Having Multiple Vendors In Your Cloud Strategy

For most business environments, it’s always been a shuffle of how to combine hardware and software to best accomplish your goals. You purchase equipment from one source, storage from another, services from third-party programs, and hope they all connect to offer you a safe and secure environment.

And just because we’re moving to cloud computing doesn’t mean the strategy is any different. Or easier to navigate.

If you’re large enough to be able to create an enterprise agreement with a vendor that ensures you’ll always have access to the services, actions, and resources you’ll need, you can create bonds with single vendors. For the rest of us, it’s a little more convoluted.

Software now defines who we are as a company. There literally is an app for that, and chances are your company uses many different ones to drive every task and activity you do. Those same apps also have different availability and security requirements, and what’s worse, they are changing all the time.

What happens when an employee clicks to open an app and is asked to agree with the new terms and services? Yep, they click accept and move on. They don’t have time to walk through updated rules, especially if they are standing there with a potential customer.

And if you’re in charge of technology for your company, that can be a big concern. Cloud decisions are often made based on a variety of variables, including cost, scalability, and security concerns. But what many forget to ask is if they have they found the right cloud service for their application. Especially in industries like healthcare and finance, there’s a lot more riding on the final decision than just the performance of the software.

In many cases, it’s easy for a company to pick and choose, even move to different vendors and platforms as new technology is introduced and new vendors offer new things. But that thought process can also hold a company back from committing to something that can give them even more functionality. If you’ve ever been concerned over lock-in because you’re worried about not having freedom and flexibility to come and go as you please, realize it’s inevitable.

How long have you used your email platform?

Cloud services are no different. When you find a service that works for you, dedicate yourself to making the most out of the platform. Upgrade and select packages with the most features you can get. Learn as much as you can by hiring experts to help you take advantage of every resource within the system.

Even though that strategy may prevent you from moving to the next greatest app to hit the market, you’ll ensure that you are using the technology you have to it's greatest ability. And that can be far more beneficial to your company than always looking for the next greatest thing.

For IT Strategy, Cloud Conversion, or Help Desk Services reach out to us at Silver Linings Technology 360-450-4759.