Cloud technology has fundamentally changed the ways that organizations operate and conduct business. It’s encouraged them to embrace innovation and provides a competitive edge. However, lack of adequate internal resources may hold some companies back.
“The cloud offers greater agility and productivity for businesses – that much is widely recognized today,” says Jason Mackay, General Manager of COMPAREX Canada. “But there are many organizations that look at cloud and say, “We know this will help in the long run, but who has the time to slow down operations and fully implement this solution?’”
Mackay backs up the benefits of the cloud with some powerful stats: 86% of Canadian small businesses using cloud say it’s improved their business processes*; another 82% of businesses say using cloud technology, whether for storage or computing, saved them money*.
“The benefits are clear, but many businesses today still need a way to ensure they maximize their cloud investment before migrating workloads,” Mackay adds.
Cloud deployment in Canada is expected to see sharp growth over the next one to two years, according to recent IT World Canada research, suggesting cloud use may grow from 13 to 25% in that period.
“Cloud use is expected to double in the next 12 to 24 months,” notes Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada. “Migration to the cloud will have a big impact on companies’ abilities to take on new initiatives such as big data, improved customer experience and digital transformation.”
Love points to the potential cost savings generated by cloud as the primary means by which such other initiatives can be embraced.
Mackay concurs. He further suggests that for businesses to keep a competitive edge, they need IT to be focused on driving growth, revenue and productivity—not bogged down by the nuanced details of managing the cloud. “After all, isn’t the cloud supposed to free up and make IT more flexible?”
That, he says, is the motivation behind his company’s Cloud Complete solution aimed at small to mid-sized businesses. Cloud Complete reduces the cost and complexity of migrating to the Microsoft Cloud, while providing familiar Office programs and security, by offering it as a customizable bundle.
Cloud Core, the base offering, includes Office 365 Premium licensing, a free migration and support at a low monthly per user fee. The move from multi-year, commitment-based volume licensing to subscription-based licenses will reduce costs and free up IT resources to focus on innovation, Mackay says, but more importantly help to ensure predictable costs for forecasting. “This is extremely crucial to businesses today, especially when looking at cloud infrastructure and applications,” he adds.
With Cloud Complete, organizations receive full cloud migration services from COMPAREX engineers who have migrated more than four million users. Training and adoption programs include a three-week interactive workshop for end users that covers tips, tricks and best practices to ensure complete adoption and fast return on investment.
“This is a great introduction to the cloud for businesses and it will propel them in the right direction,” Mackay says. He adds that since Cloud Complete removes the burden and risk of migrating to the cloud on their own, it leaves businesses with only one question:
“What are we waiting for?”