Have your cloud costs been creeping up on you over the last few years? If so, you’re not alone. 79% ofbusinesses say that managing cloud spending is a major challenge.
It starts out simple enough. A company may choose a productivity platform like G Suite, then little by little other cloud apps are added. A service to send email newsletters, a cloud accounting app, a team messaging solution. Employees may even start using cloud apps on their own that they like.
Then before you know it, you’ve got cloud overload. Too many apps, an out of control budget, and cloud infrastructure that’s all over the place.
Just because something is cloud-based doesn’t mean it’s going to work with other cloud solutions. That’s a problem companies face when there’s no central business IT strategy behind the cloud solutions they use.
If you’ve got cloud overload, it’s time to get things under control and put your business on the right track. We’ve got several tips for doing this!
How to Consolidate, Optimize, and Create a Better Cloud Environment
Consolidation is key when it comes to fixing cloud overload. While you may like four different SaaS applications, not using a unified platform can be hurting you in a number of ways.
Some of the drawbacks of using different cloud apps, rather than a larger unified cloud platform include:
- Differing levels of service between different app providers
- Not all apps will have the same security and compliance features
- Different employees may be doing the same activity in different cloud apps (causing data confusion)
- Paying for app subscriptions that you don’t really need
- Administration of different apps takes more time than in a single platform
- Data not being shared across apps (manual entry needed)
Here are several tips for fixing cloud overload and consolidating.
Review Your Cloud Use to See Where You Stand
You can’t control what you can’t see. So, you need to review your cloud use and see exactly which tools everyone is using – both paid and unpaid. Free tools that your staff may be using can cause problems with security and data continuity if they’re not integrated into your full cloud strategy.
Two ways to gain visibility into all the cloud apps your team is using (which is most likely more than you think!) are:
- Pull your billing statements to see which apps you’re paying for
- Survey employees to see what cloud tools they use in their day-to-day tasks
This will give you a starting point to glean and consolidate.
Consolidate into Larger Platforms – Like a UCaaS Solution
You can eliminate redundancies in cloud applications and lower the costs to use the same types of tools by consolidating. Drop as many single cloud apps as you can and replace them with larger platforms that contain several apps within them.
A great example of this is to use a Unified Communication as a Service (UCaas) Solution.
If you have messaging in one application, video conferencing in another, and file sharing in a completely different app, not only are your communications going to be all over the place, your customer experience will differ greatly, depending on how they communicate with you.
A UCaaS solution consolidates multiple cloud-based communications apps into one cohesive platform that’s easy for your team to use and keeps the customer experience consistent.
Data and communications are shared, so no one drops the ball because a message wasn’t seen. Plus, you pay one subscription cost instead of multiple, lowering overhead and administration time.
Pro Tech Guy’s PTG Voice is the ultimate enterprise-class UCaaS service with a business VoIP phone system. It can take the place of several different cloud apps, and includes services like:
- Cloud-based phone system (VoIP with 90+ enterprise-grade features)
- Video conferencing
- Business SMS & team messaging
- File storage and sharing
- Voicemail and fax
Eliminate Shadow IT by Putting Cloud App Use Policies in Place
Once you streamline and consolidate your cloud apps, how do you keep them from getting out of control again?
You need to address shadow IT and put a policy in place to regulate your company’s cloud application use.
Shadow IT is when employees use cloud apps without them being expressly approved by their organization. These apps are often used outside the knowledge of an IT department or IT service provider.
As much as 20% to 40% of technology spending happens due to shadow IT.
Keep your employees from unknowingly adding to your cloud overload by only allowing them to use approved cloud applications and having a recommendation system in place so they can put forward apps for possible approval.
Get Help from Pro Tech Guy Consolidating Your Cloud Solutions
We have several great solutions, including our PTG Voice UCaaS solution, that can save you from cloud overload and streamline your cloud infrastructure.
Contact us today for a demonstration! Call 508-364-8189 or reach us online.