Organizations are finding value in migrating to the cloud for improved efficiency and flexibility. Deloitte found that leaders in the IT space planned to move 41% of their workload to the cloud in 2021. A trend that began in 2020 as remote work became more commonplace. Organizations are moving their IT infrastructure to public and private clouds, but transitioning from in-house to cloud-based systems can be complex.
As a CIO or IT executive migrating your organization’s communications to the cloud, it is critical to know the complications and pitfalls that can cost your organization time and money. Understanding the mistakes organizations make when moving to the cloud can help you avoid similar pitfalls.
If you navigate the complexities of migrating your communications to the cloud, you can find a cloud-based communication solution that improves your organization’s flexibility, mobility, and scalability.
Why Are Organizations Migrating Their Communications to the Cloud?
For many organizations, moving to the cloud is worth the investment. Cloud communications offer increased scalability, flexibility, and efficiency compared to an in-house private branch exchange (PBX). Your organization can increase the mobility of its phone, messaging, and fax services to facilitate communications when the office is closed or is shifting to remote or hybrid work.
Migrating communications to the cloud became a significant concern when offices were closed during the 2020 pandemic. Organizations had to shift from the office to remote work across the country in order to keep their operations running.
Other than more easily supporting a remote and mobile workforce, organizations migrate their communications to the cloud for the following reasons:
- Organizations can get enterprise-level voice and SMS features at a lower price
- Cloud communications can be rapidly scaled as needed with little IT help or additional cost
- Cloud SMS/MMS facilitates cost-effective and personal conversations between users
- Employees can send and receive faxes from their mobile devices
- Integration of communications into organizational software like apps and CRMs
- Accessibility of unified communications in the cloud
Related: Enterprise Cloud Communications Predictions for 2022
The Advantages of Moving Apps, Data Repositories, and Communications to the Cloud
Migrating to the cloud offers several benefits to your organization. We will highlight the bullet points above and expand on the advantages that drive organizations to the cloud.
Reliability
If your organization is moving apps, data repositories, and communications to the cloud, it can benefit from increased reliability and security. When you choose an ideal partner for your cloud-based infrastructure, the service provider grants your organization access to a wide network of servers. Users can reliably access a web-based app or make a VoIP call from anywhere there is an internet connection.
A cloud service provider with a reliable network offers 24/7 uptime for your apps and communications. Cloud-based telecoms can help users avoid dropped calls and undelivered messages with services like failover when a network becomes unreachable.
Cloud-based networks rely on a team of IT and security professionals to maintain the network and protect your apps, data, and communications from malicious attacks. Provider networks are physically secure and use enterprise firewalls and secure routing protocols to reduce downtime and data leaks.
Scalability
Migrating your organization’s apps, data repositories, and communications to the cloud offers scalability on demand. Cloud-based services can keep up with increased user demand, adapting to your organization’s needs. Cloud-based providers give your organization the power to succeed with capacity on demand to scale up for peak seasons, product launches, or campaigns, then scale back down when your organization no longer needs the increased capacity. Your organization will only pay for what it uses if you subscribe to a metered rate for your communications or pay-per-usage.
Flexibility
Communications, data repositories, and apps that exist in the cloud are more adaptable, accessible, and mobile. Authorized users can access the service they require from home or abroad. Your organization can adapt to change more quickly, integrating communications into apps and CRM software using APIs from a cloud-based provider.
APIs allow a developer to integrate services like voice calling and SMS/MMS messaging into your organization’s software. You can also add phone lines and numbers to your organization’s cloud-based business phone system, often through an easy-to-use management portal.
Expenses
A primary advantage of partnering with a cloud-based provider is access to scalable infrastructure without a large investment. Many cloud-based providers allow you to pay for the resources you use, so the upfront costs are lower than investing in in-house infrastructure. Your organization can also save time and money spent maintaining an in-house PBX and bring its own devices.
