moving to environments that don't play favorites or tailor contracts to special interests. "The reality of the software as a service (SaaS) model is there are things about the model that cannot be changed for any one client."
The cloud offers more of a "take-it-or-leave-it" approach, according to Herbert, and some CIOs aren't comfortable with contracts that are not as explicit as others they negotiated in the past.
[Related News Analysis: Microsoft, Google earnings shed light on cloud war]
IT leaders need to conduct due diligence with the vendors they consider to avoid painful surprises, she says. Businesses should weigh everything from the technology at play, to the upgrade cycle and specific terms of support before choosing a vendor, according to Herbert. "The upfront [research] is more important than the contract because there's a lot of things that if they don't meet your requirements, no contract can fix that."
Read More: http://www.cio.com/article/3033820/cloud-computing/3-common-cloud-pitfalls-it-should-avoid.html
Here are three mistakes IT professionals making a switch to the cloud should avoid:
1. Cloud means lots of support for staff
Greg Meyers, corporate vice president and CIO of Motorola Solutions, says the surest way for IT leaders to avoid the most common cloud pitfalls is to learn from others' mistakes.
[Related Feature: 4 tips to move from Office 365 to Google for Work (or vice versa)]
"The biggest mistake I've seen others make, and we've tried to avoid, was underestimating the change to employees and being unprepared to support them through the trauma that is changing the tools they have used daily for decades," Meyers says. "Be prepared to explain over and over why you're changing, stay committed to your principles, have empathy for those who won't be happy and provide overwhelming training, support and change management."
2. Limitations of cloud's one-size-fits-all approach
Finding the right tools and applications that meet key business objectives and requirements is paramount to the success of a shift to the cloud, according to Liz Herbert, a vice president with Forrester Research.
"One of the biggest challenges I see is the one-size-fits nature of the cloud," Herbert says. Simplicity and ubiquity drive many of the cloud's obvious benefits, but the change can be a "huge challenge for CIOs" moving to environments that don't play favorites or tailor contracts to special interests. "The reality of the software as a service (SaaS) model is there are things about the model that cannot be changed for any one client."
The cloud offers more of a "take-it-or-leave-it" approach, according to Herbert, and some CIOs aren't comfortable with contracts that are not as explicit as others they negotiated in the past.
[Related News Analysis: Microsoft, Google earnings shed light on cloud war]
IT leaders need to conduct due diligence with the vendors they consider to avoid painful surprises, she says. Businesses should weigh everything from the technology at play, to the upgrade cycle and specific terms of support before choosing a vendor, according to Herbert. "The upfront [research] is more important than the contract because there's a lot of things that if they don't meet your requirements, no contract can fix that."
Read More: http://www.cio.com/article/3033820/cloud-computing/3-common-cloud-pitfalls-it-should-avoid.html
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