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5 Cloud Best Practices for Your SMB

cloudify-cuts-risk-to-vnf-providers-with-new-consumption-based-revenue-modelonSmall and midsize businesses (SMBs) can benefit from the cloud just as much as a large enterprise. However, changes in the market affect SMBs greatly and many find that it’s necessary for them to scale up or down accordingly, according to networkcomputing.com. Enter, the cloud.

Because the cloud is so flexible, it can help small businesses compete with larger ones by allowing them to harness the technology that they may not have been able to fit into their budget if they had to pay for it all at once.

NetworkComputing.com spoke with Sonia Cuff, co-founder of managed services provider The Missing Chair, who shared five tips for owners of SMBs looking to utilize the cloud and the benefits it provides:

Don’t rush vendor selection

Cuff’s first tip was to take your time when choosing a vendor. While the decision makers within your enterprise may find themselves overworked and overbooked, it’s crucial to carve out time dedicated to the research phase of the buying process.

Cuff went on to say that the SMBs that see the most success are the ones who “get to know their vendor well.”

“Doing your due diligence, in the beginning, can save a lot of time and headaches down the road,” Cuff told networkcomputing.com.

It’s also important to keep up with vendor news and updates in order to avoid the risk of sudden changes you may not be expecting.

Find monitoring tools

Cuff told networkcomputing.com that smaller businesses try to “size PaaS and IaaS solutions based on how they’ve sized their own in-house servers.”

However, the outlet went on to say that there is an issue with that tactic: many SMBs don’t utilize performance monitoring tools to see if their servers are being used too often or too little.

And when it comes to a public cloud, SMBs have a variety of choices when picking instances. So having a performance monitoring tool will help you choose what best fits your needs.

Work your cloud skills

If your SMB has a small IT team, and most do, those staff members should get trained properly on the cloud before they are expected to work with it. Everyone on your IT team should know how to adopt and manage PaaS or IaaS solutions.

Cloud integration

The cloud is part of your organization’s technology architecture and it’s important that your staff thinks of it that way.

“It’s just another server, but one you have less control over,” Cuff told networkcomputing.com.

It’s important to remember that the cloud can, and should be, part of current processes such as disaster recovery.

Think about automation tools

And finally, automation tools can act as an integral cog in your small business machine. If there is just one person in your small business who knows the ins and outs of something, automation can help remove the reliance on that person and may end up saving your business.


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