It is a proven way to transform business functions and drive value across the board, from sales and marketing to operational efficiency and workforce productivity. And, it turns out, it’s far more secure, reliable and usable than one might have expected.
Recently, about half of mid-market leaders surveyed by Deloitte said their organization is using some form of the cloud or migrating to the cloud. That’s great, but it means the other half is falling behind their competition. If your company has remained hardwired to hardware, here are 3 questions to ask your IT leader right now.
1. How would migrating to the cloud affect our bottom line? It could save you money. You can leverage aggressive new cloud-licensing models where they are available, pay only for what you consume and shed capital investments.
While a common argument for not migrating to the cloud is that you’ve already made significant hardware investments (and these investments and their amortization cannot be ignored), it is important to understand and evaluate the future variable costs that are dragged along with those sunk costs.
Much of the expertise you must keep on staff or on contract to monitor, patch, maintain and upgrade the storage and application servers is significant, but can be reduced or eliminated with a move to the cloud.
In circumstances where these capital investments do swing the equation, start the discussion early regarding the hardware-refresh cycle and capacity planning. Keep in mind that hardware refreshes typically happen every 3-4 years. Increased capacity requirements may result in additional hardware (and more sunk costs) to be purchased in the meantime. Introducing the idea of cloud migrations—integrated with the refresh cycle or capacity-planning process—can increase the chances that you break that sunk-cost cycle and reduce or eliminate significant maintenance costs.
2. How would migrating to the cloud help us grow? The cloud and mid-market businesses actually share a lot of common characteristics. Think speed and agility. The cloud can help you eliminate typical barriers so you can quickly enter new markets, drive innovation and improve productivity through enhanced end-user experiences.
Think scalability. The cloud can help you right-size your needs by scaling your technical footprint up and down quickly and on-demand while de-emphasizing resource planning on your IT to-do list. It can also help you handle surges—and dips—in demand.
3. What’s stopping us? Maybe it feels a little bit overwhelming. But remember, not all systems need to go to the cloud—at least not anytime soon. Focus on migrating productivity applications first, such as email or instant messaging. These are commodity functions that are never tightly integrated with other systems, so they’re easiest to transfer to the cloud.
Or, maybe you don’t have the right support in place. In general terms, mid-market companies cannot afford to build IT teams that provide the breadth of expertise required to achieve success in today’s rapidly changing and complex environment. Companies need a small slice of a dozen different experts and 24/7/365 support and surveillance across a wide range of services to keep your systems up and running.
Hopefully, this discussion will get you, your IT leader—and your business—ready for shifting to a cloud-based environment.
Chief Executive Group exists to improve the performance of U.S. CEOs, senior executives and public-company directors, helping you grow your companies, build your communities and strengthen society. Learn more at chiefexecutivegroup.com.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
