Michael, the B P-Solution Operations Manager explained to us why he decided to move to the Cloud with Microsoft 365, He highlighted the reasons to do it and things he learnt. 

“Like thousands of other organizations around the world, we made the decision last spring to move our email from Exchange into the cloud.”

We did this for a number of compelling reasons:

• Our servers and software were becoming outdated and desperately in need of modernization and an upgrade.
• Like many companies, we wanted to move from a Capital Expenditure model (CAPEX) towards an Operational Expenditure model (OPEX). This would allow us to more easily manage cash flow and invest in our future over time, and with predictable investments that could be aligned with budgets and forecasted spend.
• We wanted to digitize and modernize the way we do business, with email being central to our internal and external communications and operations.
• We also wanted to give our employees a digital communication experience comparable with what they are increasingly familiar with and have learned to expect from using their mobile devices and other connected hardware and applications.
• Like almost every organization, we have built up a repository of information and we wanted to make accessing, searching and sharing that information easier.
• We wanted to maintain our appeal as a place where people want to work and realize that this means staying relevant, particularly with technology increasingly defining workplace and social culture.

Several months on, here’s what we learnt on our journey moving to the cloud: source and use expert advice right from the start will help you a lot.

• Set the project framework
• Ensure that you go to the cloud with a well-defined plan
• Identify the internal and external value of the project and ensure this is both communicated and leveraged
• Engage with an internal stakeholder who recognizes and understands the business and strategic value of the project and doesn’t simply see it as a change of technology.
• Employ a phased approach – perhaps even more importantly when migrating users from one platform to another, adopting a phased approach ensures little or no disruption, allows for effective communication and, perhaps most importantly, secures ongoing confidence and buy-in from your users

Take people with you on the journey because moving to the cloud is not simply an advancement of technology or a more effective of efficient way of doing things. It is recognizing the way people engage with each other both at work and socially and moving your business via that technology and infrastructure to make it more relevant to both your employees and your customers. It is a step forward that should be celebrated.