Migrating your business to the Cloud can be an intimidating process, but only if you don’t have the right facts. There are so many presumptions and fears when it comes to migration, and we’re here to debunk the most common ones, and why having an MSP can help.
I don’t have the right skills or expertise
One of the most common blocks when it comes to migrating is that it’s too complicated. It seems like a big, overwhelming task that takes a lot of time, complex manoeuvring of systems, data, and integrations and needs a lot of knowledge to do.
The best way to simplify this is to educate yourselves and your staff. Invest in training for in-house staff so they have the skills needed for their new responsibilities within the project. Ensure that your new provider has the expertise you need available at the point of migration. If they’re knowledgeable, you’ll feel more confident that your data is in safe hands and that the migration can run smoothly. Collaborate with them and form a strong team so that you can leverage their expertise.
The security risk is too much
Keeping your data safe should be the top priority of any good provider. Your MSP will be able to support you in identifying and mitigating security risks before, during and after migration, to identify any possible threat and recommend steps to mitigate your risk. Strictly controlled and managed access to the migration plan and steps needed for each stage is of course critical to the project’s success. Your MSP will no doubt recommend an encryption strategy for the migration which you’ll need your team to work on with the MSP.
If you’ve chosen an MSP that has a strong track record in security, this fear of risk to your data should be non-existent. They’ll help you to identify, manage and mitigate possible disruptions both for the migration and BAU once the project is complete.
I can’t afford the downtime and disruption to business
When migrating yourself, the fear is – when are we going to do this if we need to be online 24/7? Is it the right time? Do we have to do this all in one go? Or can this be phased in to suit my budget or peak business times? The commercial impact of going offline for any period of time needs to be carefully considered and managed. As you’d expect, an MSP can help you navigate this process to the best outcome.
Considering a phased approach makes sense for a lot of businesses and can help with resource management, enabling a test and validate approach to each stage. Your MSP should have a robust and tested roll-back plan, so that if something unexpected happens your business isn’t adversely affected.
My data will get lost or corrupted
You can prepare for this one very easily, with or without the help of an MSP. Having a robust backup strategy working round the clock with regular testing is key to protecting your business. Discuss how you’ll manage this during the migration with your MSP. They may recommend reducing transactions as much as possible so the data doesn’t change as you’re moving it.
You should also implement versioning and/or change tracking to monitor and recover any data discrepancies.
When you work with an MSP, they’ll manage your switchover to make sure nothing breaks, gets lost or hacked. You should be able to have confidence in the right MSP that they’ll ensure the solution is implemented quickly and safely.
It’s too expensive
You might be asking yourself – Can we afford to do this? What you should be asking is – can we afford not to do this? Weigh up all the positives and negatives about migrating and all that it will bring for your business. Understanding your current TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is critical to enabling your MSP to create the right solution for your business and managing your future costs. Your MSP should get to know your business inside and out to make a migration plan that works for you and fits your budget.
What if the new platform isn’t compatible?
Before you start migration, as part of your plan, your MSP will advise you and help you conduct a full compatibility check of your existing tools against the new platform/infrastructure. Lean on their experience and expertise in migrating both complex and relatively simple infrastructure environments. They’ll work with you to test any new solutions to your total satisfaction and provide ongoing support that fits your needs once the migration is complete.
My employees may not like the new platform
Communicate, communicate, communicate. Education is key here, throughout the entire migration process. Provide your employees with the right training, and show them why this new software benefits them and the business and how they can use it. Your new provider can help you develop this training plan and a way to help your employees understand.
Provide them with a culture of adaptability during the migration and give any additional support that might be needed.
Migration fears getting you down? Let ProActive help
There’s no monsters hiding under the bed with ProActive. We get to know your business down to the letter, so we know what will work and what won’t. Your migration plan should be tailored to your specific business and its needs because, at the end of the day, one size doesn’t always fit all.
We’ll help you create a migration schedule that fits your business needs, works to your budget, and identifies and mitigates potential risks. Our team will focus on your business continuity, data protection and security and will work hard to design and deliver a solution that fits you. Our transparent, simple and clear pricing makes working with us easy and with 25 years of experience, you can rely on our expertise.
We’re easy to talk to! Just speak to one of the team about what business challenges you want to address and we’ll go from there. No hard sell, no pressure, just a conversation. So book a meeting or call us on 0333 111 2000. We look forward to getting to know your business.
