5 Tips to Avoid Problems When Transitioning to the Cloud

Every small business should be looking to move into the cloud these days. In fact, you should ask yourself why you’ve not made the leap already. You only have to read anything business-related to realize cloud computing is the future, especially with technology like blockchain coming onboard. For most business owners the reason is pretty simple. They’re stuck in their old ways and don’t want to change, but for the sake of your business it’s a must.

It Comes Down To One Single Thing

Once you know big cloud computing companies are the way forward you’ll still feel hesitant about making the move. It’s because you are scared of making any mistakes, which is perfectly understandable.

That is why we’re going to discuss a few less-known things you should keep in mind.

Things Every Business Should Keep In Mind

• The EU General Data Protection Regulation
• Opening Yourself Up To Legal Problems
• Keep On Top Of Who Controls Information
• Maintenance Times Can Be Problematic
• Costs Involved Training Your Staff

The EU General Data Protection Regulation

Next year we’ll see the EU General Data Protection Regulation come into effect. It’s been drawn up to protect European citizens, but it doesn’t just apply to companies in Europe.

American companies could potentially be fined over a hundred million dollars if they break the rules. It’s likely to be a while before anyone receives a fine close to that amount, but it could possibly put you out of business even if it’s much smaller.

Ensure any third-party companies you use are prepared for it to come into place, because you could get in trouble too.

Opening Yourself Up To Legal Problems

We’ll stay on the topic of getting in trouble with the law, but this is more in a general sense. It’s likely got more to do with security than anything else. When a customer gives you data it’s your responsibility to guarantee its safety.

It could be extremely sensitive, so who do you think is going to get in trouble if it falls into the wrong hands? It’s why security is always paramount and why everyone is desperate for blockchain.

Keep On Top Of Who Controls Information

If you’re sending data into the cloud you’ll know a company will be holding your information. It will be encrypted if you’re smart and they won’t actually have access to it. Unfortunately, the people you’ve really got to worry about are your employees.

They will be the ones in control of the information, but you don’t want to give them too much control. It can’t reach the stage where they could sabotage you if fired. If this did happen it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a once loyal employee decided to hurt the company they worked for.

Maintenance Times Can Be Problematic

Maintenance times have enormous importance for businesses using the cloud to host applications. It means when your servers are undergoing maintenance work your customers are locked out. Even if you’re only storing data in the cloud you don’t want to get to the stage where nobody can access anything. It won’t matter a lot if maintenance is performed at night in this situation.

If you’re a Software or a Service company you’ll want everything to stay up as often as possible. Once it goes down it’s hurting your business.

Costs Involved Training Your Staff

You’re smart enough to know you’ll need to train staff once you’ve moved into the cloud. In today’s world, nobody will need much training. If a cloud provider is updating everything all the time it can get annoying.

Thanks to the changes they make it could cost you a lot of money training your employees on a regular basis. It should be fine if you use a large company everyone loves.

It’s a Decision You Won’t Regret

It could take a little getting used to if you’re a truly old school business, but you’ll never regret your decision. We’ve looked at some of the nagging issues, but wait until you find out the benefits. It could easily turn an ailing company around and make a decent one unstoppable.

Do it soon because it’s going to happen anyway if you’re still in business in the next few years.

Author: Philip Piletic is a freelancer, writer and traveler who loves to share his experience about business, marketing and tech.