Joint company founder Sonia Harjani outlines why partners are ideally placed to capitalise on the latest cloud-based technology trends.
How has demand for cloud products and services evolved over the last 12 months?
Momentum continues to build as more and more services and solutions are added to the cloud on an almost monthly basis. There’s more choice now outside the main global providers and in many areas costs are falling which further accelerates demand.
What are the key benefits of a) public, b) private and c) hybrid cloud?
Public cloud is easy to scale and easy to access with fairly limited staff upskilling. Demand has grown over the last 12 months but I also think it’s started to peak to with some of the biggest market players as companies look at alternative providers such as Sona Business who offer wider choice whilst still providing all the support and services required on a very simple, easy to consume basis. We take a lot of the management and heavy lifting away to allow the public cloud to be accessible and easy to use in a very cost effective way. Whilst private cloud is great to have your own data centre you need expensive power and rack space and in many cases doubling up on infrastructure which adds to financial pressures. Hybrid cloud still has benefits but demand is less over the last 12 months especially around CRM. It’s not going to disappear as there’s still a need for it especially around SD-WAN.
How can partners help customers decide what cloud solution is best for them?
It’s all about becoming a trusted advisor and understanding customer needs both in the short and longer term. Budget and skillset are two main considerations. Finding the best fit is crucial. Scalability and working in a step-by-step way is generally the best way forward. Going all in and throwing lots of money at it might not be the right way to go. A slow or phased migration is better, supported by the partner means less overall risk.
What are the main stumbling blocks when it comes to cloud’s implementation?
For many organisations there’s always a fear factor about putting something into the cloud around how secure and stable it is. But the main stumbling block is mitigating any impact on the business through any services being down during migration. Another factor is staff upskilling by going too fast too soon.
How can providers ensure end users’ data security and privacy?
Security and privacy are two of the biggest priorities along with network resilience and reliability. Having robust policies about how appliances and services are accessed is the first layer of protection. Constant monitoring of any suspicious activity or large quantities of data being downloaded are needed to nullify the threat. It’s one of our number one priorities and we can turn the tap off if required too.
