Even while hearing of the vast number of benefits that are typical with a cloud migration, many enterprises still shrink away from the possibility of shifting their workloads. Promises of reduced costs, improved agility and scalability, and better efficiency are leading many to embrace the cloud and pull ahead of their competitors. Customers demand a certain experience, and enterprises need to set aside their reservations in order to meet this demand.
The reluctance is easily understood. Enterprises are often unnerved by the prospect of shifting from traditional telecom solutions to a cloud-based platform. Strategic planning is necessary for enterprises to understand the possibilities afforded with certain cloud solutions. It’s also required for them to embark on a cloud migration that enables better communications services and equips the enterprise to better serve customers.
The following are three key steps that will ensure a better process for enterprises considering a cloud migration for communications technology:
Know What You’re Trying to Achieve: Before beginning a cloud migration, develop a plan with your service provider to help you anticipate what types of realistic goals you can set for your cloud-based communications solution. This step gives the project objective oversight while also providing guideposts to keep your IT team on track for the duration of the project. Your plan should include detailed steps of the migration, and it should address a number of questions, including:
- In what order will features be migrated?
- When and in what way will employees be informed about the availability of particular features accessible as a result of the migration?
- How will training be administered to employees, and which employees will be trained on each part of the solution?
- What communication is necessary to keep customers informed about changes or delays?
Test and Test Again: Before going live, pilot and test your cloud services to ensure that you can successfully begin using the solutions. Testing gives your teams the opportunity to get familiar with new features and tools without the added pressure of a customer on the other end of the line. Testing also provides a sandbox or other types of controls that allow for a safe atmosphere to detect errors. Even after testing is complete, you may want to offer the new solution to select customers – informing them fully of the boundaries of the pilot they are involved in and the features they can access.
If you’re pursuing a hybrid telecom solution, you may be able to implement your cloud migration gradually and test features one at a time. This approach can help your team become familiar with different features without a looming launch date.
Evaluate and Refine: It’s important to keep a close watch on your customers’ preferences in order to retain brand loyalty. Your customers will demand, at minimum, seamless text and voice communications, and any interruption can impact your reputation and cause them to explore other options.
Your cloud migration should include a step for evaluating and anticipating your customers’ needs as well as detecting any change in preferences.Enterprises that avoid cloud migration out of fear may find that the threat is not in the migration but in neglecting to embrace cloud technology. Contact us at AMD Technology for an experience that anticipates challenges for a smooth and fearless transition.