Three Reasons Cloud Strategies Are Now About More Than Digital Transformation
As enterprises attempt to switch to increasing numbers of remote workers, cloud strategies take on new urgency and have different priorities than they previously did. It’s no longer a long-term digital transformation being pursued, but rather a major shift in how business processes are conducted.
Cloud providers are seeing an important increase in enterprises looking for ways to transition in-person processes to a digital format, allowing for access around the clock and increased integration with technology via the cloud. For example, enterprises may want to replace in-person shopping at a retail location with contactless ordering with features that allow for everything from point of sale to stock management being achieved in a digital solution.
Cloud providers are attempting to keep pace with new priorities for cloud strategies, and there are three areas that are overshadowing previous digital transformation plans:
Supporting Remote Work: Businesses that were previously interested in dipping a toe into cloud strategies are being forced to dive in to continue to support business processes. A company that may have relied on voice and messaging in the past may find itself suddenly prioritizing video conferencing investment as a way to connect teams and support remote workers.
IT professionals are left to unscramble the complexities of new remote teams accessing cloud tools ad hoc and sorting out which solutions fit with their overall technology strategy moving forward.
Securing Remote Technology: While access to digital tools may not be a problem for many enterprises shifting to remote work, securing that technology may leave security teams struggling to prioritize which problems to tackle first. From shadow IT to over-privileged users, security teams will face some new challenges. They may have remote workers who have shared their passwords with a family member, Wi-Fi passwords that haven’t been changed in years, or apps that are downloaded on a work device without going through the normal approval process.
Business Continuity: Many enterprises have active business continuity plans, but it is almost impossible for such plans to anticipate and plan for every possible challenge to continuity. An enterprise may focus on uptime and service level agreements (SLAs), but it’s also important to focus on the need for accelerated cloud strategies that bypass long-term digital transformation strategies.
When a disaster makes access to a physical workspace impossible, companies are forced to choose whether to continue business processes using digital tools or shut down temporarily. A health clinic or counseling office that is able to shift seamlessly to telehealth options is clearly in a better position for business continuity as they potentially gain market share from those clinics that have closed, even for a short period.
As a sluggish economy impacts technology budgets, finance departments are finding that cloud strategies often present a solution in the form of a shift from capital expenses to operating expenses. While this doesn’t tend to be a planned-for business continuity strategy, it may be one that preserves the likelihood that the enterprise can survive.
If you’re looking for ways to equip remote workers and replace your digital transformation plan with cloud strategies that meet today’s challenges, contact us at One Connect.