Five tips to turn the cloud into your business engine.
Cloud software and services help companies do much more for less, with greater flexibility and space to grow. This advantage isn’t just for enterprises; small and medium businesses can gain even more if they focus on making their operations cloud-first.
This change may seem daunting. But with the Vodacom Business Multicloud and the following tips, you can get you started right away.
Tip 1: Understand why you want to use cloud services
Cloud technologies are popular for good reasons. But to get real value from them, frame what you expect and how to get there. Cloud services offer major benefits: they are easier to budget; they are universally accessible through web browsers and apps; they are continually improved and updated; and they are often more secure than systems that live on your business computers.
Take stock of what kind of software and services the business needs. Then look at the biggest demands in your business. Are you running out of storage space? Can your team only work from the office? Do you worry about losing your data? Are teams working off different versions of the same document? Do you struggle to find old emails? Does accounting rely on information spread across various computers? These are all things that cloud services can improve and fix.
Why you should use the Vodacom Business Multicloud solution
Vodacom Multicloud empowers your business to thrive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape by delivering three key advantages:
- Speedy transition: You can complete your cloud transformation seamlessly and quickly using apps that simplify even the most complex business processes. Your data and assets stay protected
- Enterprise-grade security: Protect your data and assets with solutions designed to defend against advanced threats, cyberattacks, and malware across your entire ecosystem.
- Support: Access state-of-the-art data centres that give you the flexibility, scalability, and security needed to confidently administer and manage your services.
Tip 2: You don’t need to start over
Hearing about “cloud first” might give the impression that a business has to recreate its technology foundation. But many business systems are further along than one would think. For example, many small and medium businesses already use cloud services. Check what cloud software your people already use and then how they can get even more from those services.
Where there are gaps, shift older on-premise tools to cloud alternatives, such as Outlook Online (email), Sage Business Cloud (accounting), Flexible Data Storage (storage), Enterprise Content Management (document management and automation), and Canva (design).Or even better, you can even get one platform that will cover multiple departments and functions, such as Vodacom BusinessOne+.
Tip 3: Your people are the most important
Technology services are still tools. Even advanced services like artificial intelligence require people who know how to use them and want to use them. It is crucial to do two things: select services that will enhance the work employees do and guide employees to use those services.
Explain the “what’s in it for me” clearly and involve staff in decisions about which services to select and why. They don’t need the final say, but they should feel included. Speak to employees about the issues they want to solve, ask them if they have suggestions for appropriate cloud options, and invite them to try out services to form their opinions. Here are more tips to help align cloud software and employees.
Tip 4: Create a cloud-first plan
Cloud services are the first step to a cloud-first business. The next is to create a plan that will start forming a business platform. “Platform” doesn’t mean one particular service or software, but establishing various services. Cloud technologies act as connective tissue between your different business areas.
For example, you can reduce duplicated effort by sharing data between different applications, such as employee information between HR, timesheet, and payroll cloud services. You can create a SharePoint service on Office365 and give employees specific rights to access what they need.
Tip 5: Look at what you can do next
Cloud isn’t just a type of software. It’s a versatile and powerful way to add, manage, and exploit software services. Using Vodacom Multicloud services, you open up many avenues: remote working, advanced security, artificial intelligence, IoT and smart devices, integration, analytics, automation, no/low-code and vibe coding, and much more.
Your business can scale intelligently, integrate new tech with ease, and remain agile as demands and markets change. All that starts with the right approach where you follow your business needs, not technology fads. Before spending on new technology, do three things:
- Audit what you have: list every tool, system, and software subscription your business runs.
- Talk to employees: Ask which tools frustrate them most, which they couldn’t work without, and what suggestions they have for new cloud services.
- Tackle the most pressing issues: Focus on specific issues, such as moving to secure email hosting with advanced search features. Also look at how you can use current cloud services to do more (if you use Office 365 for email, you also have access to online document editing and sharing services).
Vodacom Multicloud is the complete solution for businesses ready to accelerate their cloud journey. Start now.
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