Warning!

What I’m going to write is perhaps a bit controversial. But the feeling I get when I speak to certain companies and, in particular, their IT managers is that they do not mind turning the company’s journey to the cloud into something terrifying. Yes, it can be a technical challenge to migrate an on-premise solution to a cloud version. And yes, it can be a managerial challenge to get employees to work with new principles. But frightening is it not, nor should it be.

On the contrary, I would like to say that the overall business potential of moving into the cloud is so great, that you are gambling with your company’s competitiveness if you continue to push cloud projects far into the future. You probably already know the greatest benefits associated with using cloud solutions. For Microsoft Dynamics 365, it’s about:

• Economy: Compared to an on-premise solution, the total cost of a similar solution in the cloud is significantly lower.
• Functionality: Compared with an on-premise solution, a similar solution in the cloud offers more efficient functionality.
• Agility: Compared with an on-premise solution, a cloud solution allows for a faster response to new trends.
• Speed: Compared to an on-premise solution, a corresponding cloud solution can achieve significantly higher implementation speed.
• Security: Compared to an on-premise solution that a company itself is responsible for operating and developing, the security level is higher in a cloud solution. At least, when it comes to solutions from major suppliers in the market such as Microsoft.
• Compliance: There will be few companies that need to operate their own solutions themselves for legal reasons, but apart from this minority, Microsoft Dynamics 365 supports a wide range of compliance requirements relating to GDPR.

The above fact, I´ll put my money where my mouth is.

Read more: Application Maintenance Service: What If Your Go-To IT Solution Manager Is Hit By a Car?

So, why is it that you continue to encounter the kind of cloud skepticism that goes beyond any kind of ordinary – and, moreover, sensible – levels of common sense?

My guess is that, inter alia, it links into a culture that has characterized many IT departments in recent years, where the focus here has primarily been on ensuring a stable operation for the data center, where a little caricature about the servers in the basement has been nursed and reused.

Cloud solutions not only introduce new technology, but also a new mindset in which the IT department not only has to ensure that the company’s solutions are live, but that they need to make sure that the company is using the correct solutions. Today, the IT industry is a foresighted business developer, and is it that type of employee at the forefront of your IT? If yes, well, you have every chance of running an efficient and agile business with the help of, for example, cloud solutions that support your core processes. If not, there is a risk that IT decisions will be taken that do not necessarily serve the company’s best interest, but reflect an employee’s personal preferences or lack of skills.

Read more: A Trusted Advisor must lead – not sell – the journey to the cloud

It requires pursuing change processes that will guarantee a company’s competitive power. When customers scream for new functionality, chat bots, self-service portals, etc. the company’s strength must be to measure how fast they can respond to market demands. In this matter, the struggle against the cloud is the battle for the status quo. That is a match, nobody wants to win.

I often hear that one of the major obstacles to choosing the cloud is that it is difficult to estimate the time and total cost of a cloud migration project. With the AlfaPeople Cloud Lift-Off program, you’ll quickly and accurately know what’s needed to get you in the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics 365. It’s both cheaper and faster than you think.

Read more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 here.