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The Covid-19 pandemic has taught many organizations that staff can work from anywhere and be productive. By leveraging the cloud, many are deciding that employees are no longer required to be onsite in an office space to do their jobs. This is leading them to review their existing building footprint and associated costs. As part of this assessment, there should be an analysis of disaster recovery options and maintaining high availability to support remote workers.

 

Making the Move to the Cloud

Organizations of all sizes are beginning to ask one very important question: Should we move to the Cloud? Many have already dipped their toe with a move to Office 365 or backup to Azure and have found many benefits, but putting all the proverbial eggs in one hosted basket is still not commonplace.

Moving all systems into the Cloud is not an overnight event. It needs a well-defined plan based on an analysis of end-user and business requirements, existing systems, amount of data, and security. You may choose to move in phases over 1-3 years, or you may decide to plunge into the deep end – but before you decide, consider performing a Cloud Study.

 

What Makes up a Cloud Study?

Preparation:
  • Review servers, storage, backup, application, and rank in priority
  • Collect usage statistics on servers, bandwidth
  • Review user requirements and remote access
  • Compile current security concerns and existing policies
  • Collect analytics for 1-2 weeks with periodic checks to ensure validity and continued data gathering
  • Document existing on-premises costs, including circuits and internet
 
Analysis:
  • Analyze collected data, document findings, and recommendations
  • Perform pricing calculators to determine budgetary costs and comparison to current costs
  • Assess strategies to maintain security policies, changes, options
  • Work on the high-level plan of action with benefit/cost analysis

Reporting:
  • Creation of an overview of the current environment
  • Documentation of pricing for security, replication, connectivity, and storage of servers/data in Azure Cloud
  • Development of high-level action plan and recommended approach

 

Ascend Can Help

Moving systems and services to the Cloud can be complex and may be costly if not thoroughly planned. A Cloud Study is essential to provide guidance and minimize disruption during the process. Our experts have helped many organizations of varying sizes migrate to the cloud. Reach out to learn more about how we can help!

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