How to Decide When to Move to The Cloud: 6 Signs You Can’t Ignore

If you're considering a migration from your on-premises solution to the cloud and aren't sure about the best time to make a move, read this first.

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, making the switch from your traditional on-site setup to the cloud is a pretty big deal—it's the kind of decision that will have a large impact on where your business is headed. As you assess different options for digital transformation, know that the cloud brings a number of perks, from saving you money and flexing with your needs to amping up your security. But moving to the cloud isn't a one-size-fits-all situation. It requires you to carefully assessment a wide array of factors to ensure a seamless and successful transition.

In this guide, we'll take a look at benefits of moving to the cloud as well as how to assess your current infrastructure, the 6 biggest signs that it’s time for your company to move to the cloud, and how to plan for the migration. Whether you're a small startup counting every penny or a big shot aiming for more flexibility, you can use this guide to gauge when it’s the right time to move to the cloud.

Benefits of Moving to the Cloud

In today's fast-paced tech landscape, moving to the cloud brings a ton of advantages that can really shake up how you run things. Let's take a quick look at these transformative benefits:

➕Cost Savings: Embrace the potential for substantial financial gains by transitioning to the cloud, reducing infrastructure and maintenance expenses.

➕Scalability: Unlock unparalleled scalability, allowing your organization to effortlessly adapt to changing demands and scale resources as needed.

➕Flexibility and Mobility: Experience newfound flexibility and mobility as the cloud enables seamless access to data and applications from anywhere, fostering enhanced collaboration and productivity.

➕Security Improvements: Elevate your data security measures with advanced cloud security protocols, safeguarding against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

For more on the benefits of moving to the cloud, check out 6 Benefits of Moving to a Cloud ERP Solution

Assessing Your Current Infrastructure

Before embarking on your cloud journey, you need to conduct a thorough evaluation of your existing infrastructure. This step ensures a clear understanding of your organization's technological landscape and sets the stage for a successful migration. Here are some key components of this assessment:

❗Inventory of Existing Systems: Conduct a comprehensive inventory of your current systems and applications to gather insights into dependencies and critical components.

❗Performance Evaluation: Analyze the performance of your on-premises infrastructure to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement, laying the groundwork for optimized cloud resources.

❗Cost Analysis: Delve into the financial aspect and evaluate the ongoing costs of maintaining on-premises infrastructure versus the potential savings and efficiencies offered by the cloud.

6 Signs It's Time to Move to the Cloud

As technology keeps evolving, spotting the perfect time to shift to the cloud becomes crucial for your organization's growth and efficiency. Here are 6 signs that tell you it's time to bring the cloud into the picture:

1️⃣ Your Company is Growing Rapidly

If your company is expanding or growing rapidly, it might be time to invest in cloud ERP. Unlike their on-premises counterparts, cloud ERP allows you to scale and future-proof your business quickly. With on-premises solutions, you have to purchase and upgrade your infrastructure to scale, which is always extremely expensive. Scaling with a cloud ERP solution is as simple as updating your plan and purchasing new user licenses.

2️⃣ You Are Due for a Software or Hardware Upgrade

If your on-premises solution requires a major update, it may be the right time to make a move to the cloud. Whether it's your software that needs to be updated to the newest version or your hardware that needs an overhaul, both are a time-consuming and costly process.

When you switch to cloud ERP, software is updated automatically by your vendor, and the cost is typically already covered in your subscription. As for hardware, cloud ERP doesn't require in-house infrastructure, as the software provider hosts your software on their servers. All you need is an internet connection to access your solution through your desktop, tablet, or mobile.

3️⃣ Your Company Is Merging or in the Process of Being Acquired

Technology integration is an important factor in mergers and acquisitions and a critical component for a successful one. If your company has a modern cloud ERP system in place, IT integration becomes much easier when you go through a merger or acquisition. In fact, companies with flexible, streamlined solutions can even add value in an acquisition, driving higher bids.

4️⃣ You Are Pivoting to a Hybrid or Remote Work Model

With remote and hybrid work consistently showing not only an increase in productivity but also greater work-life balance and less stress for employees, many workplaces where remote work is possible have continued either fully remote or hybrid work models. If your business is one of them, adopting the cloud should be your first move.

Cloud ERP offers more mobility, accessibility, and collaboration compared to on-premises solutions. Your employees can access business data and the tools they need from anywhere, on any device. Using the cloud also means your data is accessible in real-time, making it easier to share and integrate information across departments.

5️⃣ You Need to Cut Costs and Simplify IT Management

Cloud ERP helps you reduce costs and lowers the total cost of ownership. In the long run, you are looking at a cost-effective solution that has a greater capability of streamlining and optimizing your operations and business processes.

By eliminating the need for expensive hardware and servers, reducing admin costs, and eliminating third-party products and disparate one-off solutions, a cloud ERP offers substantial savings. It also enables you to free up your internal IT team, as they won't need to maintain hardware or manage software version upgrade efforts.

6️⃣ Your ERP Software Has Reached End-of-Life

If your current ERP software is about to reach end-of-life or has already hit that mark, it's time to migrate to the cloud. End-of-life typically means that the vendor no longer supports a solution. This means you'll no longer receive software updates with new features, bug fixes, or any security updates, posing several risks for your company. You're more vulnerable to security breaches and cyberattacks and any issues that may arise in your system down the line will be much more costly to fix.

Still not sure if moving to the cloud is the right move? Download our free resource guide: Hosting Data in the Cloud vs On-Premises: Which Is Better?

Planning for Migration

If any of the above situations apply to your organization, you should strongly consider moving to the cloud. However, embarking on a journey to the cloud requires careful planning to make sure the move is smooth and successful. Here are some of the key components of effective migration planning to get you started:

Developing a Migration Strategy: Craft a comprehensive strategy that outlines the goals, timeline, and approach for migrating to the cloud, aligning with your organization's specific needs and objectives.

Prioritizing Workloads for Migration: Identify and prioritize workloads based on criticality, dependencies, and strategic importance, allowing for a phased and organized migration process.

Creating a Timeline and Milestones: Establish a clear timeline with achievable milestones, providing a roadmap for tracking progress and ensuring a well-organized and controlled migration journey.

Still Have Questions? We're Here to Help!

If you have any questions or would like to learn about Microsoft's leading cloud ERP solution, Dynamics 365 Business Central, get in touch with the Kwixand Solutions team to set up a free consultation. As Dynamics 365 Business Central partners based in Vancouver, Canada, we help small and mid-sized companies through all stages of their cloud transformation, and we can help you too.