Let’s face it: Some organizations are keen to take the step into the cloud, for instance to Office 365. Some had already made tentative progress, but they faced obstacles they were not aware of.
Why?
In this article we have gathered the top 5 challenges that make people afraid of moving to cloud.
Table of Contents
Culture
First challenge is the culture of IT Personnel since they are used to work with servers running locally inside the organization, some employees have fears about moving their on-premises data to the cloud, they know that the usual work they get used to do will be changed, some people just don’t like to change.
To overcome this issue, you should do training and orientation about the benefits of moving to cloud (as described in Should I move to Office 365 blog), and the services that O365 offers and how it help to free up the IT team time to let them do more important things.
Security
Security and Privacy are also considered one of the main challenges that prevent organizations from moving to cloud, some organizations don’t like to give up control of their data to someone else outside the company boundaries.
If you are one of them, then for sure you`re probably asking “What if my data got lost, wiped, corrupted or stolen? “
Well, when you move your organization to a cloud service, you must be able to trust your service provider with your most important, sensitive, and confidential data or choose to move only your least sensitive data to the cloud (Hybrid solution), because security is paramount for business success.
The best part?
Office 365 is second to none when it comes to security , it gives you extensive security features… Check out Office 365 top security features below:
- 24-hour monitoring of datacenters.
- Multi-factor authentication, including biometric scanning for datacenter access.
- Encryption at rest protects your data on their servers.
- Encryption in transit with SSL/TLS protects your data when it’s transmitted between you and Microsoft.
- Threat, security monitoring, and file/data integrity prevent or detect any tampering of data.
- Exchange provides advanced security and reliability against spam and malware to help protect your information and access to email.
- The data you put into Office 365 belongs to you, you have complete control of it and you are responsible for it by using the Microsoft-managed service security technologies and policies that O365 contains. The data residency option; Customers using Office 365 aren’t always pleased about the region their data stored in that’s why Microsoft give you an option to change the data center region.
Internet Connection
Third challenge is the dependency of internet connection which might be a problem for some organizations. In fact, Office 365 is a service that runs over the public internet. But, this issue will go down with time since Microsoft continually optimizing core aspects of Office 365 such as availability, global reach, and performance for internet-based connectivity to enhance all Office 365 services to be available and reachable offline.
Payment Model
Some organizations are not big fans of the Subscription based pricing model, they would prefer to make one-time software purchase instead.
That shouldn’t be a problem, why? Simply because with Office 365 subscription plans you get the fully installed Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access, not to mention that you can install Office 365 across multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, Android™ tablets, Android phones, iPad®, and iPhone®.
In addition, with Office 365 you get services like online storage with OneDrive, Skype minutes for home use, and advanced Outlook.com security. When you have an active Office 365 subscription, you always have the most up-to-date version of the Office applications.
But … Office a one-time purchase includes applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for use on a single PC or Mac. The applications are not automatically updated; to get the latest version, you must purchase Office again when the new version becomes available.
Right Partner
Finally, Office 365 is designed to be easy to buy and use, and to deliver a familiar experience that lets you get started right away. Companies should find the Right partner to help them get the most value from their investment, not choosing the right partner will cause loss in time and cost. Moving to Office 365 is a multi-phased project that often requires technical consulting and support. Having a trusted partner can help ensure your success by providing comprehensive deployment and migration assistance to ensure that the transition is smooth.
That’s not all!
Partners will help you configure the services to meet your needs. And provide the custom training your staff needs to get the most out of Office 365.
Partners will help you configure the services to meet your needs. And provide the custom training your staff needs to get the most out of Office 365.
If any of these challenges look familiar or you would like to know more details on how Office 365 can help your business, then contact us today, and we’d be happy to answer your questions.