Does your company use the cloud to access your data conveniently and securely? What does your company’s cloud strategy look like? If you aren’t using the cloud or you’ve never put any thought into your company’s cloud strategy, consider developing your cloud strategy with acentauri digital to maximize your organization’s potential.
Assess Your Current Cloud
A great first step towards developing your cloud strategy is assessing your current cloud. In order to create a strategy to make something better, we have to first understand where it is starting. In the initial stages of assessing your current cloud, you will want to evaluate people, process, and even technology. Are all of these doing the job? Do you need more manpower? These are important things to note in this assessment phase.
Decide on a Desired State
The next step is to decide on the desired state of your cloud. Now that you know where you are, you can begin to dream about where you are going. What do you want the cloud to be able to do for you? What processes do you hope to improve? What can your dream cloud system do for you and how will it help your business maximize its potential? Consider talking to competitors about their cloud services or getting employee feedback on where they find inefficiencies in your cloud processes.
Where to Improve
Next, you will want to analyze gaps and areas for improvement. This will look different for every company, and largely depends on what you want your desired cloud to look like. By defining where you want to be and comparing it to where you are now, you can identify key areas of improvement and start to make a plan to get there. You may find gaps in your company’s current IT structure. Perhaps you have a vision for the cloud that cannot realistically exist without outside personnel coming in to help run the cloud on the IT side as your company’s IT has other important things they need the time to manage. No two cloud strategies are alike as they depend on the organization’s vision for the cloud and the current state of the cloud. By analyzing the gaps in your cloud’s current functions, you can figure out what is missing and what needs to happen to push your cloud closer to the desired state.
Make an Action Plan
Now, it’s time to make an action plan! We will work together to make a list of activities and initiatives we need to accomplish in order to reach your cloud’s desired state. During this phase, we will also take a look at your company’s objectives and goals to analyze which technology systems are being used to accomplish these and how we can improve the efficiency of those processes for you. You may decide to prioritize certain department’s actions in the clouds over others in the first phase of the action plan. You may even decide to hire a managed service provider (MSP) like acentauri digital to help manage the cloud for you. This action plan also allows us to choose the right cloud service for your needs.
Communicate your New Cloud Strategy
Now that you have a new cloud strategy and action plan, you have to communicate it to your employees. In order to truly optimize your cloud functionality, you need buy-in from all employees who use the cloud. Even if the cloud has all of the tools and systems to run in the desired state, it cannot do so unless those working within the cloud follow best practices. Explain any changes that will be made and explain why these changes will be made.
Implement your New Cloud Strategy
While having a cloud is an important first step in advancing your business, you are not maximizing your company’s potential until you actually have and implement a cloud strategy. Implementing a strategy for your cloud is no easy feat. Our experienced team members at acentauri digital help businesses optimize their outcomes and maximize their profits by working towards the best-in-class solutions for your specific cloud environment. Contact us today to develop your cloud strategy to optimize your business outcomes through the use of the cloud!