As mentioned above, communication services can be integrated into your organization’s software using an API, reducing months of development to a few short lines of code. Your organization’s developers can easily integrate the API and have your communications up and running with a cloud-based provider that offers helpful resources like an SDK and quick start guides.
Related: Moving to the Cloud? Select the Best Communications Configuration for your Industry
Three Cloud Communication Migration Mistakes That Can Threaten an Organization
When an organization migrates its communications to the cloud, mistakes can waste time and money or threaten the company’s stability. With 70% of digital transformations failing, avoiding common pitfalls is essential to successfully migrating to the cloud.
1. Not Seeing the Value in Long-Term Planning
Organizations can sometimes rely on flimsy plans when they are migrating to the cloud. Executives may want to move to the cloud after a vendor proposes a new technology solution that promises more than it can deliver. If the organization does not thoroughly test the solution and plan for the as part of its long-term modernization strategy, deployment can be unsuccessful. A poorly calculated deployment can result in more work for IT and a loss of time and money for the organization.
Creating a long-term plan to move your organization’s communications to the cloud will help you seamlessly deploy your cloud-based communication and ensure it can grow with your company with minimal IT effort.
Cloud migrations should not be a one-time event. Instead, cloud migration must be a carefully thought out process from start to finish, with many organizations choosing to take a phased approach to cloud migration. Break down your organization’s goals into achievable milestones that your IT team can reach over a time period.
Consider your next steps when your end-to-end cloud migration and deployment plan reaches its endpoint. The cloud is continuously evolving, and your applications, data, and communication should be poised to make the most of changes.
2. Failing To Address Internal Conflicts
The goals of IT and the business do not always align perfectly. If IT executives decide to migrate communications to the cloud before organizational executives are on board, it can result in a poorly received deployment. Migration to the cloud may align with IT’s goals while interfering with overall business goals.
As an IT leader, sharing your plans with business leaders to ensure that your goals align is essential to your success. Help leadership on the business side understand the benefits of migrating to the cloud and how the cloud can drive business processes that benefit the organization.
Partnering with executives within the organization can also help you reach out to employees to help them accept the changes and receive proper training to reduce helpdesk tickets and confusion as they adapt to cloud-based communications.
3. Lack of IT Capabilities and Resources
Organizations that attempt to move to the cloud without considering budget and IT resources to support the migration often fail. Plans can derail when an organization tries to migrate to the cloud on a fixed or light budget. IT resources are also crucial to the success of migrating to the cloud. Not having the right skills or staff can result in a failed transition.
If you are leading a cloud communication migration, consider the flexibility of your budget to handle unexpected costs without running out of funds. Ensure your organization has secured the talent, equipment, and skills in IT for a successful migration. An experienced consultant can also help you cost-efficiently streamline the cloud migration process.
When your organization partners with an existing cloud communications provider, the communication infrastructure is already in place. The communications platform may also allow your business’ apps and platforms to connect using a programmable API solution, reducing the time spent developing to a few minutes of coding.
Partner With a Cloud-Based Communications Provider to Avoid Migration Pitfalls
Organizations are moving their communications to the cloud for the many benefits cloud-based communications offer. Organizations can scale their services and infrastructure to meet usage demands using a reliable and secure network for 24/7 access. Cloud communications also give users mobility and accessibility while reducing in-house IT and infrastructure demands.
When migrating your organization’s communications to the cloud, it is crucial to understand and avoid the common mistakes that organizations make. Planning should be a continuous process that prepares for changes on the horizon. IT leadership should involve business leaders and employees in the conversation to prevent conflicts. The budget and resources should also be in place and offer the flexibility to address unexpected costs and situations.
When your organization relies on Flowroute for its communication migrations to the cloud, it will have access to a vast and scalable cloud communication network. Flowroute provides carrier-grade services with the reliability and speed of our Flowroute HyperNetwork™. Flowroute also offers programmable voice, messaging, and faxing for your organization to integrate into its software with our API solutions. If you are ready to migrate to the cloud, get started today.
