How to Develop a Successful Cloud Strategy

It’s one thing to decide you want to implement cloud computing in your business. It’s quite another to determine how the cloud will be used to accomplish your business goals. This is what is known as a cloud strategy, and it is something that modern businesses need to address.

Let’s go over how you can do so.

Creating Your Cloud Strategy

The following are the essential steps that it helps to complete in order to make your use of the cloud as effective as possible.

List Out Your Planned Applications of the Cloud

First off, how is it that you want to put the cloud to use in your business?
Perhaps a bit obvious, but the first step to successfully implementing the cloud at any scale is to determine what aspects of your business could benefit from its implementation. Do you want to add additional features and functionality to your business’ operations? Expand your data storage? Whatever it may be, you’ll want to document it clearly, as well as identify the key performance indicators (or KPIs) that will tell you how well your business is doing so.

Identify and Address Any Risks

What are the hurdles you may encounter by embracing the cloud?
Once you know how you plan to incorporate the cloud into your business’ workflows, you need to identify and observe the risks associated with it. While most cloud providers—certainly any we’d direct you to, at least—will maintain some considerable security measures around their infrastructure, it certainly won’t hurt to check the provider’s compliance reports.

Furthermore, you can also do things to help protect your data, such as encrypting it and requiring multi-factor authentication before it can be accessed.

Review the Changes Your Cloud Adoption Has Made

Has the cloud made the difference you expect?
Once you’ve begun relying on your implemented cloud service, make sure that you evaluate how effective it has been. How have your operations been impacted? Have your team members run into any challenges? Are your allocated resources proving to be sufficient? Regularly auditing your cloud use and adjusting it to fit your needs is a healthy business practice, and again, is something that the cloud’s scalability supports.

Need Help Utilizing the Cloud for Your Business?

We can provide that help for you. Reach out to us today to discuss your needs and how the cloud can be used to fulfill them by calling (703) 821-8200 today!