Next Steps to Migrate to the Cloud: 5 Takeaways from Community Summit

One thing is sure after the past two years – companies have a better understanding of the Cloud and how to leverage it.  

In 2019, many companies were still relying on terminal servers or VPN for access. These technologies were not meant to handle the strain of everyone logging in externally and accessing data daily.  

When more employees transitioned to working at home, companies that migrated to the Cloud were at an advantage. Companies that migrated to the Cloud because of the pandemic may have been reactive, but they learned how to leverage what it offered. 

Kevin Armstrong, Global Enterprise Strategy Leader at Enavate, spoke to his experience at Community Summit 2021 in a webinar with Jennifer Ranz, Product Leader.  

Armstrong emphasized that moving applications to the Cloud makes employees and tasks more efficient. “That’s the message to a lot of our clients at Summit: Their technology can do a lot more for them than they’re allowing. How can you embrace that?” 

How Cloud Perspectives Have Changed 

As industries are emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, they realize that they need to adjust standard business practices, which begins with their technology.  

More businesses are focusing on improving digital experiences to be better prepared for future disruptions, including streamlining processes and embracing automation. Additionally, many companies aim to support remote employees better and boost productivity by investing in higher-quality software and applications.  

“People are at a tipping point – especially those who are sitting on a legacy platform. They know they want to move to the present and get onto a more capable platform for where they’re going with their business. Most businesses want to make that change,” says Armstrong. 

5 Takeaways from Community Summit 2021

During Summit, the Enavate team had the chance to speak to industry experts in the Microsoft Dynamics community and learn how they have adapted to changing work environments and how they plan to implement change in the future. 

Small to midsized businesses are beginning to migrate to the Cloud and leverage its capabilities in increasing numbers. Five key takeaways from the event: 

1. People are craving in-person interaction. Attendees were eager to be in a room of peers with whom they could network and do business. 
2. There is an increase in demand for projects that were put on hold. Digitalization and Cloud migration are now at the top of to-do lists. 
3. Companies showed a high amount of interest in leveraging technology to serve customers and employees better.  
4. Users have a better understanding of the value of the Cloud. Conversations with clients have shifted from “Why should I be interested in Cloud?” to “When can I begin the migration process?”  
5. Many companies are not back to business as usual. Many are trying to adjust and find ways to implement technology to navigate these changes. 

How to Kickstart Your Cloud Migration 

The Cloud is not only faster than on-premises servers; it is more secure, reliable and easily accessible from anywhere with internet access. In addition, rather than paying for an IT department dedicated to maintaining on-premises servers, with Cloud, you can store unlimited information on servers run by Microsoft.  

There are a lot of companies that aren’t going back to the office. A lot of businesses said, ‘You know what, there’s no sense in opening our office anymore for 10 or 15 people when we have the ability to easily access our environment. There’s the value of the Cloud right then and there.”

Jennifer Ranz

Cloud-based systems and applications are: 

• Efficient 
• Reliable 
• Accessible 
• Affordable 
• Secure 

Migrating to the Cloud with the help of a valued partner will not only save you money but also enable your company to operate more effectively because your migration will be straightforward. A valued partner fosters long-term relationships with their clients by having meaningful discussions to support their objectives and determine which programs are best for them. 

Enavate’s Cloud-readiness assessment can determine whether your systems are equipped for migration and what you should do to prepare. The tool is simple to use and will examine relevant metadata without requiring any input from your team.  

“It’s quick and easy – 10 questions. The questions are as simple as, ‘What’s your name? What industry are you in? What ERP solution are you using?’ Once we get that information, we send a quick link to a tool that will run some scripts up against the SQL environment. It will not only tell us how many companies a client has, but what version of their product they’re running, how many years they’ve been using it and what ISV solutions they have installed,” Ranz explains. 

The tool is non-intrusive and will not gather any personal or sensitive data from your servers – it will only look for information relevant to your migration. After using the readiness tool, our team will have the necessary information to guide you through a successful Cloud migration. 

Watch our on-demand webinar to learn more about our takeaways from Community Summit, our migration assessment and other ways Enavate can help you navigate your journey to the Cloud.  

If you are interested in learning more about your Cloud options, reach out to one of our Cloud experts.